Every day brings a new challenge... that is what sailing is all about. We left Titusville early in the morning on February10th headed to Melbourne. The buzz on the VHF radio was that there was construction on the 528 fixed bridge that was reducing the vertical clearance. All fixed bridges on the ICW are "supposed" to have at least 65 feet of vertical clearance at high tide. We were hearing that the clearance could be anywhere from 50 to 56 feet. Kinja's mast is 55 feet with antenna and other stuff on top of that. After hailing every bridge tender plus the US Coast Guard we could still not get a solid answer about the clearance. We got on the internet and found out that a lot of boats with tall masts were opting to go out of the marked channel and under the east section of the bridge -- risky business! There was no way to know what the vertical clearance was under that section of the bridge or what the water depth would be. We had a choice to make -- do we stay in the channel and hope we make it under without breaking the mast or do we opt to go out of the channel?
We studied the bridge through the binoculars for 30 minutes before we made our decision. There was a hand painted sign on the bridge saying there was only 50 feet of vertical clearance. Outside the channel the east side looked like it had more vertical clearance. On top of all of this the wind was blowing at 25 knots and would be pushing us through the bridge so we did not have the option of going slow or stopping as we went under.
We made the call to go out of the channel and under the east side of the bridge. The depth got as shallow as six and a half feet. Kinja draws almost six feet....so it was close. The vertical clearance was fine.
Needless to say we felt extremely lucky and passed the info on to other boaters who were facing the same situation.
So now... a few shots of the different kinds of lift bridges on the ICW. You call them on the radio and they open up for you to pass under.
Bascule Bridges
Swing Bridge
Harbor at dawn
Because of you I am now a blogger. I am getting more HIP as a senior citizen. Bob says it is about time. If I wait much longer my Grand children will be blogging before me since they already have their own computers. Looking forward to your adventures on the open seas and Derring Bay.
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