Travel Day 9 Confusion with a Tow Captain Freebird on The Great Loop

[@nedflanders7352]

That's wild.

[@nerdgarage]

I couldn't understand him from the video either, but I looked up the location on charts and google maps and what I _think_ the tug wanted was for you to cross in front of him (i'll come back to this) and go to the shallow side of the several green bouys that are in that section of river so he could have the whole deep channel to maneuver. This makes perfect sense and should have been safe ... except for one thing; From the video I don't think there's any way you could possibly have safely crossed in front of him before he would have been on you. I think he made the turn you mentioned because he realized this after having asked you to move to the two whistle.

[@FreebirdonTheGreatLoop]

We agree 100%. It would have especially hard to cross over with all the debris. Most of the markers were missing or underwater making them an unscene hazard below the surface.

[@JoeGore-q6p]

RED RIGHT RETURNING

[@FreebirdonTheGreatLoop]

When you are heading upstream in a river, you’ll want to keep the red markers to your right and the green ones to your left. In this video, on the Ohio River, we were going downstream, so the reds were on the left. When we turn to go up the Mississippi they then are on our right.

[@StanleyTyler-zr7ki]

Do you guys not have headsets?

[@FreebirdonTheGreatLoop]

Yes we do have headsets and usually wear them when docking or locking. They are also handy when pulling the anchor. If you watch some of our videos of locking you will see them in use.

[@johnmarschalk1977]

A lot of flooding to the north. Sure a lot of that debris is coming from that and probably slowing you down too. Think it's more to the northwest so maybe it will clear some when you get on the Illinois River

[@FreebirdonTheGreatLoop]

The debris and the extra strong current is slowing us down. Not having power steering, my arms are getting a workout avoiding the logs.

[@markkolenc4833]

Hey. Thanks for letting us follow along from Ontario. I can't believe the debris. So nervous for you both. Slow and steady. Please take care... so crazy the tug saying clearly 2 whistle the changed to 1??? Makes me even more nervous. We are 1.5 years to retire and the loop is on the bucket list. Can I ask is the Carver Voyager a 53 or 56? Beautiful yacht

[@FreebirdonTheGreatLoop]

Freebird is a 2006 56 Voyager. Don't worry about the loop unless you are going to do it backwards. We made the normal southbound trip two years ago in the fall. You will be going with the current and the debris was minimal. Lots of people make it just fine and you will have plenty of company and help the other loopers.

[@rogerbaker-vo1cd]

Hi gang, seemed kinda hairy, was never into fly bridges but I'm coming around. That's your favorite spot capt ?

[@FreebirdonTheGreatLoop]

On the rivers with all these logs the visibility is much better directly in front of the boat from the flybridge. On cold rainy days you can't beat the comfort of the pilot house. I am sure glad I have both options.

[@NIN34]

He wanted you to get out of the channel and move inside the buoys for starboard to starboard. You guys stayed on the outside so he just made the turn to avoid and stayed closer to the channels edge. If you of moved when he first said to then it wouldn’t have been an issue. He’s drafting 9ft so he has no option to move out of the channels. Depending on your draft you have a lot more options

[@FreebirdonTheGreatLoop]

Thank you for your comment. There was no way we could safely get to the other side in time. Especially with all the logs and debris. We would have taken a chance to hit something including the submerged markers. We made the right choice given the circumstances and we are glad we did. I see your point, but you would have to be there to actually understand the entire situation. We have almost a 5 ft draft and sometimes the Tow Captains are not aware of that and/or they don't see how the debris could be a lot more detrimental to us vs them just plowing through it. Or he could have just said the wrong thing. They are human too and believe me, it is tiring for all Captains out there.

[@NIN34]

@@FreebirdonTheGreatLoop it’s all very possible. Look forward to following the journey. Just remember to not proceed in the face of uncertainty with these commercial vessels. Once you get up to the lakes some of the freighters are over 1000ft long and draft up to 30ft. Good luck!

[@mikeramsey9747]

Don't you guys have AIS on that nice boat of yours? As for channel markers when the water is high the towboats are famous for snagging them and either dragging them off or breaking them loose so they float away, hence is why a good GPS waterway navigation system is very important because the supposed location of all the buoys should be annotated. Each time you show your navigation unit you are zoomed way out so you aren't seeing depth and navigation aids being displayed.

[@FreebirdonTheGreatLoop]

No AIS. We use the Raymarine Navigation on the boat and a secondary Navionics on our GPS enabled Ipad.

[@CaptMcA]

It is a total pitty that recreational pilots, (not captains) have no idea what they are doing! Everyone should take at least a basic boating course to be allowed on the water!!

[@FreebirdonTheGreatLoop]

Thank you for your comment. Glad you are enjoying the videos.

[@johnmarschalk1977]

He can't see anything in the water in front of him near the front of the barges so I'm sure he's built to just run stuff over.

[@FreebirdonTheGreatLoop]

I think you are right. They just plow through. We have to watch for everything!

[@Bob-bo8ik]

He needs to learn to speak.

[@FreebirdonTheGreatLoop]

Sometimes we almost think they speak a different language, but after a few weeks we could understand them better. Thanks for watching the videos.