We launched on Friday, the 5th of January, just before lunch. The tide was about 0.8 of a foot and might have worked for Fracas. The wind, however, was from the north and would have cancelled the tide out. We dropped the hook for the night at Interceptor Lake. A cold front and associated weather would pass through in the morning on Saturday. Just after it clears through, the tide and a south wind will work together to make the water thick enough to float her out to sea. The only issue will be the strong south winds while the cold front approaches, which will leave behind some chop and swells in Charlotte Harbor.
We spent a nice night on the hook. The squalls of Saturday morning were almost exactly as advertised, and about 11:30, the rain, wind, and urgency moved away. We quickly prepped the boat for travel and headed off to the lock. It takes about 20 minutes to get from the lake part of the canal to the lock.
The lock is small and is usually skipper-operated. One has to pull and hold a chain to get the gate opened. Then you drive in and pull and hold the chain until the cycle completes and the outer gate opens. But none of that works. A recent rain storm and resulting flooding took out the electronics for the lock. Now we have a guy who helps by operating the lock from the buttons on his side of things. It was helpful to have him there, as risky shipboard yelling can occur when things go wrong.
It was comforting to see that the water outside the lock was nice and high. The south wind had done its job. We zigged and zagged our way out, following the path we usually follow. We did not touch at all and never saw less than 6 feet on our exit.
Once past the channel markers, we were off across Charlotte Harbor. The wind was down to 10, gusts 15, the chop was manageable. By 3:00, we were into Fishville and our slip.
More later