More pictures to be added later.
This will be the first of two parts covering our travels for 11/8 and 11/9.
On Tuesday the fleet pulled out of Demopolis Yacht Basin and moved south. We immediately entered the Demopolis Lock and after that 20BUCK$ and Cbay moved away from the pack. Slow moving boats would work all day at 7-9 mph to get to an anchorage at Bashi Creek. We however were going to spend some fuel and make it all the way to their second day destination of Bobby’s Fish Camp. This required running for at least two plus hours at speeds of 25 mph. The real problem is bass fishermen. If a boat our size passes one in a narrow waterway like this it can flip them or swamp them. So you must either speed up and slow down constantly which wastes more fuel, or try and pick your spots to run in really isolated areas where they are not likely to be. That was our strategy. It worked fairly well and only created one minor problem. Ken and Pat’s boat is a gas burner which had twin 496 cu. in. engines and will fly, so he took the lead and would at times get somewhat ahead of us. They do not have AIS and therefore depend on us to radio if any big tows are coming and tell them where the tows are. I had radioed that a big one was coming and that they would likely meet him around the next bend and should perhaps slow down. They did not heed my warning. It was just like in the movies; they disappeared around the corner and suddenly they came hauling back the other way followed by a huge barge. I was laughing so hard I barely got a picture. We heard the tow captain radio 20BUCK$ to get over by the green buoy and do not move until I tell you to.
We drove like two ski boats the rest of the way and arrived at Bobby’s. Now Bobby was an institution on the river for 55 years. To be continued…
