It was a “Plain Day”
21 April 2017 | Bradenton Beach near Beach House Restaurant
Friday, April 14th
The motivation for the title of this Blog comes from my brother Dave's boyhood diary. Dave's dairy entries for days during which nothing special or unusual occurred were simply "it was a plain day." It doesn't mean that nothing happened that day, just that nothing special happened. After our three night/two day stay in Clearwater Beach, we were scheduled for about a 32-35 nm leg (maybe 6 hrs or so) to the Bradenton Beach Marina and a similar two day stay. The southerly inside route traversed the western Gulf beaches that Sara and I knew and frequented as kids and teen agers- Indian Rocks, Indian Shores and Madera among others. Being inside, we had to deal with a number of bascule bridges some of which opened on a specific schedule (normally on a 20 or 30 min interval) and some of which opened upon request. The latter required contacting each bridge tender via radio (channel 9) to request an opening at his/her earliest convenience. After stopping traffic and waiting for pedestrians to clear the bascule span, the lift of the two side spans began. The bridge tenders made it very explicit that you were not to enter the guarded section of the bridge abutments until the spans were fully lifted. Overall, the process went very smoothly. Bridges with posted opening schedules were more likely to inhibit our progress because it was virtually impossible to coordinate our progress to coordinate with the time a particular bridge was scheduled to open. So if you arrived early, you had to maneuver in the area of the bridge until it opening- generally not a problem but current and/or a limited maneuvering area could make the process somewhat challenging.
The other issue on inside routes, and we discussed this before, are the power boaters that approach and pass you with no concern for the impact of their wakes on a sailboat. Occasionally, a knowledgeable and respectful power boater will reduce speed in either approaching or overtaking us thus significantly reducing the size and impact of their wake. Unfortunately, the percentage of power boat skippers in this category is less that 10-20%.
We made good progress through the bays and narrows of the ICW and ultimately entered the pass leading to Tampa Bay while paralleling the Sunshine Skyway Causeway. The cable-stayed Sunshine Skyway Bridge is particularly impressive when viewed from the water level in a small sailboat! Once into the pass, we turned to a course that would take us directly into Anna Maria Sound, under the Holmes Beach and Cortez Bridges and to our T-dock mooring at the Bradenton Beach Marina. We had moored at this marina on several previous cruises and were generally satisfied but not ecstatic about their facilities. The main draw at this marina was the 3 block walk to the beach and the Beach House Restaurant.
Docking went well and once we has properly secured the boat and installed shore power, it was time for a brief rest and then our evening cocktails after which the "boat" decided on pizza from Oma's for its evening meal. The Gulls called in the order and Gerry and I walked the three blocks or so to the restaurant to pick up the pizza- which seemed to be enjoyed by all.
Pizza was followed by card games for some and relaxation for others but as usual everyone was in his or her berth by 830 -900 pm.
Some technical "stuff"- During docking we did discover a problem with backing the boat. Simply explained, the drive leg lifted when shifted into reverse resulting in no thrust and no steerage. The leg is designed to lock itself in place when shifted into forward gear but that was not happening. Johnny, one of the marina managers, discovered that the locking mechanism would work satisfactory by exerting a small force on the latching lever. Of course, that required someone to lean over the transom and extend their arm about as far as it would reach to supply the required force to keep the latch in place. Obviously, this was not an acceptable or satisfactory much less safe process. Thus, the guys went to bed that evening to dream up a better solution. (RKS)