Ft. Lauderdale: Navigating through Bridge Hell

 

Drawbridges. Other than the shallow spots, the bridges are the next most stressful thing on the ICW (note: stressful, not scary). Though the first bridgetender in Norfolk was extremely communicative, we soon realized that’s a rarity. Eventually we got used to timing our arrival for scheduled openings and leaving space to approach the slow-opening bridges, there were still some bridges that were more exciting than they should’ve been.

Twice we had bridgetenders say, “Come on up, I’ll open when you get here,” but then not bother to tell us they were having hydraulic issues and couldn’t open. At one in NC, after some silence, I radioed to confirm the opening, and he casually told us he couldn’t open just in time for us to turn away. At another in SC, the guy was actively chatting, asking us questions about our wind generator, and it wasn’t until after we aborted our approach and asked what was going on that he was like, “Oh yeah, it’s not working. Hold on.”

One day in Florida we did 16 drawbridges in 33 nautical miles. It’s pure chaos on the radio with all sorts of boats talking to so many bridges on the same channel. Sometimes the bridges have 3 names, but they only respond to one – charts usually don’t have the name, so you better have a good book or website handy. Sometimes, they’ll believe you when you say you’ll arrive on time and they’ll open at the next scheduled time. Other times, if you’re not circling in front of them 5 minutes prior, they’ll tell you’re not close enough (I can’t blame them – we heard tons of people overestimating their proximity and speed to bridges. Bridges would have to be open for 15 minutes at a time if they believed these people).

Sometimes the traffic was crazy – I told a megayacht and a tugboat we’d go behind them through a bridge, which started a debate between 2 yachts and the bridgetender about who needed to go when to accommodate commercial traffic in both directions.

So when we arrived in Fort Lauderdale, we thought we were in the clear – just 3 on-demand bridges up the New River and we’d be golden.  Weather looked ominous but it wasn’t supposed to hit for over an hour, which would be enough time. We had heard that the river was narrow and the current could be vicious, so we waited until around the tide change to head up. We heard 100-foot megayachts say they had space to pass each other, so how bad could it really be?

Well, as it turns out it could be VERY BAD. We called the 1^st bridge, knowing we were close, but the canal was so tight and curvy, we couldn’t yet see it. The bridge promptly filled up with car traffic, and Paul tried to hold our boat steady in the current which was not slack. Just as the bridge started to open, we lost control and had to do a 360 in a very small space to pass through successfully. I immediately called the next bridge and he gave me the bad news – the railroad bridge next to him was closed so he couldn’t open. We were stuck with only 300 yards between bridges and with a canal ~120 ft wide, minus the space taken up by boats parked on both sides. We were stuck in a bad spot. Paul managed to keep the boat steady and centered for a while with great difficulty. And then  the storm decided to make an early appearance – the wind started to gust and rain fell.

I saw a megayacht coming through the bridge behind us – I radioed them and told them proceed with caution as we were having trouble holding the boat. Just after that, Paul lost the bow and we started to spin. In the rain, in my barefeet, I slipped all over the place throwing fenders into place and grabbing the boat hook. In the land of million dollar boats, I looked up and saw that our bow was headed for – THANK GOD – the only smashed, dented steel boat in sight. Paul had the engine screaming in reverse, but with a small engine and full keel it was to no avail. I ran up the bowsprit and pressed the rubber end of the boat hook into the side of the other boat with all my strength. We just barely kissed the other boat, luckily not even scratching either boats’ paint, just as the engine dug in and we began to reverse.

“Sailing vessel, what are you trying to do here?” the megayacht asked me. Though I wanted to yell, “I TOLD YOU PROCEED WITH CAUTION M#$*(@#F*(@#,” what I actually said was, “We’re losing control, we’re going to try to tie up.”

Luckily, Paul spotted the one empty spot on the side of the canal and headed for it. Unfortunately, our stern was headed for the pilings too quickly for me to get a fender into place and SMASH! One of the welds for the support to our solar panel pole snapped. I tried to get a line over the piling but missed. When I finally lassoed a wooden board, the boat was pulling away so I pulled my line back in. At this point, 2 construction workers (my heroes!) ran up to assist. I was able to toss lines to them, and they pulled us in to safety.

The rain poured down. I looked at Paul, who looked both dazed and defeated. Paul takes being a captain very seriously. He can skate through almost any situation by the hair on his chin, but this time his number was up. Sitting on a park bench, soaked to the bone, with his head in his hands he looked up and said, “You did great. Thanks for hanging in there with me. I’m sorry I screwed up so badly. I should have never brought us in here.” After thanking the construction workers, Paul called Cooley’s Landing Marina, which is run by the city and also owns the spot we were now sitting in, to see if we could stay here, but it was reserved for the next day. The guy from the marina even drove down to the talk to us. Maybe we could try again in the evening, at the next tide change. It was true slack tide now, but the radar showed the weather was worsening.

After a half hour or so, the marina guy called us. He said the storm actually blew out and the current is fine here, why not try now? Paul checked the radar and looked me and said, “Might as well get back on the horse, no sense in staying rattled.” I don’t know how he pulled it together so quickly and I wasn’t about to ask either. We readied our lines and called the bridge to make sure they could open. The Jungle Queen – a huge tourist ferry – radioed the bridge and said they’d be right behind us.  Another sailboat was coming the opposite way. I told the other sailboat we’d let the Queen go, then they could go, then we’d pass.

I watched the bridge open, and as soon as the Queen passed us I yelled, “Go! Go!” to Paul. He let go of his line and revved up the engine to get us off the dock and did another tight 180 in the canal to point us in the right direction.

It was smooth sailing through the next 2 bridges and we were into Cooley’s Landing Marina. It was time for a well deserved cheeseburger and several cold beers.

Later I read that the railroad bridge can stay closed for an hour, so it’s actually recommended that you are ready to tie up or even raft up (tie to other boats). On reflection, even before reading that, we realized that is what we should’ve done immediately. When we departed the marina the following week, we actually tied up to wait for both the railroad bridge and at the “scene of the crime” between the other bridges. Vehicle traffic on the bridge was bad, so 2 megayachts and a big fishing boat were waiting along with us for 20 minutes in that 300 yard span.

Let’s just say we’re glad there will be no drawbridges in the Bahamas.

How to safely navigate New River

New River was more challenging than anything else we encountered on the ICW but it is doable if you follow these 5

rules:

1. Never go unless the weather is clear. The storm we faced was actually pretty minor, but even a little wind gust when you’re trying to hold position in tight quarters can be enough to ruin your day.
2. Have fenders in the water on both sides and docklines ready on every cleat.
3. At the first sign of delay tie up to the nearest empty dock space or if none are available raft up. Don’t ask permission , just do it – safety comes first.
4. Know when slack tide is we found Noaa’s prediction to be accurate.
5. Make sure the bridges are marked and easy to see in your chartplotter. Between the curves, trees, building and boats, some of the bridges are hard to see until you’re on top of them.

Also read both of these pages from Jordan yachts part 1 & part 2.