Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Kent Narrows

Kent Narrows has a draw bridge that opens on the top of the hour and we were lucky enough to time our trip so we caught the bridge opening -- no waiting. In fact, when we hailed the bridge tender told us: You can make it if you "speed it up." (Sailboats, even when motoring, are not built for speed.)

We powered up and because we had the right of way (based on the current) we entered first with just a working boat meeting us on the other side. (Traffic on summer weekends is very hectic.) But it gets tricky - not just the current - but the water levels here can be very low here and we don't want to hit bottom. We entered at high tide and that worked to our advantage and then carefully navigated the channel. Whew! 

And we traversed two bridges today, the first was Knapps Narrows bridge, which is an open on-demand bridge. It is also known for its challenging channel that has low water and drop-offs. We saw a sailboat get stuck here last year - and we even cautioned the Captain about the markers. It is all part of the fun ?  of sailing.