4th of July?

[Mikemapva]

People only slow down past Old Town when authorities are in the area. The no wake zone goes coast to coast, but we see bass boats and smaller boats fly down the DC side frequently.

We we saw a guy with a bridge boat hit the 14th St railroad bridge yesterday! He must not have been familiar with the bridges at high tide. Thankfully he wasn't going too fast and was able to stop and back up. He stopped right before the bridge tore his Radar dome off.

Mix in all of the kayakers and I'm shocked more people don't get hurt.

Ryan, that's funny about the bridge boat. One of the boats in our raft up was going to wait until low tide on Sunday to leave as he couldn't make it until then.

Speaking of kayaks, there must have been a 4th of July night kayak tour during the fireworks. I'm estimating that there were between 50 to 100 of them that paddled up from behind Roosevelt Island to the tip to watch them. They all had white anchor lights of some kind and all paddled back after the show was over. It was pretty cool, and I tried to get some pics, but they didn't turn out well.

 

[WDCboater]

Ryan, that's funny about the bridge boat. One of the boats in our raft up was going to wait until low tide on Sunday to leave as he couldn't make it until then.

Speaking of kayaks, there must have been a 4th of July night kayak tour during the fireworks. I'm estimating that there were between 50 to 100 of them that paddled up from behind Roosevelt Island to the tip to watch them. They all had white anchor lights of some kind and all paddled back after the show was over. It was pretty cool, and I tried to get some pics, but they didn't turn out well.

Jacks Boathouse, which is under the Key Bridge, does a 4th of July kayak tour. People make reservations for a slot weeks in advance. I think it's around $80.

At high tide we clear the railroad bridge by about 3'. It's our anchor light and KVH dome that sit high. This was the first time I've seen someone actually hit the bridge. Maybe he wasn't as familiar with the clearance.

 

[Molson]

No worries Jim. I sometimes get a bit patriotic and when comments are seemingly anti-American, I take exception. The number of posts means nothing at all BTW, I like Canada and have many friends from there as well as friends that stay there with their boats and they all say it is beautiful.
Now, take-off eh!

Its all good, ya hozer! I hope you had a good weekend.

 

[cain]

Don't sweat the dumb stuff. We've all done them and some of us, primarily me, continue to from time to time. I've forgotten the lower unit twice. Once during the first few outings and another when loading with a new boating buddy. My wench was old and somewhat broken. He didn't know to lock it. He then proceeded to pull us up the ramp only to see the truck and nearly the entire trailer leaving while we sit still in the water. Got flustered while re-loading and forgot once again. Pretty sure we gave the spectators something to talk about for a long time.

Another bit of advice on taking night rides: don't get lazy with your transom light. Take it out once loaded. Was tired one night and left it in. Got home, turned the truck and trailer around and snapped the thing in half on a tree branch. Grrr.

We really enjoy night rides. The hour around sunset and the evening are my favorite times to be on the water. I however prefer not to be out during the 4th as there are too many idiots out and on an unfamiliar body of water. I've been out on the river since I was 8 and know where I'm going. If the water level is good and the water "clean" during the day I don't have any reservations being out. Its just really peaceful out.

For our 4th we went to a pool party at a friends. Spent all day Saturday and well into the evening out on the muddy Ohio. Took the kids out during the day and did a guys thing at night. Motored on down to Henderson, tied up and hit-up an outside bar for a bit. Left and idled on back while stopping at one of the popular beaches for a bit. Had a great time. Only problem with staying out that late is I'm usually the only one awake to do the truck and trailer.

 

[HUMPH]

Here are a few more pictures from the 4th. No fireworks shots but they were really well done this year.