We‘re back from a year of cruising from southern New England to Maine, down to the Bahamas, and back. On the east coast northbound my wife and I went outside when weather was favorable and inlet hopped into the ICW when that was preferable.
There were parts of the ICW we had to avoid because we need 64’6” air clearance, and there are some fixed bridges that are rarely that high. Others are tide-dependent or near the Albemarle/Pamlico sounds favorable wind direction/strength is needed to provide that much water level clearance.
This wasn’t my first experience with this, so I decided to install a wireless masthead camera that sits just above the anchor light. It greatly reduced anxiety. As we approached, if I could see shadow or additional beams beneath the closest beam (from that level) it meant that the camera would clear. (We didn’t encounter any slanted decks). I wasn’t worried about the whip VHF antenna, and in many cases we scraped it along the bottom of the bridge (you can hear the ping sound in some of the videos).
Here’s a link to a YouTube playlist with the videos.
ICW Bridges
There were parts of the ICW we had to avoid because we need 64’6” air clearance, and there are some fixed bridges that are rarely that high. Others are tide-dependent or near the Albemarle/Pamlico sounds favorable wind direction/strength is needed to provide that much water level clearance.
This wasn’t my first experience with this, so I decided to install a wireless masthead camera that sits just above the anchor light. It greatly reduced anxiety. As we approached, if I could see shadow or additional beams beneath the closest beam (from that level) it meant that the camera would clear. (We didn’t encounter any slanted decks). I wasn’t worried about the whip VHF antenna, and in many cases we scraped it along the bottom of the bridge (you can hear the ping sound in some of the videos).
Here’s a link to a YouTube playlist with the videos.
ICW Bridges
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