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Old 07-11-2018, 05:35   #1
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The AICW

I've been up/down most of the ICW now 3 times and currently in Jacksonville FL after having come down and am amazed at the number of boats posting groundings. My boat drafts 6'4" and I didn't come close this year to hitting the bottom. In the past I've hit bottom 3 times and all three were my fault for not paying attention and/or getting confused and getting out of the channel.

I now start each leg by reviewing the Active Captain info for it and noting it on my flip charts. But over half the "shoal" hazard markers in AC are really "stay in the channel, follow the buoys, don't cut the corner" when you get right down to it and really waste my time in reviewing that. Yet I read posts from boats reporting shoal hazards out of the channel or info that definitely indicating they weren't in the channel. Two weeks ago a boat posted on Bob423 Facebook page a warning about a spot that said "we were in the channel and it quickly went from 6' to 1.5'", this boat was right behind me at the fuel dock just prior to the spot so went through it within 10 minutes of me. Yet I never saw less than 10' and when I posted "well if you saw 6' you weren't in the channel" they went are crazy defending themselves.

The past couple weeks I've seen numerous posts about the southbound entrance to the Alligator River. Now that spot has a pretty sharp curve and if you were start looking too far ahead you could cut across and go aground. But if you just pay attention and follow the buoys there's no problem at all. So when I read a "problem" post I know the boater didn't follow the buoys and/or cut the corner.

I guess I just have a hard time with so many not being smart enough to follow the buoys to stay in the channel, not cutting the corner because the turns aren't in a straight line, not understanding that if a creek etc is feeding into the channel that you need to move to the other side of the channel, understanding that you need to stay to the outside edge of a curve.

I'm no super helmsman, but I get tired of boater in 4' draft boats going aground so much and blaming the ICW conditions for it when I went through with over a 6' draft and rarely saw less than 8' anywhere (when I seen 8' that doesn't involve a creek etc. washing into that section I know I'm OUT of the channel".
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Old 07-11-2018, 06:15   #2
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Re: The AICW

HUH.

Just finished a delivery that, at the owners request, ended up 95% in the ditch. The boat drew 5’6” and had a 62.5’ stick.

While I was too busy to log locations, there were numerous spots where the depth gauge indicated under a foot below the keel. On the magenta line, inside the marks. I know the offset was fairly accurate because I measured it at the dock before leaving. We sometimes swayed off the centerline of the channel based on the forward scan sonar. That is a handy tool, until the silt blinds it.

Perhaps your depth gauge is not zeroed correctly?

Let’s not even talk about the bridges! There was one that had constitution planks below the low steel, and the clearance was in adjusted for the decreased height.

But I do agree getting a 5’ draft down the AICW just requires meticulous attention to the marks.
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Old 07-11-2018, 07:12   #3
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Re: The AICW

I brushed the bottom just north of Brunswick this past weekend. Totally my fault for misidentifying channel markers. I saw one for a secondary channel and thought it was ICW. There was water between but the secondary channel actually connected elsewhere. It was a confusing little area.

Otherwise, I feel like I didn't see less than 9' for the short stint of the actual ICW we motored
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Old 07-11-2018, 07:44   #4
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Re: The AICW

In general this has been my experience with one, very notable exception. The one time I made a long trip down the ICW and didn't check for updates on Active Captain I ran hard aground, dead center channel just south of the Ponce de Leon inlet where going north the ICW makes a hard left at marker 18. I draw less than 5 1/2' so that was pretty shallow.

After we finally got off, easing through very slowly I found the deep water was 10-15 feet off the red #18 marker. Looking at Active Captain today it looks like a couple of movable buoys have been added since then.

Otherwise, every time we ran aground it was outside the channel.
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Old 07-11-2018, 07:52   #5
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Re: The AICW

Quote:
Originally Posted by sailorboy1 View Post
But over half the "shoal" hazard markers in AC are really "stay in the channel, follow the buoys, don't cut the corner" when you get right down to it and really waste my time in reviewing that. Yet I read posts from boats reporting shoal hazards out of the channel or info that definitely indicating they weren't in the channel. Two weeks ago a boat posted on Bob423 Facebook page a warning about a spot that said "we were in the channel and it quickly went from 6' to 1.5'", this boat was right behind me at the fuel dock just prior to the spot so went through it within 10 minutes of me. Yet I never saw less than 10' and when I posted "well if you saw 6' you weren't in the channel" they went are crazy defending themselves.

We saw similar shoal reports in AC last year: "Be careful, there's a tree down 300 yards west of the channel!"... and so forth.

We have two sources for depth info, one a simple DST sounder and the other a DST fishfinder. Sometimes when we'd see surprisingly low readings on one or the other, especially if momentary readings, we began to suspect we'd just gone over something like a log, turtle, fish (dolphin?), alligator or whatever...

-Chris
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Old 07-11-2018, 08:11   #6
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Re: The AICW

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Originally Posted by Snore View Post

Perhaps your depth gauge is not zeroed correctly?
My depth gauge is right on. It is 4.5' from the ground to it and the time I've hit bottom it has read 4.5'.

Maybe you should stay off the "line". Every time someone posts how many times they hit bottom when I say I didn't come close to hitting bottom and never saw less than 8', which one of us were more likely NOT in the channel?
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Old 07-11-2018, 08:18   #7
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Re: The AICW

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Originally Posted by skipmac View Post
In general this has been my experience with one, very notable exception. The one time I made a long trip down the ICW and didn't check for updates on Active Captain I ran hard aground, dead center channel just south of the Ponce de Leon inlet where going north the ICW makes a hard left at marker 18. I draw less than 5 1/2' so that was pretty shallow.
If only if someone who draws 6.3' and have just gone through that spot had warned you 5 minutes prior to you going aground



yeah I know I didn't warn you about that spot on the south end because I didn't see a problem because I didn't cut the corner
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Old 07-11-2018, 11:48   #8
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Re: The AICW

Quote:
Originally Posted by sailorboy1 View Post
My depth gauge is right on. It is 4.5' from the ground to it and the time I've hit bottom it has read 4.5'.



Maybe you should stay off the "line". Every time someone posts how many times they hit bottom when I say I didn't come close to hitting bottom and never saw less than 8', which one of us were more likely NOT in the channel?


Please note— I never touched! Also- I was in channel. And somehow I was getting data that the bottom was a foot or so under a 5.5’ keel.

Perhaps my dockside check was off by 6”? But then again, this was not supposed to be an ICW delivery.

It is what it is- fair winds.
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Old 07-11-2018, 12:00   #9
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Re: The AICW

Quote:
Originally Posted by sailorboy1 View Post
If only if someone who draws 6.3' and have just gone through that spot had warned you 5 minutes prior to you going aground



yeah I know I didn't warn you about that spot on the south end because I didn't see a problem because I didn't cut the corner
And I still say it was all your fault. It couldn't have been my fault that I ran aground in my boat.

And I was dead center channel. If I had cut the corner I wouldn't have run aground. Deep water was way on the south side.

And magenta line? I dont need no stinkin' magenta line.
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Old 07-11-2018, 12:44   #10
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Re: The AICW

Last time I was in the ICW (first time as well, about 10yrs ago) had no issues coming North from GA, was drawing about 5½ ft and didn't run aground except the once, which was very much my fault, was looking at something in the water and plop smack into the mud. If her remember correctly, the depths were for the most part pretty much as advertised, if I was where I was supposed to be and there wasn't a creek or something entering the waterway. But at the risk of stirring the pot my info is shall we say a little out of date so things might have changed.....
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