Topic starter
13/08/2011 7:47 pm
Greetings From New Orleans ,
And No Place Else Like It ! In my opinion there are just not enough words to fairly and accurately describe this majestic and cosmopolitan sea port on the Mississippi River !
Some one once said that location is everything and just possibly it is the geographic location of the port city of New Orleans that has made it such a great and thriving city !
New Orleans has been dubbed the " Gate Way To South America " and because of its central location on the Gulf Coast , the New Orleans culture is heavily influenced by not only South America but by the influence of the Caribbean Islands as well !
New Orleans lies at the intersection of both Blue Water Commerce and Brown Water Commerce and thus making it such a strategic and important economic engine of the entire country !
New Orleans has the food that literally comes alive in your mouth , New Orleans has the festivals that literally add a new dimension to life itself , New Orleans has the history where four different nations once flew their flags , New Orleans has the population from all over the world , New Orleans has the entertainment factor that brings in thousands of tourist each year !
New Orleans , has it all !
Smooth Sailing !
Ted Davisson
WA-4141
13/08/2011 9:57 pm
Beautiful pictures,,, where is the barge heading?
14/08/2011 2:20 am
Once I dropped into an oyster bar in the FQ and ordered a dozen. The guy behind the bar started cracking them open and I began slurping 'em down with crackers and a little cocktail sauce. When I reached 12 I told him, "I think I've had a dozen". He replied, "I'LL tell you when you've had a dozen!". I think I got 22 or 23 down before he told me that he'd served my dozen. Great place but I don't recall the name of it. Really big oysters, too!
-JH
14/08/2011 2:43 am
Tom, that is a tow, not a barge! A barge is a non-self-propelled vessel good only for storage unless it is pushed by a towboat.
What you see in Ted's picture is a TOW. That tow is flanking Algiers Point. He is headed (eventually) downbound, which at Algiers Point is north by the compass, but we say "southbound". Confused? Welcome to New Orleans!
14/08/2011 1:30 pm
Sigh! Some folks has all the luck! Cap'n Walnut
14/08/2011 1:38 pm
Sigh! Some folks has all the luck! Cap'n Walnut
Topic starter
14/08/2011 6:22 pm
Speaking Of Oysters ......................
Greetings From New Orleans ,
Speaking of oysters , Tom in this shot is what I would refer to as a typical
" Oyster Boat " .
For the most part they are comparitive small in length , shallow draft and single engined . These oyster boats harvest the oysters by simply lowering a rake like piece of equipment over the sides of the boat and then literally dragging the oyster bed and then pulling the oysters up and on to the deck of the boat .
In the first two shots , one just came out of the Industrial Fore Bay and was headed south in the river and no telling what was his destination other than some oyster bed south of New Orleans to some back water bay or marsh .
In the back ground is the all boy's school , Holy Cross that was unfortunately damaged enough by Hurricane Katrina that it has now been abandoned and the main campus has now been moved to another location !
In the third shot is another picture of a south bound " Tow " , like Capt. Bob said , flanking around Algiers Point and once again headed south bound for some point below New Orleans . These shots of the boat flanking Algiers Point , was taken from the former Coast Guard , Vessel Traffic Center , located at the top of the Westin Hotel , located at One Canal Place . It was a great place to visually monitor the traffic in the vicinity of Algiers Point , but this office has now relocated to a government business area across the river to ALgiers , Louisiana .
Pleased to hear that you enjoyed your oysters ! There are more waiting for you !
SMooth Sailing !
Ted Davisson
WA-4141
Tom Schiffer;26949 wrote: Sigh! Some folks has all the luck! Cap'n Walnut
15/08/2011 1:18 am
For the benefit of an outsider, do I understand correctly that "flanking" actually involves running the engines astern, with the helm hard over so the aft end of the whole tow swings over to port side to line up for the bend? Or am I still confused about this?
15/08/2011 3:12 am
No Roger you are pretty much on the money. you kill you headway and swing your stern around to where you can point the head of your tow in the direction you need to be shoving.
15/08/2011 3:18 am
If a barge is heading somewhere somebodys in trouble.
15/08/2011 5:53 am
Not exactly Roger. I'll try to explain the whole process in detail.
Flanking is a downbound maneuver, that is, only performed when one is underway downbound. The engines are operated astern to get the speed of the tow down to current speed or a little less. If a flank is set up correctly, sometimes no rudder is needed to get in flank position, but often the backing (or flanking) rudders are used to maneuver the stern toward the point or inside of the bend or buoy line. Once the actual flank starts, the current begins to swing the head of the tow around toward the point, though the head is in mid-river. The stern holds it's position close to the point. If things go well, sometimes the pilot can take the engines out of gear and the whole thing will float around just right; other times we might have to continue to back and work the stern to the correct position with the backing rudders. The real piloting comes when it is time to "shove out", or end your flank and continue on down the river. It takes intuition and experience to know when it is "time to go". If everything has been done right, you simply come ahead and no rudder (or very little rudder) is needed to go on. If you were a little bit out of shape, you might have to steer some when pushing out of the flank.
The maneuver intimidates some people who don't really know how it is done, but once mastered, it is really the easiest way to make a bend...it takes all the strain out of the situation.
15/08/2011 1:13 pm
Now thats a detailed explanation from a very experienced, and well seasoned pilot. Way more indepth than anything I could tell you Roger. Thanks Bob I hope I get to see you do that one day. All I really knew was the basics of it and actually had forgotten about flanking rudders.
15/08/2011 4:04 pm
Ersters
You lucky dog! I was conversing with some of my "not from the South" Colorado friends and they lumped oysters and okra in the same "yuck" category. Their loss. But then I put rhubarb in the "what's the big deal?" category.
Topic starter
15/08/2011 6:02 pm
Capt. Bob , Great Explanation !
Greetings From New Orleans ,
Capt. Bob , Great Explanation ! Over the years of my boating career I have only witnessed this intricate maneuver and have never actually done it myself . I have decked and steered on tow boats but was never given the opportunity to flank around any considerable turn or point in the river !
Now having said that , I do recall one summer I was on a raft trip down the Snake River in Idaho and at one point was given my own raft to take down and around some pretty tight turns in the river and guess what ? Instead of rowing forward to negotiate these turns and rapids , Yes , I rowed astern and Yes , flanked my little raft around some of these boulders and tight turns in the river ! It was a great experience and I do believe that I actually impressed a few of the guides as well ! It was great to bring to the Snake what many others do on the Mississippi !
Now some times when turning a ship around on a left helm , and with a right hand propeller , by going astern on the engine , the torgue of the ship's wheel will actually help turn the ship to the right because the wheel is walking to the left ! It all help when turning ships around especially in high water with little or no tug assistance !
Smooth Sailing !
Ted Davisson
WA-4141
Bob Reynolds;26959 wrote: Not exactly Roger. I'll try to explain the whole process in detail.
Flanking is a downbound maneuver, that is, only performed when one is underway downbound. The engines are operated astern to get the speed of the tow down to current speed or a little less. If a flank is set up correctly, sometimes no rudder is needed to get in flank position, but often the backing (or flanking) rudders are used to maneuver the stern toward the point or inside of the bend or buoy line. Once the actual flank starts, the current begins to swing the head of the tow around toward the point, though the head is in mid-river. The stern holds it's position close to the point. If things go well, sometimes the pilot can take the engines out of gear and the whole thing will float around just right; other times we might have to continue to back and work the stern to the correct position with the backing rudders. The real piloting comes when it is time to "shove out", or end your flank and continue on down the river. It takes intuition and experience to know when it is "time to go". If everything has been done right, you simply come ahead and no rudder (or very little rudder) is needed to go on. If you were a little bit out of shape, you might have to steer some when pushing out of the flank.
The maneuver intimidates some people who don't really know how it is done, but once mastered, it is really the easiest way to make a bend...it takes all the strain out of the situation.
16/08/2011 2:01 pm
Ted its amazing how knowing the way a river runs and how currents and eddys affect navigation carries from the biggest to the smallest of rivers. Often when Im Kayaking with friends in low water I usually have the least trouble hitting rocks or running aground and friends say how do you know where to run, and Im like well I know how rivers and currents work and I can tell which way to run. The smoothest path has the least resistance.