I felt a tinge of sadness as I passed the Tennessee
Aquarium on my port side for the last time. We headed down river.
I had looked at the GoPro and realized that
instead of the 1 second
timelapse pictures I had gotten 3 1/2 hours of video. I'm not sure
what to do with that yet. I thought about things for a bit and then
decided to mount the GoPro on the mizzen mast with duct tape. I tied the solar
charging box to a cleat on the mizzen. Then I plugged a USB cord in. I set
the GoPro default power on setting to timelapse in case I forgot later. Then
I checked the orientation with the wi-fi GoPro app and it was good to go. After
about 10 minutes the duct tape came loose and the camera fell to the deck.
The USB cord broke most of its fall so the camera wasn't broken. I secured the camera
again using rope. Lesson learned is to never use duct tape for this purpose.
I had this ready for the Gorge and started filming. I cut it off after we passed
under I-24. I later looked at the results and they are great. There is no fogging and
the images are much brighter.
During our stay in Chattanooga I realized that because of the nearly
complete lack of current the trip back would be longer. I decided that we should join the
contingent heading to the "TVA Docks" which I later learned is Shellmound Campground.
I calculated that Andrea Lynn would arrive at Shelmound at 1550 so I
texted the group. I arrived on time and tied up. Then I guided three other boats in
and they tied up. We quickly discovered that this is a nice campground. We moved to
the Gazebo and hung out. Since there was limited power I brought up my solar charge box
to power a 12 volt fan. I'm sure it was appreciated by more than one of us.
We all had dinner under the stars.
Ships Log
1017 depart dock
1025 passed under bridge for rt 27
1036 down river at 5.4 knots SOG
1133 passed 456.7
1143 passed Bayler School
1152 passed 454.6
1233 passed 450.4
1240 passed 449.5
1313 passed 446.0
1316 passed 445.8
1325 passed Raccoon Creek Pumped storage
1336 passed 443.7
1341 passed 443.2
passed into central time zone
1247 engine RPM 2232
1315 passed 439.5
1351 passed 435.8
1406 passed 434.1
1412 passed 433.5
1419 passed towboat RH Baker
1423 passed 432.5
1436 passed Hales Bar marina
1449 passed under bridge
1456 passed I-24 bridge
1515 passed 426.9
1525 throttled down and turned in to where the docks are
1540 docked
Gallery
Some more fine art
A city worker feeds these cats on her own time and money. For their part they
keep the waterfront rat population down.
With a tinge of sadness it is time to leave Chattanooga.
A little video of the transit of the Tennessee River Gorge
Passing the Coke stage near Hales Bar Marina.
I used my logs to do a quick manual calculation of the time I expected to arrive at our spot for the night. As it
turned out I arrived within a couple of minutes of my ETA.
Shallmound Campground and Nickajack Dam are a nice, laid back and non pretentious place. This is definitely
on my list for trailing the Elver up to sail Lake Nickajack.
The fleet split up. Four boats including us stopped at Shellmound. The others went as far as Goose Pond.
