A New Old Watch. 9th in the STOPWATCH Series
Copyright© 2013 by Old Man with a Pen
Chapter 37
There's a pretty decent current flowing down the St. Clair River. Speed according to knot meter is different than the speed over the ground. Speed over the ground is the combination of knots on the water and mph over the ground. While it is possible to sail the St. Clair, it is much easier ... and more prudent ... to motor. (Hull speed is the designed speed that a displacement hull sailboat can go. It depends on several factors.
The author looked it up. Kings Knight has a hull speed of just under 13 knots.)
There's a lot more involved than just popping into the St. Clair River to travel from Port Huron to
Lake St. Clair. If your vessel weighs more than 300 gross tons, a Licensed Pilot is required. Calculating gross tonnage is pretty simple for a boat up to and including 79 feet. There's a simplified tonnage calculator.
Kings Knight is 87 feet so the simplified calculator can't be used ... unless the boat is a pleasure craft 'not for hire.' (Doesn't carry paying passengers or cargo for profit.)
Since Julie isn't paying the tonnage calculator can be used; The formula is based on the overall length, multiplied by the breadth, multiplied by the "depth" of the hull. That sum is then divided by 100 and then multiplied by a hull coefficient. For most vessels it's .67. Depth is not referring to the Draft. Depth is measured from the main deck to the top of the keel. Kings Knight is 87X30X6 divided by 100 and that result multiplied by .67. Kings Knight displaces 104 tons and is a long way from the 300 ton limit. It is still the best idea to stop at the USCG station at the mouth of the River.
To do that, the Knight has to retrace her steps from the Canadian Marina up the river and cross over to the Michigan shore. That was an entirely different Coast Guard station than the one that supplied the Chief who registered the boat. The station at the mouth of the river had a commissioned officer in charge.
Working the Lakes is a lot more fun than say ... Anchorage, Alaska ... or Cape Cod in the winter ... but it's not a plum ... like Catalina Island or Key West. Officers stationed on the lakes try very hard to become officers stationed in pleased places ... but not so hard as to be stationed where swift thinking and a grasp of command is required ... like Anchorage.
They stopped ... Julie wore her 1988 bikini ... scandalous in 1963 ... on deck. The paperwork was meticulously examined but eventually the Ensign had to pass them as a pleasure craft.
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