Guilty of bonehead boating

[Northbeach]

Something happened to me two years ago that is still bothering me. Here is the background. The trip from Lake Washington through the Ballard Locks was uneventful. We enjoyed a good day on the Sound. However coming back home I managed to ruin the day for myself. What bothers me is I still don’t understand why it happened. Lake Washington is above sea level. The locks drop you down from lake level to Puget Sound headed out to sea. On the way home the locks lift you up to the lake level.
Here is the short version. I had gone through the locks and was motoring home. I needed to pass under 7 bridges (I think). The lowest bridge is the Freemont Bridge. In the morning we went the same route (only route available) and passed under all the Bridges without incident. As I am approaching the Freemont Bridge the Bridge operator sounds the emergency 5 blast warning. Immediately we come to a dead stop and I hail him on the VHF frequency. He TELLS me that my mast won’t clear. Now when the bridge operator tells you your mast won’t clear a smart person will listen and wait for him to raise the bridge. But not me, no, I had to tell him that we passed under the bridge a few hours earlier without incident. So he said that if my mast was less than a certain length I would be ok. Fortunately I had come to a dead stop for this conversation. We powered up moved forward and promptly ran the top 6” of the mast smack into the bridge, destroying the wind speed indicator.
This really bothers me on several levels. First of all I consider myself a very conscientious individual yet this is the second time I have smacked the top of my mast on a bridge. The first time I chalk it up to inexperience and confusion over the written instructions the previous owner provided in relationship to bridge clearance. But now I have done it twice. This was the second time I am having a hard time living with myself over the incident. To be real honest it bothers me enough that I really haven’t enjoyed sailing as much since the incident. I drive heavy complex machinery for a living yet I run my sailboat into bridges at an alarming rate. Immediately after the incident I asked the bridge operator why we could clear in the AM but not a few hours later. He didn’t know. We hadn’t changed the load on the boat so we were not riding any higher in the water.
I still don’t know how or why it happened. Why is it I can pass under the bridge in the morning without incident, yet smash the top of my mast on the same bridge a few hours later? I passed under the highest point of the bridge both times. Lake Washington doesn’t have a significant tide. I know any body of water is affected by the gravitational pull of the moon but the ‘tide’ in Lake Washington isn’t significant enough to account.
It’s possible that the Freemont Bridge was actually up in the morning when we passed through and I just don’t remember it being up therefore assumed we cleared it, when in fact we wouldn’t have if it had been down. But I honestly don’t remember it being up, and seem to remember going under it without incident in the morning.
Some people make things happen, other people watch things happen, and some people are always wondering what happened. Unfortunately I find myself in the third category on this ugly/embarrassing event in my life. Any help would be appreciated….
Standing by for incoming…………….. but would really appreciate being educated in addition to the well deserved ridicule……….

[PBzeer]

Possiblities:

Inflow of fresh water

Boat slightly heeled first time through

Murphy's Law

Impatience

The last is what I think really bothers you about the incident. You were warned, but didn't want to wait.

[Machias]

I'm brand new here, reading and reading everyone's posts. But if you ask me, this isn't so much a sailing question as it is a general life question. You say this happened 2 years ago....and it is still bothering you to the point of ruining a pastime you obviously love. You need to try and let it go, chaulk it up to experience and move on and enjoy yourself. When you come to bridges be a little extra careful. Sounds like lots of factors could have come into play, you may have just barely missed it in the morning, 6 inch change doesn seem like a lot to me. Could sailing into the wind raise or lower your boat any? That coupled with increased boat traffic causing extra waves you didn't deal with in the morning, even a very slightly raised level in the lake from not letting extra water out of the lock. No ridicule here, I think your just being way too hard on yourself.

[sailingdog]

I would highly recommend you learn what your minimum air draft for your boat is. Figure it is the height of the mast, the cabintop and about five feet for the VHF antenna and such. You don't say what boat it is, so I can't give you an estimate on the height. I am guessing it is a fractionally rigged boat, since you didn't manage to destroy your forestay either time.

I am surprised you didn't take the bridge operator's word for whether you would make it through or not. Most of the bridge operators I've run into are quite conscientious about their duties.

It is very difficult to estimate whether you're going to clear a bridge from the deck of a boat... since it is hard to estimate the height differences accurately, and gets even worse when you're very close to making it. Chances are pretty good that you did go under the bridge you hit while it was still open.

Be aware that even if you are sure you can pass under an openable bridge, you should probably contact them prior to transiting as a safety measure.

Just curious, where are the bridges in relation to the locks? If the bridges are over the locks or the canals connecting the locks, it might matter in which direction you're going, since if you're going in one direction the water in the canal might be a bit lower than the other.

[T34C]

What size boat are you sailing? It is possible the while the load on the boat was the same, itcould have been distributed diferently. Smaller boats don't take alot of movement by the crew to heel. Even a slight heel could be enough to allow you to slide under a bridge one time but not the next.

Another issue sometimes over looked on lakes is a wind induced tide. My home port on Green Bay, in Lake Michigan water levels can fluctuate (sp) more than a foot at time simply due to the direction and strength of the wind.

How fast were you going on the out bound trip? If you were going faster while outbound, it is possible that the boat had a tendency to "squat down" in the water a bit due to having more power applied. 6" worth would be a bit of a stretch, but would depend on the size/type of boat.

[teshannon]

You probably drank enough beer to lighten the boat just enough.

[chucklesR]

I'm not sure if the locks would cancel out the effect of the tide.
according to this site: http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/pubs/PDF/mofj2533/mofj2533.pdf it does not, or at least the graphic shows the tide affect all the way through the area.

[Faster]

As was already pointed out.. it was 2 years ago. Presumably it hasn't happened again since!? Let it go.

I'm willing to bet that the bridge had in fact been open in the morning. The only other possibility that I can see is the lock levels vary slightly (if this is the first bridge after the lock maybe there's a slight drop off while filling a downstream lock. If so you were very lucky to clear earlier if in fact the bridge was closed.

But hey, you haven't done it again in two years, I think you've figured it out. Go easy on yourself and get out there and enjoy things again.

[soulesailor]

My experience of living in the PNW left me with one solid memory: RAIN. Could the water level have risen during the day from the feeder streams pouring into the lake? Not only that, but on nice SUNNY days the water levels on rivers with their headwaters in a glacial watershed can also rise. I remember on many sunny days the rivers quickly getting too high to paddle.

[mwrohde]

Wake or some other wave push you up?

I agree with the others though - two years mourning over a mistake is enough. No one got hurt, right?

Experience doesn't teach lessons gently. Learn it an move on.