Barbara,
I think the company you are thinking of is the Indiantown Marina.
Good references on the water way can be found at:
http://www.saj.usace.army.mil/Divisions/Operations/Branches/SFOO/
and
http://cruisersnet.net/
and of course the Waterway Guide.

I’m currently crewing on a 54′ Bertram that we are delivering from Orange
Beach, AL to Camden, ME. Hoping to depart on Thursday before this part of
the coast gets closed down completely. We did a sea test on the Bertram on
Sunday. Turns out that was illegal. The bays inside Perdida Pass were
closed to recreational traffic (open today). The Marine Police almost
didn’t let us take the boat back to the Marina. I don’t believe there are
any significant effects on the Florida coast. As a matter of fact the
Florida tourist office is flooding the local airways with advertisements to
come to the clean beaches and fishing grounds in Florida.

We plan to use the Okeechobee Waterway going the other way. Latest report
is minimum depth of a little under 14′.

On Tue, Jun 29, 2010 at 8:46 AM, svtopaz <> wrote:

Hi Guys….it is Barbara here.

I am on my way south and am in St. Augustine at the moment. Going to stay
for the 4th and perhaps a little longer. I had planned on going over to the
Ft Myers area, so my question is…….

Has anyone gone through Lake Okeechobee?? If so could you give me any info
on getting through. I have heard people use a company to get under the
bridge using water to tip the vessel to get under it.

I am still a bit concerned about the oil spill……I may just stay on the
east coast.

~B

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—
Regards,
John Stevenson
http://www.svsarah.com
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For what it is worth, I have gone the longer way through Channel 7 (I
believe it was 7) in the keys. It is a lovely sail past Miami at night
though we came upon two guys in a tiny rowboat without lights fishing
too many miles off the coast of Miami. Going down the keys at night is
also a snap since the light houses have great sector lights. I’m just
not much for the ditches.

Pete

On 6/29/2010 7:42 AM, John Stevenson wrote:

Barbara,
I think the company you are thinking of is the Indiantown Marina.
Good references on the water way can be found at:
http://www.saj.usace.army.mil/Divisions/Operations/Branches/SFOO/
and
http://cruisersnet.net/
and of course the Waterway Guide.

I’m currently crewing on a 54′ Bertram that we are delivering from Orange
Beach, AL to Camden, ME. Hoping to depart on Thursday before this part of
the coast gets closed down completely. We did a sea test on the Bertram on
Sunday. Turns out that was illegal. The bays inside Perdida Pass were
closed to recreational traffic (open today). The Marine Police almost
didn’t let us take the boat back to the Marina. I don’t believe there are
any significant effects on the Florida coast. As a matter of fact the
Florida tourist office is flooding the local airways with advertisements to
come to the clean beaches and fishing grounds in Florida.

We plan to use the Okeechobee Waterway going the other way. Latest report
is minimum depth of a little under 14′.

On Tue, Jun 29, 2010 at 8:46 AM, svtopaz<> wrote:

Hi Guys….it is Barbara here.

I am on my way south and am in St. Augustine at the moment. Going to stay
for the 4th and perhaps a little longer. I had planned on going over to the
Ft Myers area, so my question is…….

Has anyone gone through Lake Okeechobee?? If so could you give me any info
on getting through. I have heard people use a company to get under the
bridge using water to tip the vessel to get under it.

I am still a bit concerned about the oil spill……I may just stay on the
east coast.

~B

_______________________________________________
maillist mailing list

https://pearson424.org/mailman/listinfo/maillist_pearson424.org

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Barbara:

Bob Fine just went through in April. I am sure he will reply, but in the meantime, here is his blog on the trip:

http://thesailinglife.blogspot.com/2010/04/cape-coral-to-indiantown-fl.html

Paul

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Hi Barbara,

If you have a ketch then you don’t need tipping. I knew I was going through
the Okeechobee Waterway back on my way down and measured my masthead at 48
feet (just like the drawings say it is!)

Anyway, the bridge height is usually 49.5 feet, sometimes higher if there’s
been a drought. When I went through I took off my windex, Raymarine wind
instrument sensors and the rather tall masthead light – it is one of the
ones with the flasher as well as nav light and anchor light.

For me, going up the mast is easy as pie – I have Mastmates for each mast
(because they have differing tracks).

Anyway, I just ran it up and left it there for the trip under the bridge.

I probably had enough clearance for everything but to honest even with the
stuff off, I went sideways through the bridge.

Here’s what I have to say about the whole thing: It always looks like your
mast is going to hit no matter what bridge you’re going under. Go under
this bridge once and you’ll learn what it *really* looks like to be close to
the bridge…

That said, the lock masters know what the level is on a day-to-day basis.

It’s a lovely trip and if you don’t need to be in Ft. Myers check out the
Cape Coral Yacht Basin. Tell them I sent you. Tell them I miss them, too.

Good trip!

Bob

On Tue, Jun 29, 2010 at 8:46 AM, svtopaz <> wrote:

Hi Guys….it is Barbara here.

I am on my way south and am in St. Augustine at the moment. Going to stay
for the 4th and perhaps a little longer. I had planned on going over to the
Ft Myers area, so my question is…….

Has anyone gone through Lake Okeechobee?? If so could you give me any info
on getting through. I have heard people use a company to get under the
bridge using water to tip the vessel to get under it.

I am still a bit concerned about the oil spill……I may just stay on the
east coast.

~B

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maillist mailing list

https://pearson424.org/mailman/listinfo/maillist_pearson424.org

—
Bob Fine
s/v Pelican
Pearson 424 Hull #8
http://thesailinglife.blogspot.com
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I recall when I was sailing from Houston, TX via Ft Meyers, Fl thru the
Okeechobee Waterway I checked the chart for clearance. Since there was no
indication of the clearance, I called The US Coast Guard in Florida to obtain
the info. They indicated they did not know, but gave me the telephone number
or the bridge tender.

I called him to inquire about the clearance since I did not want to motor
a day before reaching it if I was unable to clear. His response was, “Well
Capt’n I don’t rightly know! It may be up or it may be down, depending
upon how much water is released into the canal.”

As it turned out, the antenna on top of my ketch rigged mast bent as it
slowly went under and snapped back up after going thru.

That was in 1988. It may have changed since then.

Irin Paris hull 133

In a message dated 6/29/2010 12:29:06 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
writes:

Hi Barbara,

If you have a ketch then you don’t need tipping. I knew I was going
through
the Okeechobee Waterway back on my way down and measured my masthead at 48
feet (just like the drawings say it is!)

Anyway, the bridge height is usually 49.5 feet, sometimes higher if there’s
been a drought. When I went through I took off my windex, Raymarine wind
instrument sensors and the rather tall masthead light – it is one of the
ones with the flasher as well as nav light and anchor light.

For me, going up the mast is easy as pie – I have Mastmates for each mast
(because they have differing tracks).

Anyway, I just ran it up and left it there for the trip under the bridge.

I probably had enough clearance for everything but to honest even with the
stuff off, I went sideways through the bridge.

Here’s what I have to say about the whole thing: It always looks like your
mast is going to hit no matter what bridge you’re going under. Go under
this bridge once and you’ll learn what it *really* looks like to be close
to
the bridge…

That said, the lock masters know what the level is on a day-to-day basis.

It’s a lovely trip and if you don’t need to be in Ft. Myers check out the
Cape Coral Yacht Basin. Tell them I sent you. Tell them I miss them, too.

Good trip!

Bob

On Tue, Jun 29, 2010 at 8:46 AM, svtopaz <> wrote:

Hi Guys….it is Barbara here.

I am on my way south and am in St. Augustine at the moment. Going to

stay

for the 4th and perhaps a little longer. I had planned on going over to

the

Ft Myers area, so my question is…….

Has anyone gone through Lake Okeechobee?? If so could you give me any

info

on getting through. I have heard people use a company to get under the
bridge using water to tip the vessel to get under it.

I am still a bit concerned about the oil spill……I may just stay on

the

east coast.

~B

_______________________________________________
maillist mailing list

https://pearson424.org/mailman/listinfo/maillist_pearson424.org

—
Bob Fine
s/v Pelican
Pearson 424 Hull #8
http://thesailinglife.blogspot.com
_______________________________________________
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Be careful! Most ketches have the taller 47.25′ “I” measurement, putting
the masthead at about 51′ off the water, not including any antenna,
windspeed sensor, or running lights you might have up there.

Rich

I have a 1983 cutter and my mast height including a 2ft. lightning rod is 54’8″ off the water. Jim Roberts

— wrote:

<.. snip>

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I forgot to mention – the tipping guy still does the work, but it’s $175. I
met another 424 owner at Cayo Costa who just got 7 big bins from Walmart,
laid them on the deck on one side, and filled them with water. After
passing the bridge they gave the containers away.

Cost: less than $50.

The Indiantown marina doesn’t do it – they give you the person’s number to
call.

That’s all I have to say about that.

Bob

On Wed, Jun 30, 2010 at 5:14 PM, James Roberts <>wrote:

James
Do you know what your “I” measurement is or perhaps the total length of your mast? The 54’8″ measurement sounds a little high for “I=47.25”. I had thought that Pearson offered a taller version of the cutter, but I can find no measurements for it.

Regards
Rich

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