Touche's slip is on Bayou Castine on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain. Fairly tropical most of the year.
Monday I went for a nice sail on the lake. Well, nice if you don't count the biting flies and love bugs. If you don't know about love bugs, Google them. They're disgusting creatures whose only natural enemies are Kenworths and Peterbilts. They occur in spring and late summer. Just out of my slip I saw a 5-7 foot alligator then another about 8-9 feet. The bayou has developed a prolific growth of water weeds. As I came to a tight spot in the bayou, the weeds forced Touche' and a Catalina 34 to pass close aboard in a narrow section of the bayou. When I returned to the slip, the weather was deteriorating and I wanted to get Touche' tied up before the storm hit. Oh, crap! A large island of weeds had drifted across the entrance to Touche's slip. I tried to back up to it, grab it with a boat hook and move it out of the way. No luck. The storm was approaching fast so I just powered into the slip bow first pushing the weeds in with me. The island of weeds wrapped around the bow and keel. I normally back in. The dock lines worked and Touche' was safely tied up when the storm hit. It was raining hard and I was reluctant to get wet to retrieve the shore power cord to fire up the air conditioning. All that was missing was for The Rock to show up in his Jungle Cruise costume. During the storm, I sweated and pondered how to clear the weeds. Fortunately, the storm killed any wind. I backed out of the slip, motored around to the far side of my pier, tied Touche's stern to the pier and used the propwash to blow the weeds out of the slip and into the bayou. I could then pull back around the pier and back into the slip normally. The harbormaster said he'd contacted Wildlife and Fisheries to come spray the weeds. Estimated 2-3 weeks. What joy! Here's pictures: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1qIsKMu82fMUa_zSF_QhDqLjBycwYQCx2?usp=sharing The one titled "Weeds blown out" shows using the propwash to clear the slip. -- Dennis C. Touche' 35-1 #83 Mandeville, LA
