How Did They Do It?

Vero Beach
27 39.63 N 080 22.26 W

A Westsail 32 is a marvelous boat, capable of taking us all the way around the world and dealing with nature's worst.   Still however there are places we shouldn't go.  The Mississippi River is one such place.  Here's a news item.

Part of Mississippi River closed after barge sinksPosted: Thursday, August 4, 2011 12:51 pmThe Coast Guard says a section of the Mississippi River in north Louisiana has been closed after 35 barges pushed by a towboat broke free and one sank in the river channel.

We also heard from another cruiser last week that a DeFever 41 abruptly flipped and sank in the Mississippi.  A  DeFever is a very sound, very capable power cruiser, like the one owned by Ted and Nancy.  The cruiser said it wasn't a wake that flipped the boat but rather a surge and whirlpool formed at the confluence of The Mississippi and some other major river.

It makes me wonder how the first settlers managed to navigate up the river with pole boats. Jeez.

p.s. We got suckered once again by NOAA weather.  We were going to leave today, but the NOAA local forecast said severe thunderstorms.  I changed my mind about leaving, but the storms never appeared.  Grrrr.  We haven't even seen a threatening cloud.