Pushing through a lock. The stubby Wyaconda is 75 feet long and 22 feet wide with a draft of only four feet. It pushes a 130-foot barge from which the crew does its buoy work. Two diesel engines generate 600 horsepower. Twin screws propel it at 8 mph. A full crew of 12 lives on board in tight quarters and in rotating shifts of nine to 12 days.
Open house on Coast Guard buoy tender
LACROSSE,Wis. — The Coast Guard timed the Upper Mississippi circuit of its workhorse buoy tender vessel Wyaconda to be in LaCrosse for the annual Riverfest. celebration. The vessel docked over the weekend for open house visits to share its mission with the public. The Wyaconda plies the river 400 miles from Dubuque to Minneapolis once the ice clears to repair, replace and relocate the buoys the help river tow captains keep their barges in navigation channels. If the Wyconda crew finds the channel has shifted to less than 100 feet wide and nine feet dep, it alerts the Army Corps for dredging.