Erie Yacht Club, Erie PA.

This blog posting is getting written in the morning.  We normally do our writing in the evening before we retire for the night.  We left the dock at 0550 hours and didn’t tie up in our home slip until 2230 hours.  At that point it was time for a quick glass of wine for the mate and a shot of rum for the skipper to toast our safe arrival and then off to bed.

The weather this trip has been “interesting”.  That is sailor talk for difficult.  It seems as though we have never really gotten stable weather systems that hung around for a while which means that planning days in advance has been impossible.  This week was no exception.  We wanted good weather to come up the lake as 70 miles in open water can be miserable if winds and waves are against you.  A few days ago the forecast for yesterday appeared to be as good as it was going to get for a number of days so we made the effort to put miles under the keel in the canal, skipping places we usually like to stay in order to make our weather window.

As such it wasn’t a bad forecast, winds from the East at 10 to 15 which means winds off the stern quarter producing a bit of a roll, especially if the forecast was off by 5 knots on the low side.  Two days ago it was quite windy, out of the east at 20+ knots with the next days forecast holding at 10 to 15, shifting south east which would be directly off our beam (lots of rolling).

Leaving Tonowanda early (0550 hours) we slogged up the Niagara river fighting a 2-1/5 knot current until we reached the Black Rock Lock which allows you to bypass the rapids on the Niagara.  We ran a little faster than our normal cruise rpm and made the lock at 0725 as upbound traffic gets locked through on the half hours.  When we called the lock on the VHF radio there was no response so we motored up to the lock entrance and read the sign giving the hours.  It turns out the lock doesn’t start operating until 1100 on weekends, meaning that we wouldn’t get through until 1130, giving us four hours to kill.  At this point the navigator was demoted to deck hand as this was the third miscalculation this trip.  In his defense, when we have been down bound we always arrived in the late afternoon and upbound we always came through on a week day when operations resume early.  Normally we don’t like to travel on week ends for obvious reasons.  We are selfish and like the water ways to ourselves.  The crew then set to work putting the mast back up and rigging the boat for normal operations.  Fortunately there was no down bound traffic waiting to go at 1100 so the lock operators allowed upbound vessels (two of us) passage early.

Black Rock Lock, not terribly exciting with only a 6 foot lift.

Once into the Lake outside of Buffalo harbor, rather than set a straight course to Erie we headed for Dunkirk which is 30 miles up the shore line.  Zigging a bit only adds a few miles to the trip.  As we were looking at three mildly different wind forecasts and didn’t know which one was going to be correct we figured that Dunkirk would give us a bail out point if we needed.  At worst we would be close to the shore so that if the wind picked up significantly we could always get closer to the shoreline to reduce the fetch and keep the wave action down, especially if winds were on the beam.  It turned out by mid day the forecasts were starting to predict South East winds of 5 to 10 knots.  It is pretty easy to make a prediction when the day is half over.  As it was, we saw winds that varied from North to South and velocities from 0 to 15 knots, The steadying sail was able to come down just before sunset and was only really needed for an hour or so during the day.

Coming out of Buffalo, a better day than forecast.

It must be that time of year again on Lake Erie as the boat was covered in flies and we do mean covered.  Even though we are totally screened in some managed to find their way into the boat which kept us busy, killing about 100 inside the boat after we docked.  I can’t imagine the misery of a sail boater who is stuck out in an open cockpit doing the same trip.  Actually, I can imagine it as we have been there and done that.

This was as much of a sunset as we got with the overcast skies. The rain and wind moved in early in the morning after we got in. Perfect timing.

We had a couple of first today, one being cooking and eating dinner while we were under way.  Normally our planning allows us to finish traveling, anchor or tie up at a dock before eating dinner like civilized folk.  The other was using our two million candle power search light (its first usage) as we came into the dock.  It seems as we get older our night vision isn’t what it used to be and being able to actually see the end of our dock and the boats on either side is helpful.  When we purchased the spotlight in 2014 we were smart enough to buy the 12v version with a long cord that plugs into a 12v outlet at the nav station.  We figured a battery operated one would be dead when we wanted to use it.

Back at our summer home. If that ramp looks steep it is because Lake Ontario is at a record high and Lake Erie is not far behind. The last time water in the lake was this high was 1986. Thank goodness for floating docks or we would be wearing boots to get out the docks to the boat.  Just a few years ago you walked down the ramp to the dock although it was not at that extreme angle.

Yesterday:  96 sm (a record) in 13.3 engine hours.  Total: 2248 sm.

Some statistics from the trip north:

42 Days from start to end discounting the week we came to Erie when Dad passed.  It turned into more a boat delivery than a stop and smell the roses cruise.

553 gallons of diesel in 316 engine hours; 1.75 gallons/hr and 4.07 sm/gallon (3.6 nm/gallon)

Total miles since September of 2014 when we started traveling south:  15,000 sm.

Number of blog postings: 593, Number of blog views: 56,000

With this posting, this blog comes to an end.  Liberty will be our summer home up north as we have the condo and C Dory in Florida.  Travel to and from Florida will no longer be at 7 knots.

We will also be able to retire our Spot transmitter, saving us the $200 yearly fee as the only reason we had it was to keep Dad informed of our movement every 10 minutes.

As this blog was to document our long term cruise and we know that any cruises in Liberty will NOT be long term, but short (few weeks or so) it makes sense to put the blog to bed so to speak.  Not many people will be too interested in our day to day activities when we are not traveling long distances.  The fact that we have almost used up all of our allocated disk space on the WordPress site also tells us we have been doing this long enough.

All stop, done with engines.  So ends the gospel according to Dave 🙂

Dave and Bobbi.

 

 

 

Tonowanda, NY.

We took on some passengers before we left the dock at 0700 sharp as the Spencerport lift bridge was only a few hundred feet to the west of where we docked.  Steve and Wendy were along for the ride to Brockport and arrived with breakfast in hand, welcome aboard for sure.

Steve, Wendy and the Skipper. Steve was able to point out places of interest as we motored West in the canal.  The mate had to take the picture as there are not a lot of people out and about before 0700.

After we dropped Steve and Wendy between the bridges in Brockport we continued on to Holley (one of our favorite stops) where the lift bridge operator suggested that we tie up as there was a 5k/8k run going on in Albion, 10 miles up the canal.  He said they wouldn’t open the lift bridge in Albion until it was over and was scheduled from 0800 to 1000 hours.  If we went through Holley we would definitely be held at the Hulberton bridge that was three miles west of Holley.  We said we prefer to go on as when we got the go-ahead we would be that much further up the canal.  After tying the boat at the wall in Hulberton, the operator said we would be able to proceed to Albion where we now would have to wait for the parade that was scheduled to start immediately after the run.

Cooling our heels in Hulberton.

OK, now it is off to Albion, seven miles away.  There are two bridges here, a few blocks apart.  We were let through the first bridge and told that the operator would see if we could go through the second one as the parade seemed to be winding down.  Actually, the parade didn’t go over the bridge over the canal but turned east right at the canal.  He raised the second bridge which essentially put a halt to the parade as the guard gate was located before the parade made their left turn.  It was only for a few minutes and this location was at the tale end of the parade route so it didn’t seem to effect anything.  All in all they made a big deal about nothing as they could have just told us to wait when we got to Albion.

We passed through Medina, another one of our favorite stops and there wasn’t a boat to be seen along their entire wall.  Middleport and Gasport were the same; no boats.  We arrived in Lockport to go through the two locks of the day and again didn’t have to share the locks with any other boats.

In Lock 33. Lock 34 is connected to 33 which is why the west gate is so tall.

Actually we didn’t need to share the canal with any other boats going our direction until we were about seven miles from Tonowanda and then it appeared that anybody who owned a boat decided to use it late in the afternoon.  We ended up behind a slow power boat that was in no hurry to get to North Tonowanda as the “street dance” didn’t get going until around 1800 hours. The fact that there were all these boats milling around should have clued us into the fact that “big” things were happening at the end of the canal.  All the dock space was pretty much taken here, boats were rafted three deep in places.  We luckily found a spot with power on the high south wall and eventually got the dockmaster to take our $30 for the nightly dockage and power.

Part of the crowd on the Tonowanda side of the canal.

Our son Aaron and his significant other Bethany showed up for a light dinner of grilled shrimp and salad before heading back to their home in Nefane.

At the dock in Tonowanda, near the railroad lift bridge (that hasn’t operated in a lot of years).  Boats were coming and going behind and in front of us as the evening wore on.

Today:  66 sm in 10.2 engine hours.  Total: 2152 sm.

Two locks and 14 bridges that needed raised for us.

Dave

Spencerport, NY

We actually had a “deadline” to meet today, as our ride to Charlie Brown’s leaves Spencerport at 1600 hours sharp. To that end we left Newark at 0550 as is our general custom and arrived at the first lock of the day, Lock 29 at 0700.  The navigator gets a pat on the head for that one today.

It is pollen season on the Erie. The white on the water is poplar fuzz, sometimes it appears as it is snowing.

 

Inside Lock 29.. One of these years they will get around to fixing the lock walls. There are a few locks in this condition.

 

At Pittsford we spotted the R.W. Kenan. He is a fixture on the canal as he spends his summers floating from port to port and his winters on a boat in Florida.

 

The west gate leak in Lock 32. It has been like this for as long as we can remember.

 

Heading west on the canal just before the Genesee River that flows through Rochester.

 

The dock at Spencerport. Free dock, water, power, power, shower etc., just a delightful little place.

Now, who is this Charlie Brown guy and why do we need a ride?  Actually, Charlie Brown’s is a tavern that is 19 miles from us in Penfield, just east of Rochester.  We have some friends in Spencerport and they have a tradition of going to Charlie Brown’s every Friday for drinks and dinner.  As today is Friday, if we want to see them we better be ready to go at 1600 as that is when they leave and they are taking us with them.  We knew it was 1600 when our retired Secret Service friend Steve showed up.  We met his fiance Wendy at the restaurant where we had a drink and then a nice dinner before heading back to Steve’s house to check out his gardens that has a creek running through it.  After that is was a short walk back to the boat in attempt to work off the dinner and get some more “steps” in.

Today:  45 sm in 7.3 engine hours.  Total: 2086 sm.

4 locks, 29, 30, 32 and 33 (there is no 31 as there is a 28 and 28b) and one bridge that needed lifted.

Dave

Newark Terminal NY, Free Dock

We knew we liked Newark as we have stayed here once before so there was some added incentive to get going early.  We would be able to relax a bit, do laundry and a bit of grocery shopping so we left the dock at 0550 hours in hazy, misty and cool conditions.  The first lock was 30 miles to the west so we didn’t have to worry about a 0700 opening time as we didn’t reach the first lock of the day (Lock 25) until 1000 hours.  Locks 25 and 26 are short lifts, only 6 feet each so they go pretty fast.

At some point today we reached Mile 2000 on this trip and you can also see that there are no nautical charts for this section of the canal.

 

We have to resort to the tried and true; paper charts. It is really hard to get lost but flipping the pages helps pass the time.

Again, we didn’t have to share any locks with other boats and three of the locks had their gates open for us when we arrived.  Lock 27 at Lyons had a class of elementary students at the lock so we put on a show for them, blowing our horn when we arrived and departed and they got to see a boat get lifted 12 feet.  It wasn’t as exciting for us as we have done over 200 locks since obtaining Liberty.

The Richmond Aqueduct on the Seneca River.  The aqueduct carried the original Erie Canal over the Seneca before the canal was enlarged and used the river as part of the canal.  The arches supported the tow path and the rectangular cut outs behind the arches held the actual canal.

Leaving Lock 27 we headed for Lock 28.  The gates were open when we arrived but there wasn’t much to hang on to when we got into the 20 foot deep chamber.  Either the lock master didn’t think we rated lock lines or maybe he thought we were so good we didn’t need them.  Either way we had to do without.  We tried calling on the VHF when we were at the bottom of the lock to see what the story was but he didn’t answer.

Lock 28. Lines hanging down the lock sides would be nice.

 

We thought we would pretend we were a commercial vessel and temporarily used one of the bits that are located in the walls.

 

When the boat came up in the lock we saw the lock lines nicely coiled up at the top of the wall. We know we weren’t the first boat through this lock today so why they were not in use is a mystery.

Once at Newark we stopped and pumped out the holding tank (free), then docked the boat on one of their low floating docks (free) and plugged into shore power (free).  We also were able to do laundry (free) and they have the nicest rest rooms and showers that were spotless.  Stores and restaurants are a short walk across the canal and we choose to eat at one of the nicest places in town; the salon of Liberty with a water front view and a dinner of corn, potatoes and grilled salmon with a glass of wine and apple pie for desert.  The sun has been out since noon, temperatures are near 80 degrees so the short pants were able to make an appearance and life is good again.

They have murals painted on the walls here.

 

The second story of the building is a welcome center, the first floor houses the showers, rest rooms and laundry.

 

The only inconvenience, if you call it that is the power and water pedestals are located on the high dock. We could have moved to the high dock but it is easier for us to get on and off the boat on the floating dock.

Today:  54 sm in 8.6 engine hours.  Total: 2041 sm.

Five Locks, 25 – 28 & 28b.

Dave

Baldwinsville, NY Free Dock

Baldwinsville has a set of free docks that are on the west side of Lock 24 that is located in the center of town.  We wanted to make sure we made it before the lock closed for the evening so we left the dock at 0550 hours heading for Lock 21 which was eight miles away.  At seven knots we arrived 10 minutes early so we were able to get the 0700 opening.  Lock 22 was only an additional mile and was open and ready for us when we arrived.   After that is was on to Lake Oneida which was essentially calm.  There were light winds from the south west at less than five knots which made the crossing enjoyable as we let the autopilot do it’s thing.  We did have to stay in our screened in boat as lots of bugs were looking for a free ride up the lake.

Liberty in Rome before we left this morning. It was raining yesterday evening and we weren’t interested in getting wet to take a picture.

 

Heading up the canal in the early morning. With no current and no wind we show our boat speed to be 7 knots at 2050 RPM’s, exactly what it should be. It is nice to know the bottom and prop must be clean enough to not slow us down.

Once across the lake we passed through Brewerton and saw Lady Barbara moored at the Ess-Kay docks.  She is owned by Gary Miller of the EYC and left Palm Coast, Florida about a week before we arrived to overnight there.  When the Oswego canal didn’t open on time Gary left his boat here until he is able to bring it the rest of the way back.  Lady Barbara is too tall to fit under the low bridges on the western part of the canal so he goes up to Lake Ontario via the Oswego and then through the Welland Canal to get back into Lake Erie.

 

Gary came on deck to talk to us as we passed by. We might beat him back to the EYC yet, the tortes and the hare thing.

We fueled up just to the west of Ess-Kay, taking on 50 gallons of diesel at $2.90/gallon, the cheapest fuel we have seen in a while.  That topped off our starboard fuel tank and is enough to take us through the rest of the Erie Canal as we reached the half way point through the canal today on the Lake.  Our port fuel tank is full and we will use part of that to come up Lake Erie so we are done buying diesel for a while.

As we were getting ready to leave the fuel dock a large trawler that was docked behind us cast off and headed west.  We followed them into Lock 23, then further west on the canal before they turned north to head to Oswege and we continued west towards Buffalo alone.  Arriving at Lock 24 during the mid afternoon we waited a few minutes while they dumped the lock for us before tying up above the lock in Baldwinsville.

In Lock 23 with another trawler.

 

Traveling the Erie Canal has nothing on the snaking paths through the Georgia wetlands. First we go ESE for a while before we get to go WNW.

 

We came across a swan family, the male (cob), female (pen) and baby swans (cygnets).

Once here we could take care of some boat chores such as scrubbing the decks and giving the interior cabins a cleaning.  Even though it has been raining off and on for days it isn’t enough to clean the decks.  Walking around leaves muddy footprints everywhere as the boat is covered in dirt.  We think we picked up most of it in Canajoharie as we were docked almost under a busy bridge and the wind was blowing hard.  There were stones and grit everywhere.  It did rain quite a bit overnight and mist at times crossing the lake today.  Just about the time we finished the scrubbing on the decks the rain has set in again in earnest.  We filled the water tanks using an umbrella to help stay dry and it has now been steadily raining for hours.  It is no wonder Lake Erie and Ontario water levels are at record highs.  At least the decks are getting another rinse.

 

Liberty at the dock in Baldwinsville.   Where are the other boats?  Actually, we are not complaining, we like the lack of competition for dock space, especially when it is free.  Electric is $5.

Tomorrow an early start can get a jump on things as it is 30 miles to the next lock.  We won’t have to worry about getting to the lock before 0700.

Today:  57 nm in 8.7 hours.  Total:  1987 nm.

Four Locks, 21 – 24

Dave

 

 

Rome, NY Free Dock

We were waiting at Lock 14 at 0700 this morning after quietly (as quiet as we could) sneaking away from the dock.  We didn’t want to wake the people aboard the Gemini catamaran docked behind us.  While you might think we were being neighborly, in reality we wanted to be the only boat in the lock and wanted to travel at our own pace through the canal.  Sometimes if you have two boats going the same direction and one is slower than the other the lock master will hold the lock until the slower boat catches up which might entail a 15 or 20 minute wait.  If you do that too many times in a day you start to loose hours of travel time.

Fortunately nobody was stirring on the cat when we left and we managed to go through locks for the entire day by ourselves.

Early morning on the canal, sunny skies and no wind.

 

There are places that Interstate 90 runs right along the edge of the canal.

Lock 17 has the highest lift on the canal; 40 feet.  It is also the only lock that has an overhead gate, this being on the east end.  They were in the process of dumping the lock for us as we arrived so we did have to wait about 10 minutes before entering.  Locking through this one requires all boats to use the south wall which required us to move our fenders from the starboard side to the port side.  Normally we dock starboard side to as our wheel is offset to starboard and our engine controls are next to the starboard pilot house door.  This way we can be on the side deck and still control the boat if need be.  There are only lines dangling from the top of the lock that you hold on to while going up or down in this lock, not pipes or cables to attach to.  We were going up which is usually a bit more difficult than going down as the boat wants to drag the fenders up the walls.  The 40 foot change in elevation took 33 minutes which was painfully slow.  The good news is that since the lock is being filled so slowly that there is little turbulence and the boat is easy to control.

The overhead gate at Lock 17.

 

Inside Lock 17. The steel walls of this chamber drove the flux gate compass for our autopilot crazy and we had to shut it down while we were in here.

Once out of the lock is was more of the same for the next four locks.  We go lucky on two locks because as we were approaching the gates opened and a boat came out meaning they had just dropped the lock and we could motor right in.  Two other locks needed to be dumped for us although it seems that if there is no boat in the lock they can dump the water out in a real hurry.

Approaching Lock 19 with a train passing over the railroad bridge that crosses the canal at an angle. The lock gate (closed) is visible under the bridge.

 

 

Exiting Lock 19 we came across a dredge doing it’s thing. There is a creek to the right of the dredge that fills in the canal every year with gravel. They needed to move the dredge out of the way before we could pass and we were only seeing a little over six feet of water for about a 100 yard stretch. The depth of the canal is supposed to be 12 feet.

 

Farther east on the canal we came upon another, newer dredge working. Depth in this area was seven feet.

Eventually we ran out of “time” as the locks stop operating at 1700.  We made Rome at 1635 hours with another 9 miles to go to the next lock.  While we need to make as many miles as possible tomorrow, motoring up to and staying outside the lock on the wall wouldn’t net us anything as we can stay here in Rome (no power or water either), leave at our normal time of 0600 and essentially be at the lock when they start operating in the morning.  The last few hours  today has been in a steady drizzle with more on tap for tomorrow afternoon.  It seems to be a regular occurrence this year.  The good news is that we seemed to have timed the crossing of Lake Oneida well as winds are supposed to be light tomorrow when we cross in the morning.

Today:  55 sm in 9.8 engine hours.  Total: 1930 sm

Seven locks, Locks 14 through 20

Dave

Canajoharie Free Dock, NY Day 2

The weatherman was true to his word, the morning dawned with the wind increasing and it built until the local airports were reporting winds in the 20 to 25 knot range with gusts to 34 knots.  We saw a few big powerboats enter lock 14 which is about a 1/4 mile from us and the small sailboat that was docked behind us also left at some point and was replaced by some “Loopers” in a Gemini catamaran.

A drone shot of Liberty, well actually a picture taken from the highway bridge over the canal here.

We had a leisurely breakfast on board and then wandered up to Big Lots and Dollar General.  We were in no hurry to get going as the wind made the temperature feel colder than the mid 50’s, at least to those of use who have gotten used to Florida weather.  Big Lots didn’t get any money from us, Dollar General did better as we left them $34.  After lunch we attempted to watch a DVD that was left in the “Free” box at one of the marinas we were at and found that it wouldn’t work in our area.  Now, if we had a DVD player sold in Greenland or in Europe we could have watched it.  As it turns out, the same movie was available on Netflix and we streamed it so not all was lost.  Next up was a hike up to visit the “pot that washes itself” on Canajoharie Creek.  We have been here a number of times before and it still looks the same. 🙂

20 feet wide and 10 feet deep, there are signs warning of the danger before you descend to the the creek floor.

After a short nap we were off to dinner at a Italian restaurant/pizza place in town.  The town is actually only three blocks long and is frozen in time.  There are a lot of stone and brick homes here as the town burnt to the ground three times and there was an early ordinance prohibiting wood construction for a while.  The Italian place is your typical small town establishment, run by an elderly gentleman and his wife.  As we were the only customers eating in, we got pretty good service.  When questioning the gent on the excellent pizza we ordered (cheese, pepperoni and anchovies) he informed us that everything was home made.  There is enough left over for lunch for one or two days.  He was really pushing his home made deserts that looked great but we passed.  His wife commented that we didn’t eat much, while we thought we did pretty good.  Beech Nut (baby food) was founded here in 1891 but left town in 2011 and the plant stand empty in the downtown.

As Lock 14 is quite near us we won’t be getting our usual early start but must wait for the lock to start operating at 0700 to get underway.

No miles traveled.

Dave

Canajoharie Free Dock, NY

The locks begin operation at 0700 hours so we left the dock at 0555 to be there when they opened.  Once more the navigator let us down as we arrived one half hour early, but early is better then late.  Evidently the lock (Lock 8) wasn’t as far away as he thought.  That is strike two on this trip, one more and he gets replaced.

Cooling our heels, waiting for 0700 at Lock 8. I went up to talk to the operator and he told me that he had already drained the lock for us and would open the gates at precisely 0701.

We “picked up” our “friends” on the large steel trawler after we passed through the lock.  They had motored ahead of us yesterday evening and tied up to the lock wall after passing through number 8.  We could see they were casting off lines as we came out of the lock and we waited for them but they waved us by.  Calling them on the VHF they said they were quite happy to follow us, even though they are a tad faster.  The trawler is big enough to have a bulbous bow (you might have to Google the term) and it seems to roll more than us which is surprising.   I guess they were happy with us contacting the lock operators.  We generally prefer to lead as we like to get in and out of the locks in a timely fashion.  Too many boats go to idle speed 1/4 mile before they get to the lock and fool around doing who knows what inside the lock.

I have no idea what this building is but found it interesting.

Approaching Canajoharie we made the command decision to cut the day short, if you define short as seven hours, for a number of reasons.  The weather forecast for tomorrow is the same as it was on May 15, 2016.  We were at the same location (here), looking for a weather window to cross Lake Oneida and winds were forecast to be West at 20 to 30 knots.  We stayed put at that time (actually three days) and our friend from the EYC, Gary Miller waved as he passed by, heading for the Lake.  He had to turn around and backtrack a bit to find dockage as he found the lake was too rough for his 76 foot actively stabilized yacht.

Since we have a free dock here that has power (also free) so it only makes sense to lay over another day.  Winds for the following day will be west at 5 to 10 making for easier travel to the lake.  Fighting high winds in locks is no fun.  The good news is that high temperatures tomorrow will be in the mid 50’s, in 2016 they were calling for wet snow.

While we could have easily gotten through another two locks and added 10 more miles to our total, we would have ended up having to pay for dockage and power at the St. Johnsville Marina for two evenings so we essentially saved $80+ in the process.  We could always stay tied to a lock wall, use the generator for power and run the diesel heater to stay warm but that is too much like camping as the locks are generally in the middle of nowhere.  We like our convenient creature comforts.

At the dock in Canajoharie. Our green topside stripe is really crying out to be re-painted. It is on the “list”.

Tomorrow we can fill the hours by doing what we always do, walking around town to take in the sights, and visiting Dollar General and Big Lots to see if there is anything we don’t really need.

Today:  40 sm in 7 engine hours, 6 locks.  Total: 1875 sm.

Dave

Mohawk Harbor Marina and Casino, Schenectady, NY

As we knew we had miles to go this morning, we cast off at 0550 hours.  The run up the Hudson to Troy and the Federal Lock there was up current all the way.  We started off at 5.2 knots, by 0900 we were up to 6 and it didn’t get much better than that for the rest of the trip.

The Hudson Athens Lighthouse, built in 1874 and fully automated in 1949.

Along the way we picked up a few trawlers, one passed us going almost the same speed and the other one followed us at our speed.  We all went into the Federal Lock at once (after the lock disgorged 11 jet skis heading south) and we passed the “faster” trawler once we were outside the lock as he had to remove some of his top hamper to fit under a bridge just before Waterford.

Waterford itself was chock full of boats that are still waiting for the Champlain Canal to open.  The canal system was scheduled to open on May 17th but the main portion didn’t actually open until May 24.  This means that if you got to Waterford expecting to head for Lake Champlain on the 17th that you have been sitting for 14 days with no end in sight.  It appeared that quite a few of the boats in Waterford were locked up and their owners had left until such time as the canal opens.

Boats everywhere in Waterford.

Sitting at the bottom of Lock 2 in Waterford. This lock has a lift of 34 feet.

When entering the Erie Canal at Waterford there are five locks within a one and one half mile stretch.  Assuming no east bound traffic, you can go from one lock to the other in rapid succession as the next lock has it’s gates open and is waiting for you.  It took us one and one half hours to go through the five locks that have a combined lift of 170 feet.  As we were the first boat in our pack of three we moved up to the front of the lock to make room for the other two.  In the past we have been alone or only had another boat with us.  This allows us to pick a place on the wall we like, a section that has cables that we loop a line around to ride the cable up the wall with almost no effort.  Today, locks 4, 5 and 6 only had a ladder and no cables at the far end of the lock requiring us to use a boat hook, thrusters and engine to control the boat.

The bulk carrier Day Peckinpaugh seems to get kicked around from place to place. It is now between locks 2 and 3. She is supposed to be a floating classroom and museum, money was appropriated and work was to be finished in 2012. It never happened.

Exiting Lock 6 we all headed up the Mohawk River to Lock 7 with us in the lead.  Again we had to use the ladder to control the boat in the lock but this time it was a bit different.  As the lock began to fill we struggled to stay next to the wall, the current wanting to push us off.  With both thrusters full on, and a lot of effort being expended holding on to the ladder with the boat hook we finally rose to the top a distance of 27 feet.  The trawler behind us didn’t have as much luck as they eventually got blown off the wall and ended up drifting around in the center of the lock.  It actually appeared as if the water was coming up both sides of the walls and was keeping them centered.  When we exited the lock, they bailed out of line and tied up on the upper lock wall for the night, maybe they had enough excitement for the day.  We reached our destination about 8 miles above Lock 7 while the other trawler continued on for Lock 8.

The normal locking hours are from 0700 to 1700 hours except for some select locks and bridges that operate until 2200 hours.  Locks 7 and 8, the ones that bracket the Casino we are at tonight are two of the exceptions.  Imagine that, locks near the casino get to stay open later.

This facility is practically new, as it wasn’t finished or in operation the last time we passed through here in the fall of 2016.  Either the casino has a 100% non smoking policy or have the worlds best filtration system as we didn’t get a wiff of smoke while were in there which is in start contrast to the casino’s in Atlantic City.  The skipper left $2+ ahead while the mate lost her $20.  After that it was time to come back to the boat and have last evenings left overs for dinner.

There is not an awful lot of activity in this next to new harbor.

We have been looking ahead to weather for crossing Oneida Lake, a fairly shallow lake that runs east and west for about 20 miles.  We have experienced the lake when it blows 15 knots along it’s axis and it is no fun.  We could cross as early as Tuesday or as late as Thursday.  Right now the weather for Monday calls for WNW winds of 15 to 25 on the lake.  Tuesday’s forecast is for W at 10 to 15 but if Monday is a windy as they say, that 15 knots will have left over waves from the day and night before to make the ride nothing short of miserable.  We will have to see how this plays out as the days go on before hurrying up to the east end of the lake.

Today:  62 sm in 11.5 engine hours, 7 locks.   Total: 1835 sm.

Dave