On Our Way Again!

PM's Perspective -- Goodbye Kingston, Hello Erie Canal!

Ten days in Kingston was just long enough for us to get attached to the wonderful staff at Rondout Yacht Basin.  When we left on Saturday, it was like saying goodbye to family!  We departed about 10:30 AM with me at the helm.  I had forgotten how slowly Velomer responds to steering changes, but I quickly adjusted once we got out of Rondout Creek and back to the Hudson River.  My first challenge was a huge barge in the river that I needed to accommodate and then a sizable tugboat that came out of the creek right after us. Again, I felt like a chipmunk crossing a four lane highway!  While underway Bob kept checking the stuffing box and other mechanicals in the engine room.  Of concern was a whining sound the occurred at low rpms in both forward and reverse.  We both had a strange feeling in the pit of our stomachs fearing the worst.  Bob was able to figure out that the whine was a result of the safety cage over the alternator belt rubbing against the belt.  Apparently, one of the tabs holding the cage in place gave way and caused the cage to sag onto the belt intermittently.  Bob wanted to remove the cage altogether, a move I vetoed for obvious safety reasons. In his remarkable ingenuity, Bob was able to fashion a temporary fix to hold the cage in place until we can get the cage welded.

As this was our first travel day in quite awhile, we decided to make it a short hop of 15 miles to the Riverview Marina in Catskill for one night's stay.  The next morning we got up and going fairly early to make the 40 mile journey to Waterford across the river from Troy and just north of Albany.  To get to Waterford, a boat must pass through the Troy Federal Lock, our first lock aboard Velomer.  Shortly before arriving at the lock, I read Skipper Bob's book on the Erie Canal and learned that the locks typically have one one of three methods for securing a boat to the side of the lock during the raising and lowering of the water level -- ropes, cables, or pipes.  This resource also provided very good instructions for how to tie up to all three. Negotiating the locks also involves having bumpers on the boat to protect the boat from the concrete lock walls.  We made it through the lock with a port side tie up with Velomer just kissing the side of the lock once, no big deal.  Our confidence level was climbing!

In Waterford, you can tie up to the town dock for free and hook into electric service for a minimal charge. The town, which is the gateway to both the Erie Canal and the Champlain Canal, also provides restrooms and showers for boaters at the harbor master's offices.  The town's main drag with many restaurants and services is within two blocks.  I must say that Waterford is the most boater friendly town we have yet to visit. Even the local grocery stores encourage boaters to use their shopping carts to transport groceries to the boat!  From the town dock one can see Lock 2 of the Erie Canal (there is no Lock 1).  At this lock boaters can purchase a pass for the New York State canals including a 2-day, 10-day or season's pass.  After limited debate, we concluded that a season's pass is the best purchase for Velomer as the other two would not provide us sufficient time to get through the locks without stressing us out!

On Monday, we awoke early, had breakfast at Don & Paul's (highly recommended greasy spoon!), and restocked the larder at the nearby supermarket.  We left the town dock by 11:15 AM and headed toward Lock 2.  Our experience at the Troy Lock served us well.  We decided that because we have sufficient fenders (both ball and cylinder) aboard that we would affix these to both port and starboard so we (meaning me because Bob is at the helm) would not have to run about moving fenders from one side of the boat to the other as we approached a lock. On Lock 2 we had a starboard tie up, so a slightly different orientation. Again, the bow just kissed the side of the lock but I was able to push the boat away from the wall and Bob used the bow thruster.  Our confidence was a bit shaken, but no big deal.

Locks 2, 3, 4 and 5 are very close together such that as soon as you exit one, you can see the next lock. Lock 3 was another starboard tie up but we decided to try something a bit different.  Once I got the line around the cable and secured to the mid cleat on the boat, Bob would put the boat in neutral and come down to the deck and help me fend off the lock wall with a boat pole.  That didn't work so well either and again the bow kissed the concrete wall and I could see the railing move under the strain.  Our confidence level declined a bit more.

Lock 4 was our moment of truth.  It was a port side tie up and a water level increase of 35 feet.  Bob steered over to the left, I got the line around the steel cable and cleated.  So far so good.  When the water level started to rise, the bow swung hard into the wall making a most horrific sound.  Sparks flew, fenders compressed, railing groaned.  "Thruster, thruster, thruster," I cried as I ran to the bow and pushed off with all my might.  I could hear the sound of the bow thruster straining.  Beads of perspiration dripped into my eyes as I swore like a sailor.  My arms and legs shook with overexertion.  Our confidence level plummeted like a stone in a bottomless well.  Somehow, and I'm not sure how, we were still afloat and made it out of Lock 4 with the gates of Lock 5 yawning open like a giant maul ready to swallow us up just ahead.

At Lock 5, I wasn't able to get the line around the steel cable properly.  First the line went over the railing.  I fixed that problem but the line became twisted.  I had to ask Bob to reverse the boat so I could get the line right.  I felt like I was all thumbs.  The good news was that through use of the bow thruster and my pushing the bow, Velomer never met with the wall.  Finally a modicum of success!  Lock 6 went even better, and by Lock 7 we performed flawlessly, which was a good thing, as we had an audience of Chinese tourists watching the process.  After such a stressful day, we pulled into Schenectady Yacht Club for a two day respite!


Bob's Story:


I could not have described our first locking day better.  I missed some of the drama from the helm as I have a limited view of the action on deck, but I definitely heard everything.  The lock walls act like a natural echo chamber, a most entertaining show for those watching from above.  Locking is best described as moments of calm interspersed with moments of crisis.  At least that was our experience on the first couple of locks until we got the routine down.  We have many days of locking up and down ahead of us so we will have more stories of these trials.  As PM did not mention it, she is too nice sometimes and does not find fault when it is blatantly obvious to a 5 year old, the lock master on Lock 4 was an idiot.  He flooded the lock too fast. He did not warn us of the huge and sudden flow of water that would violently shove us into the wall, and he basically, acted like someone who just could care less, so much for the New York State employee work ethic. To be fair though, the vast majority of people we have met who work the marinas and locks could not be more professional and competent.  But we will recall the stupid idiot at lock 4 as we will also recall the two stupid boaters who passed us on the Hudson River on either side at 20 knots.  We lost some CDs and fortunately were able to repair the other damages.Well, VELOMER is built tough and other than a slightly roughly polished rub-rail, we had suffered no apparent damage at lock 4.  Nonetheless, our future locking adventures will be approached with caution and foreknowledge that anything can happen and PM will be ready with a fender and a sailor's choice vocabulary.

The Erie Canal, known more accurately as the Erie Barge Canal as it is the third iteration of the system, is bucolic between the locks.  In this eastern section between Waterford and Oneida Lake, we are on the Mohawk River most of the time, with land cuts at the locks to bypass dams. We pass frequent abandoned industrial sites, former brick yards and ice cutting warehouses, evidence of the by-gone vitality of this area of the state.  Most of the time, the land appears undeveloped as summer foliage hides any buildings and towns. Other than one sailboat and two local water-skiers, we have seen no eastbound boats as yet.  I think many of these east bound travelers had given up and returned to western waters or just tied their boats to a pier and flew home, after waiting more than a month for the Canal to open following the June rains which flooded about ten locks with up to 30 feet of water.  The towns and marinas along the way have been seriously impacted by the lack of economic activity associated with summer boat traffic.

Our challenges have evolved as we motor slowly west and north into Canada.  What had our focus as we traveled down the New England coast and into Long Island Sound was open ocean boating things, like weather, seas, wind and tide.  Travel up the Hudson River was different but required us to be diligent to commercial traffic and, to some extent, course watchfulness as the river is shallow in places. The Erie Canal has no tides, just floods, and other than debris like trees, household garbage and sunken logs to watch for, this time is really not a boating challenge, except for the locks which more than make up for the lack of other issues.

We are off again tomorrow after a day of cleaning, organizing and against PM's wishes, dropping the radar mast.  PM seems to enjoy the experience of passing under bridges with less than a foot to spare, much as I enjoy getting to the airport with just enough time to get on the plane.  But as I am the Captain, I overruled the Admiral this time and we dropped from 19 feet to 15 1/2 feet air draft.  I will be much less anxious even if PM is less stimulated.  Perhaps we will find other means of entertainment, of course we will.

I love this life.