At Home in Oak Orchard Creek

We left Rochester yesterday afternoon at 2:30 PM on calm seas. We put out the main hoping to catch the following wind but it wasn't enough to keep our sail full. The wind clocked around a few hours out but it was too much on our nose for the jib to give us an assist. We were hoping for a good sail but it just wasn't going to happen. We at least got to furl out the sails to make sure they worked. When the wind clocked out of the West the waves picked up a little but not enough to make a rough transit. We arrived at the County Docks at 8 Pm, tied up and went to see the dock master. It felt good to be still for the first time in 8 weeks.

This morning we slept until we were ready to get up, felt good. We had a good surprise about mid morning, friends we have known and sailed with for many years stopped by to welcome us to the neighborhood. Rich and Julie were happy to see us and us to see them. We look forward to visiting and sailing together this summer.

Latter in the afternoon Rich and Julie took us to get our truck and motorcycle. I wasn't sure about the driving thing since I hadn't driven since October when we rented a car in Deltaville to drive back North and that was pretty scary. To my surprise it was like riding a bike and I did very well. Larry was pleased when the truck stared right away and the bike with a little coaxing started with out using the jumper cables. After a short distance down the road it sounded like new.

Tomorrow morning we plan to attend church and visit with Jennifer and Dan and their families. I guess we are fitting back into the grove easily.

Rochester, NY

See John fix our furler!

We were under way before 7 AM on Wednesday morning. The water had just a ripple and shortly it was like a mirror, flat and reflective. We were just off of the Rochester channel about 11 AM before it rippled again and was just beginning to break out into tiny waves.

We pulled up on Shumway's gas dock to fuel up and retain a slip. Then the wait began. It was well afternoon before our furler was looked at and 5:15 when the job was finished. Shumway quits work at 5 PM. Oh well, the mast will not be stepped today.

Thursday morning we ask when they might be able to step our mast. We were told after 1 Pm. Our oldest daughter, Jennifer and her youngest son Joseph came to take us to the DMV for license plates for our truck. After which we all went to lunch at the Pelican Nest on the river. We came back and waited and waited but our mast never got stepped. They were short handed and many jobs booked. They promised Friday morning.

We met up with friends of ours that we met at the Hunter rendezvous, Ken and Ruth. We had a great evening out to dinner and cocktails on their boat after. Even though we were frustrated waiting around the day was rounded out with good company both in the morning and evening.

As I am writing this they are busy with the process of stepping our mast. It will be great not to bang my head on it any longer. After they are finished we will put our canvas and our sails back in place. We hope to be underway by early afternoon. I'm looking forward to being settled for a while.

Sodus Bay,NY

The water in the bay this evening is no indication of what it was this morning at 6:30 AM when we left Oswego, as you can see from the serene picture taken about 8 Pm. The weather prediction was for waves 2' or less and winds 10 knots or less. Well I can tell you I was white knuckled and I wasn't even on the helm. Ordinarily the trip would not have raised concern or apprehension given our mast in place as normal but this was not the case today. Some of the waves tended to roll the boat and cause the mast to vibrate and shutter, not good. Larry went forward to tie yet another line to secure it.

We made it here to Sodus about 11 AM. We had given consideration to going all the way to Rochester but felt we were best not to chance it. We will leave early tomorrow morning and go to Rochester to have the furler fixed and the mast stepped. After which we will continue our trip to Oak Orchard. We are looking forward to a great trip under sail, hopefully the wind will be with us.

Oswego, NY

Aah! There is nothing like a sunset on Lake Ontario. With all the sunsets we watched on our trip, I will never get tired of a sunset Here in upstate NY.

We left around 7 AM this morning and crossed Oneida Lake. It had some fetch giving waves around 2 feet but nothing our mast couldn't handle. We continued out the other side of Oneida Lake and into the canal again. We had to lock one lock and then turn North to enter the Oswego canal system. We traveled through 7 more locks to finally meet with Lake Ontario. We took a reciprocal slip at the Oswego Yacht Club, which is located in the Oswego International Marina. After getting a shower and having a beer at the club with two members we walked to town to have dinner at Coleman's Irish Pub. It will be an early evening for us as we will go on to Sodus Bay in the morning.

Still in Sylvan Beach

As you can see we did get to hear "The Boys of Wexford". Their session was short because another band was playing at 9 PM. The Boys were to be playing in the park at the gazebo but the weather wasn't conducive.

We rose early this morning and walked to church about a half mile over the bridge. It was at the Catholic Church in Verona. The entire service lasted only 30 minutes barley long enough to get warm. We walked back to town looking for a coffee shop but only one was open and it was standing room only so we went back to the boat. The rest of the story I'll leave to Larry.

Well...............I woke up this morning at 2 AM or so to a loud noise or bang. I checked our boat to see that it was still secure to the wall, checked the boat behind us and ahead. Checked the dinghy. No problem. I went back to bed figuring a log banged into the boat. Wouldn't be the first time.

Late this morning I was measuring the clearance around the back of the boat for a wind generator. The two (Kiss versus Rutland) I am interested in have different length blades so I was checking which one would be best. One has a diameter of 5 feet, the other is 3 feet. The 5 feet blades (Kiss) have twice the output of the other but I want to use it when the mast is stepped and it has to clear the dodger. The smaller unit, the Rutland looks like the one I am going to get. I decided to walk back to the boat behind me and checkout his mounting system for his Rutland Wind Generator. I happened to glance at my boat and saw that the mast was down on the arch and the wood support I was using was broken. The screws probably had 'shattered' at 2AM and the noise I heard was either the screws shattering, the mast dropping on the arch or a combination of both. The next couple of hours was spent getting to a hardware store to buy a button jack (6 ton) and some wood. Scott and Todd from two of the boats around me gave me a hand to steady the mast while we jacked it up and put the new wooden bracket in place. The new one has at least twice as much strength as the old. I am glad it decided to go at night and I had the day to fix it rather than it failing in the middle of Oneida Lake and possibly losing the mast over the side.

Always jobs to be done!

Tomorrow we plan to head across Oneida Lake (20 miles) and then on to Oswego. It will be a long day of around 54 miles and 8 locks. Each lock can take 20 minutes depending on boat traffic and we travel at about 6 knots (~7 mph). Without the locks it will take 7 hours so we are looking at 9 to 10 hours tomorrow. Then off to Sodus Bay and then to Rochester.

Cheers!

Sylvan Beach

Are we having fun yet? I had a dream last night that we made a mistake and came back in the winter, then I woke up and it was true. What happened, our youngest daughter tells us it was in the 90's over Memorial Day. It sure is hard to believe her. Ha Ha, just kidding Patience.

The picture Larry took of me is by the waters edge on Oneida Lake here in Sylvan Beach. It sure is cold here and cross the lake, I don't think so. We got up this morning and locked into lock 21 at 7 AM, when they opened. We then locked into the last lock before Oneida lake and were here at Sylvan Beach by 8:30. We could see the water crashing over the breakwall and the white caps from the canal and made the corporate decision to tie up on the wall and stay put till this passes. We are anxious to get back but not crazy and haven't any schedule. We don't even think we will be able to proceed tomorrow. Time will tell, so near but yet so far.

The good thing about it we will get to hear the concert tonight. They are an Irish band called "The Wexford Boys". They have been touring by boat on the Erie Canal starting in Waterford and ending in Syracuse. It is part of the celebration of the building of the Erie Canal honoring the many Irish immigrants that helped build the canal. After reading an article in the Canal Times publication it is plain to see that there was a great melting pot of immigrants that also helped to build the canal.

West of Little Falls

It's been a few days since I have had a signal for the internet. In Little Falls the step rock walls made it impossible for a good signal. I'm not sure this will have a picture, I'm having trouble downloading one. We will see, time will tell. If I do get it loaded it will be of the falls in Little Falls.

We stayed two days at the town harbor in Little Falls. We had stayed one night on the way down and said we would spend enough time on the way back to look around. Yesterday we got up when we woke and set out to do a few errands and walk around the town. We went to the lumber yard just across the street and purchased some 2 x 6's so Larry could reinforce the brace on the front of the boat. Our mast moved around when we went over a wake from another boat. We will have to go to Rochester on Lake Ontario with our mast down across the deck. RCR Yachts will be fixing our furler, it is stuck at the top of the mast.

Tonight we are tied up on a wall just before lock #21. We arrived here just before the sky opened up and wet things down. I know I said I liked the lush green, but all right already, enough is enough.

Tomorrow morning we will go to Sylvan Beach and if Oneida Lake is calm we will cross, if not we will spend the night on the wall in Sylvan Beach. There is a concert there tonight and tomorrow night so I won't mind staying.

Traveling the Erie Canal

Aah! New York in all of it's lush green splendor! This has been and will always be my most favorite season in New York. I'm very happy to have not missed it. What a treat to be traveling along the Erie Canal every day out of doors to enjoy it to the fullest. This was one of the many little water falls along the Mohawk river portion of the Erie Canal. After the considerable amount of rain fall over the past few weeks the water is running into the canal at a rapid rate and bringing with it many logs and other assorted debris. We counted along with all the full tree logs two basketballs, one soccerball and a few doggie size chase and catch balls. We found it interesting the number of balls. I guess because of the round shape it's easy for them to escape to the ride down the water way.

We were slow to leave this morning from the wall we tied up to last night. It felt good not to be in a rush. We started out alone but soon were traveling with another sailboat and a power boat. Three in a lock was comfortable, then along came a very large 50 foot or better power boat. Needless to say he made the locking in the last two locks very difficult. He stayed in idle because he was too large and heavy for his crew to hold the boat, consequently that current caught our keel and rudder and moved us around. We were very happy to say good bye to him after the last lock.

We called it a day around 4 PM and tied up on the wall at lock # 12. After dinner we sat in the cockpit and watched as the sister ship to the cruise boat we came across before came through the lock and tied on the wall behind us. They will travel the canal route we take to Lake Ontario but they will get there long before us.

Tomorrow we will travel another 40 miles and 5 locks and spend the night in Little Falls. We plan to get there early so we can enjoy the town and go to dinner.

Catskill, NY - Erie Canal

Wow, the weekend sure went fast! It rained off and on all weekend. We arrived in Catskill on Friday at about 7 PM after going against the current for most of the day. The tide turned at about 4 PM to give us a boost. It seemed like we would never get there. We tied up on the dock at the Point restaurant had dinner and called it a night about 10 PM. While we were eating we watched another sail boat attempting to pull up on the dock. They seemed to be in trouble so Larry went outside to help them dock. Sure enough there engine failed just as they came into the channel. They were very grateful for Larry's help. After talking to them we found out they were from Kingston, Ontario. We will be up there with our grandsons this summer and will look them up.

Patience arrived on Saturday about 2 PM. She stayed the night with us, it was great to see her. On Sunday morning we moved down to the Riverview Marina to have our mast stepped. It was a crazy morning, this was the first time to step this mast for us. We spent most of the day in the process. Patience and I went to the Price Chopper to get some food for the rest of the trip up North. I felt our time with her flew by, because we were so busy. While we were out we found an Italian restaurant which we did go to dinner at, the food was fantastic. After Patience had to return to Connecticut. We finished getting ready to start our trip up to the Erie Canal.

We left Catskill this morning around 8:30 and arrived in Waterford about 3:30 and the wall was full. We decided to go through the Flight of Five and tie up on the wall at the flood gates for the night. We were tied up on the wall at 5:30, it was a fast trip though the five locks. About 8 PM another boat from Catskill pulled up on the wall. They just had their mast stepped this morning, they had to be moving.

Our plan is not to do long days but it didn't work that way today. We have better hopes for tomorrow.

Haverstraw, NY

We bookend our day with some pretty interesting weather. We left Atlantic Highlands Yacht Club around 9 AM this morning. We waited for the fog to rise, so we thought. In the anchorage it had lifted but out in the bay it was very heavy. We had to be on watch very attentive and listening for freighters. We got lucky a sail boat came up on our stern and followed us for awhile then passed us. We then followed them, they were from the area. We could see on the radar large freighters and hear them but could not see them. What a morning, we were under the Verrazano Bridge and could not see it until we looked up. Thank goodness for suspension bridges and no supports in the water. As you can see from the picture of Ellis Island the fog had lifted when we entered the harbor. We had three alternative plans today, one, stop a Liberty Park, two, stop at Nyack and three, stop at Haverstraw. The tide was with us and we were doing better than 7 knots sometimes 8. We decided to go all the way covering around 50 nautical miles taking 9 hours. We covered today what took three days coming down.

We arrived here at the marina about an hour before the thunderstorms arrived. We sat in the cockpit in the enclosure watching the show. We could see on the radar the size and shape of the storm. It seemed to come in fast but then stop and hang over the area for quite a long time. The winds weren't what had been predicted which was fine with us even though we were comfortable in our slip.

Tomorrow we plan to be Catskill where we will have our mast stepped in preparation for our transit of the Erie Canal. Our youngest daughter, Patience will join us for the weekend. It will be good to see her, it has been since last October since we have seen any of our family. We look forward to our three month stay in NY to see family and friends.