Little Falls, NY Lock 17

It's been a few days and many miles since I posted to this blog. We did in fact leave Catskill on Saturday to travel the rest of our trip up the Hudson to Waterford. It was a calm day with flat waters and the hillsides were with full growth which made for exquisite scenery. We arrived in Waterford mid afternoon thanks to the assist we gained in speed due to the rising tide. When we arrived we didn't think we would get a spot on the dock but they moved a tug down to the concrete wall and we pulled right in. We were tired from all the preparation for the canal so we decide to stay another day. Sunday we planned to visit the museum which was a long walk from the town dock. Unfortunately even though they are open on Sunday they were closed due to the holiday when we arrived. The walk did us good. Guess we will have to see it on the way back in the fall.

Monday, even though it was a holiday, we felt we would chance the canal traffic and start our trip west on the Erie Canal. We actually locked though all nine locks alone. Our first lock was lock two we had locked though one on the Hudson on Saturday. Two though six are known as the flight of five and are close in proximity with the maximum distance being 1/2 mile. You are very busy and don't even have time to go the toilet, so you better make sure you go before you start. It was a breezy day but the wind was on our nose and we did well until lock nine. At that point in time anything that could go wrong went wrong. The winds were approximately 20 knots by now and funneling down in the lock right at us. Unfortunately this lock didn't have pipes or cables just ropes. Larry was on the bow and couldn't hold on to the short rope. After some struggling on both our parts and hitting the furler on the wall we recuperated without doing a 360, like some unfortunate souls do. I'm afraid of what would have happened if I had been on the bow, it probably would have lifted me right off the boat. The next lock wasn't any better and because of all the construction due to the floods from last year we had no choice but to lock though. There was no where to bail out. After two rough lockings we decided not to go any further. We felt things could go from bad to worse so we docked at the Amsterdam River Park to lick our wounds. We now not only have to have the furler fixed at the top the bottom is bent. At least we have all our parts and there was no major damage.

This morning we decided it was calm and we would start the locking process early as soon as they opened at 7 AM. The winds were calm and we felt if it was the same today they wouldn't pick up until afternoon. Yesterday we did nine locks today we did seven without incidence. It was a good day but the wind did pick up in the late afternoon just as we were finishing our last lock. We decided it was a good time to stop so as you can see from the picture we are in Little Falls along with three power boats. We have been together with them at night since Waterford. Tomorrow they will go further than we will so we will part after tonight. Our plan is to go to Sylvan Beach and spend the night tied up on the town wall.