Delaware City Delay

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

We got up at 6:00 a.m. and were on our way from Cape May to Delaware City by 6:30.

We are going up Delaware Bay today. The wind is from the northeast and will be building today, so we want to get there as quickly as possible. High winds are forecast overnight, so we are going to dock at a marina tonight. We need a laundromat!

Today the waves are rolling us from side to side so much that I have to sit with one foot on the floor to keep from falling over. It's sunny and warm, though.  We started off this morning going against the tide, but it should be switching so that we'll be able to take advantage of it during the second half of our journey today.

9:15. Carey's trying to take a nap now.  I napped yesterday, so it's his turn.

9:45. LOL. That didn't last long.  He's up already, and wants to check the radar.

We rode through quite a storm for awhile. Very poor visibility, quite wavy, with winds up to 28.8 knots!  That's 53 kilometres per hour!  The funny thing was that, because the wind was behind us, we barely noticed it.  I continue to be impressed with RC Wings' seaworthiness.

By 12:30, the wind had receded to 20 knots and the seas had calmed a bit, but not much.  We still had 14 miles to go, which turned out to be easy.

When we got near the entrance to the canal to Delaware City Marina we had to call in.  The entrance and canal are very shallow so they needed to give us specific information about where to be in the canal. We needed to hug the boats on the right and leave at least 40' on the left. Counter-intuitive, for sure, since we usually steer clear of other boats just in case we get blown into one.

As we approached the fuel dock, the Dockmaster, Tim, gave us very specific instructions about how to dock with the strong current pushing us forward. Once again, counter-intuitive, but he said to point the bow away from the dock by 20 degrees, then reverse to get the prop walk to push us toward the dock. It actually worked!  This marina is just one long dock on a very narrow canal, so after we fuelled up, we had to move down the dock and do it all over again.  This time Tim said that if Carey could dock the boat with our back cleat lined up exactly at the cleat he had his foot on, he'd give us a 10% discount on our slip fee. Carey nailed it!  Woohoo!  Tim actually came through with the discount, too.

Another couple on a boat called Kinship, whom we had met in Catskills, is here, also. They will be participating in the ARC Carib 1500 to the BVIs just like us. Nice to know some people before we leave Portsmouth on our passage.

Once we were tied up and had helped Dave and Nicki dock, too, Tim demonstrated another cool trick you can do with currents. When we came in we noticed that all of the boats were facing out, but to turn our 44' boat around in this narrow channel would have been quite difficult. Yikes!  Tim took our bow line, which we tied on the opposite side, then gave our boat a gentle shove into the current.  The current took the stern out and around, while he held the bow and allowed it to pivot, practically by itself. It was so effortless and graceful. Quite impressive!

All was well until we connected our shore power. That's when I noted that the microwave didn't beep on and, after checking, we realized that our AC plugs didn't work.  Aaarrrggghhhh. There's always something to keep us on our toes.  Carey worked on it for a couple hours and wasn't able to solve the problem, so we went out for dinner with Dave and Nicki and left it for the morning. We went to Crabby Dick's and I had the best crab cakes ever.  Delicious!

This marina is kind of cool. The walk to the washrooms/showers/laundry is very artsy.

When we got back, Carey listened to the Blue Jays game, and I read a book.  Nice to relax.



Thursday, September 29, 2016

It rained and blew all night, but we didn't care because we could sleep in--if we wanted. We didn't, of course. Today was our 'catch up on tasks' day, so we started in on our list.  When I was teaching I'd tell kids this was our ketchup day. LOL. Carey's first job was to figure out the electrical issue and mine was laundry. Done and done. The electrical issue turned out to be nothing to worry about it. There is a breaker (disguised as a switch) under the navigation table, which is where we store our handheld Dyson Vacuum. Sometime yesterday, while we were bouncing around in the waves, the Dyson must have hit the breaker switch and turned it off.  Okay, that was frustrating because we had spent so much time on it, but it was a huge relief that nothing was wrong with our boat. Also, we learned something new about her, and that's always a plus.  As Dave says, 'Sailing south is just fixing your boat in exotic places.'

My biggest trauma now is that I'm running out of Tim Horton's coffee. Oh, no!

We heard from Tipsy Gypsy today, too. They have already made it into the Chesapeake Bay and we will see them in Annapolis. Awesome.

Tonight we've been invited to Dave and Nicki's boat for a spaghetti dinner made with venison.  Yum. We were looking forward to it, and had a wonderful evening. What a great couple.

More wind and rain tonight.

Atlantic Ocean and Atlantic City Adventures

Monday, September 26, 2016

Okay, it's 5:00 in the morning, and we are headed out to the Atlantic Ocean to go to Atlantic City.  We can see the Brooklyn Bridge all lit up as we leave in the dark.

 We are following Off Duty II, because they are the slower boat and we said we would stay together for this leg of our journey. It's really nice having a buddy boat. This has the potential to be the scariest part of our journey (besides the 10-day passage to Tortola, of course), because it's a long day and the first time in the ocean.  We picked a good weather window, though, and it's going well so far.

The ocean was glassy and just a bit rolly to start, but by 12:30 it was definitely getting lumpy. The wind is starting to build to around 19 knots (on the nose, of course, so we are motoring). The only problem is the huge power boats. We've had several roar up behind us and suddenly veer off when they get close. What, are we invisible?  Don't they notice our 67 foot mast sticking up out of the water?  Kind of hard to miss. Sheesh. They leave a huge wake and really get us rolling. We just hang on.

By 1:00, we could see the Atlantic City skyline.  We had a very lumpy ride for the second half of the day. The wind and waves were building, but still not unbearable or scary. We anchored at 5:09 in a tiny little hurricane hole at the Atlantic City inlet.  We had to watch our depths going in, because there are shallow areas, but we both made it in without incident.  Very nicely protected anchorage.

Ugh, we've been salted. The whole boat is gritty from the salt water. It's sticky, too.  RC Wings does not like it!

Carey barbecued a delicious steak for supper and then he listened to the first part of the Blue Jays game before we went to bed. We were tired out!



Tuesday, September 27, 2016

We woke up at 6:30 to a gentle rain.  Sounded nice.  Just like camping.  Hopefully, it will wash some of the salt off. I made French toast for breakfast.

We made plans with Dave and Nicki to leave around 11:00 for Cape May. The seas should have calmed down to 3' waves by then and the small craft advisory will have ended. We hoped it was going to be a calm ride today.  Our only concern was that we were leaving just an hour before low tide.  We had to be careful going in, so what did that mean for us leaving?

Off Duty II needed diesel, so they started out of the anchorage a little before us. Within minutes they had gone aground. Oh, no.  We dropped our anchor again and watched them.  Dave was able to use their bowthrusters to push them sideways and they got free. Phew!  They decided to keep going and proceeded slooooooooowwwlyyyy out of the anchorage. It took about 20 minutes, but they got out. Now, it was our turn.  Dave radioed back to give us some depths, and we started out. I was on the helm, and Carey was giving me navigational instructions--a little right, a little left, hold this line, closer to the marsh. We held our breath and motored veeerrrryyyy slowly, and we made it!  Thank goodness!  We hovered in the main channel until they had fuelled up and then we left on our way to
Cape May.

The ocean had big swells!  Not the short, choppy waves we get in the Great Lakes, or that we had yesterday. These swells don't make us pound down, but we do get quite a roller coaster ride--both side-to-side and front to back. When we look back at Off Duty II, the boat almost disappears in a swell and we only see their mast and the top of their canvas. It's different on the ocean, but so far RC Wings is handling it beautifully.

We turned on our radar because we could see a dark cloud ahead of us. Sure enough, the radar showed a couple of red storm cells just ahead. They turned out to be just rain, so nothing to worry about. Nice to know that our radar is working well.

By 3:30, the ocean was glassy, but with big swells. We arrived at 4:40 and rode the current in the inlet. The swirlies (or eddies, to be technical) really grab the boat so we have to oversteer to get through. Dave and Nicki, behind us, said our boat went totally sideways toward the rock jetty. Yikes!  We made it through, though, without hitting anything.  We dropped anchor heading into the current, which is a little different from our usual anchorages, as the wind is usually the determining factor when we line up to drop the hook.  I think we are adapting well to all of these new things--probably because we've been reading everything under the sun on ocean travel for the past few years. I guess all that studying is paying off!

We've invited Dave and Nicki over for a strategy party--perhaps with a beverage or two.  Ahhh, I love arrivals when we can relax for a bit.  While we were visiting, we saw dolphins!!!  Lazily swimming across the bay. This is the first sign of ocean wildlife and they were in our anchorage here at Cape May, New Jersey, which is just around the bend from the Delaware Bay. So cool.  The water is glassy and it's a beautiful sunset on the water.  We see some pretty cool fishing vessels here that are so 'East Coast.'

Time for a quick supper, get caught up on the Jays, and go to bed. We're tired out. 6:00 a.m. comes early.

Organized Chaos in New York Harbor

Sunday, September 25, 2016

We had a lovely, quiet night in Haverstraw Bay. We got up around 7:00 and had breakfast, then got into our engine checks.

Dave and Nicki left Haverstraw Bay around 8:10. We are going to try to meet up at Atlantic Highlands anchorage in Sandy Hook (at the south end of New York Harbor).  It'd be nice if we can stick together all the way to Annapolis. I think they want to do that, too.

We lifted anchor and were on our way by 9:00.

I discovered a fabulous app for Tides and Currents. It's called 'Tides Near Me'. It takes the guesswork out of the whole tides and currents thing, and automatically finds the tides and currents near us. Hallelujah!

When we went under the Tappan Zee bridge there was a ton of work going on. They have been rebuilding it since 2013 so there are cranes and barges everywhere. There have been three serious boating accidents here since 2013, so we were very careful going through. I called in on Channel 19 to let them know our route and they approved.  I also called a tug to ask about his route intentions.  I'm getting quite comfortable on the VHF radio, which is good because I'll probably have to use it often in the coming months.

By 10:30, our boat speed was 7.3 and our SOG (speed over ground) is 9.1 and got as high as 9.3 shortly after. By 11:50, we're seeing 10.4.  Wow!  Gotta love an ebb tide!

At 11:30, we were approaching the George Washington Bridge and could see the New York skyline behind it.

Sensory overload as we crawled closer to New York Harbor between the George Washington Bridge and the Brooklyn Bridge--tugs, cruise ships, helicopters, sailboats, ferries, power boats, freighters, SeaDoos, barges--you name it, it's in New York Harbor.  Big wakes and waves, too, that get us rolling.  Iconic New York stuff we've seen include the Empire State Building, George Washington Bridge, Staten Island Ferry, Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge, and......   How am I supposed to take advantage of photo-ops when we have to have our eyes peeled for big, huge boats running right at us?!  Don't they know I'm a tourist and I have tourist's rights to gawk?  Guess not.

For the boaters out there, I've taken a picture of our chartplotter as we were going through this area.  All of the little black triangles represent large ships or yachts with AIS (Automatic Identification System).  Lots of them.  Then, add in the hundreds of other water vehicles who don't have AIS systems and you'll get an idea of how busy this harbor is. It is a Sunday, which may explain why so many recreational watercraft are on the water.  Once we went under the Brooklyn Bridge, the boats spread out a little more and we could just mind our own business on our way.

By 1:20, the tide had turned. We had a boat speed of 7.0 and our SOG is 6.9. Bummer.  By 1:50, our

boat speed was 7.4 and SOG was 7.0.

Another first: RC Wings is in salt water.

We arrived at Atlantic Highland Harbor at 3:15 and then had to hold our position in the channel for over a half hour to get to the fuel dock. Grrrrrr. A trawler was taking up the whole dock and taking FOREVER to get filled up. Then, after that long wait, their pumpout wasn't working. Aaaarrrrggghhhh!

We finally anchored at 4:15. At least it's a shorter day than the last few. Also, Simpatico and Off Duty II are anchored with us. Bonus!

We have travelled 735 nautical miles so far on this trip.

Dave and Nicki came over shortly after we anchored so we could plan our strategy for going to Atlantic City.  Often, this is a staging area where boats wait for a weather window before leaving. Luckily for us, it looks like tomorrow will be just fine for our departure. The wind is relatively light and the waves should be small. The wind picks up later in the day with super high winds the following day, so we are going to leave at 5:00 am tomorrow morning so that we get in around 4:00 pm. It's about 65 miles away.

We had a quick pork souvlaki wrap supper, did our engine checks, and went to bed.

Helping Hands and Kind Hearts at Catskills

Wednesday, September 21

On Wednesday morning we took the boat across the creek to the well at Hop-O-Nose. The guys  lifted our mast off of the boat with a crane and set it in sawhorses on the dock. We had to do a bit of work then, such as putting the radar back on the mast, as well as the windex (which tells us from which direction the wind is coming), the anemometer and the antenna.  Then, they lifted the mast and set it on our boat. They attached the stay wires and that's about it. Well, that was it for them. Our work had just begun.

Little did we know that this company didn't do any rigging adjustments. They just put the mast up and attached the stays. They didn't adjust the stays at all, so they were very loose and not at all ideal for sailing. We are not riggers, so we would have adjusted them ourselves, but it wouldn't have been perfect by any means. Lots of guesswork.

This is where the helping hands and kind hearts began (but did not end, by any means).  Dave, a Canadian boater docked next to us, came over and said if we needed help with our rigging, he had a tool we could borrow.  We thought that was great, except we had no experience using the tool. In the end, he came over and helped us do all of the stay wires. His tool, a Loos Gauge which I call the Loosy Goosy, tests the tension on the stays and we have to tighten or loosen them accordingly.  As we do this, we have to look straight up our mast to see if it is straight, has a curve, or is bent one way or the other.  He worked with us for about an hour. What a nice guy!   He and his wife, Nicki, even invited us over for a drink later. Boy, did we need it.

After that, Carey had to work on re-connecting all of the wires that run down the mast, and he had to make sure everything worked!  It was a ton of work and took him a long time to complete.  We also ran all of the sheet lines, the halyards, and furlers that we had fished out in Buffalo.

While we were here, we had two packages (stanchions and stern engine cover clips) delivered from our Jeanneau distributor, NavyPoint.  Luckily, they both arrived before we left.

Later, in the evening another boater, Beverly, who had a car there, came and offered me a ride to the grocery store in the morning. What?!  Was this Christmas?  I was amazed at the generosity of boaters to other boaters. I took her up on the offer and we planned to meet at 9 the next morning.

That evening Dave and his wife, Nicki, invited us over for a drink, and gave us a tour of their Hunter 41.  Beautiful boat, AND they have an ice maker!!!!  Oh, Carey was envious!  Haha.


Thursday, September 22

Today, I met up with Beverly and took Nicki along.  Beverly gave me the keys to her old truck and directions to Walmart. Imagine handing your keys over to a complete stranger. Trusting soul.  I wasn't entirely comfortable driving a strange vehicle in a strange town, but we followed her directions and found the Walmart easily.  The only tough part was getting out of the truck! Instead of a handle, there was a pair of vice grips.  Unfortunately, I couldn't open the door, so Nicki jumped out and saved me. We went into the store and agreed to meet up in an hour.

While in the store, a tall, slim woman came up to me and said, "Excuse me, could I ask you a really personal question?"  "Okaaaaay," I said, thinking she was going to ask me my age, and figuring she could ask the question, but I didn't have to answer it. "You look really good," she said.  "I was just wondering what you weigh."  Huh?!  Oh, well, what the heck, I told her.  She thanked me and explained that she was trying to slim down, so she was stopping women who looked to be an ideal weight. Boy, that was a nice ego boost!

Nicki and I checked out, met up, and drove back to the marina by 10:30.  I spent the next couple hours putting away supplies, intermittently assisting Carey, putting a date loaf in to bake, and reorganizing our stores.

While I was away, Carey started installing the trilight/anchor switch.  It's a double pull double throw switch, which means we can switch it one way to get the anchor light, and another way to get the navigation lights. After many, many hours, we checked it and the anchor light didn't work. That meant we couldn't leave in the morning, because our plan was to anchor out on our way to the Chesapeake.  Aaaaaarrrrrggggghhhhh!!!

Not only that, but I burned the date loaf.  So much for my Suzy Homemaker reputation. Haha.

Eventually, Carey left the trilight issue and we put the jib up. More problems.  Carey put the jib in the smaller track (although there didn't seem to be a difference with the two) and I used the electric winch to pull up the halyard. Unfortunately, two wrongs do not make a right. The jib got stuck partway up.  If I had winched it manually, I would have known that it was getting tight earlier, but with the electric winch I continued to jam it up there.

Dave came over to offer some help, but they couldn't budge it. Then, Jess and Brad, young guys from a neighbouring boat offered some muscle, too. No dice.  It still wouldn't move.
Mike Quinn, the boys' father, walked up and suggested that we use a two-by-four wrapped in a towel to wrap around the jib sail so that all four guys could give equal weight on it. That did the trick!  Genius!  I congratulated Mike on his creative thinking and he said it was because he survived being shipwrecked when he was 19 and stranded on a deserted island for 12 days with 5 other people.  What!?!  Yup, he gave me the McLeans article and a more detailed write-up of his experiences after hitting a reef.  Carey and I stayed up until 11:00 reading it. Fascinating.

That evening we invited Dave and his wife, Nicki, over for a drink. Our boat was still a mess, though, so we couldn't give them a tour.



Friday, September 23

Today, we woke up to some rain, but it stopped pretty quickly. Carey spent almost all day working on getting the trilight working. Oh, my, what a big pain to troubleshoot an electrical problem when the wires are running under the floor and through the walls, and the numbers don't always match up with what is coming down the mast. Finally, around 4:00 he got it working. Yippee, that meant we could leave in the morning. Working on a boat means moving this to get at that and then moving that to get at this.  After he was done it looked like a tornado had run through our boat--tools and parts and cushions and stuff everywhere. So, we started working on cleaning up the boat and putting away all of the tools and parts.  Ugh.

Here are before...

and after pictures.  It felt soooooo good to clean up.

We invited Dave and Nicki over for a before-dinner drink and this time we could give them a tour. For dinner, we went to the Creekside Restaurant with them, which is rig at the marina.  We had a lovely evening with our new friends. We were in bed by 10:30, thoroughly tired out.


Saturday, September 24

We left the dock at 9:00 and headed south into the Hudson.  Mike, Jess, and Brian (on Simplicity) as well as Dave and Nicki (on Off Duty II) stopped for diesel at Riverview just ahead of us.  We tried to leave when we knew the tide would be turning soon.  We are going 60 nautical miles today, so we wanted to get an early enough start, without going against the current for very long.  We were against the current for the first part of our day.  Our boat speed was 7.1, but our speed over ground was around 6.1.  Gradually that changed until it was helping us. Dealing with tidal currents and tides is very different for us, but we are learning. By 10:40, the tide had turned and we were going 8.1 SOG, with a boat speed of 7.7.

At 11:00 we put up the jib, and lowered the RPMs to 2300. SOG 8.1; boat speed 7.0. The wind was almost directly astern most of the time, at 8.6 apparent and 16 knots true from the north.  It was hard to control, because when the wind shifted slightly, we would gybe.  It was always an easy gybe, though.

Around noon, we saw a bunch of kite boarders and sail boarders off Kingston Point. We had to be vigilant so we didn't hit them, because at least one was crossing our Channel.

At noon, we reduced the engine to 2100 RPMs and we were still going 7.6-7.8 SOG.  Throughout the afternoon, we gybed our way down the river, often getting over 8 knots of speed. The wind speed was dropping throughout the afternoon, but we were still making good speed.

South of the Poughkeepsie Bridge, we had to call into the US Customs and Border Patrol again. Apparently, we have to do that all the way down the coast at each new Customs area, even though we called in in Buffalo and won't be leaving the U.S. for many weeks. A little strange when you think we can drive across the Bluewater Bridge and go through Customs, and then never have to call Customs again at all.  When I called them, Officer Richardson said to call back when we reached our anchorage. He said someone would be there until 10:00 tonight.

At about 1:50, the US Coast Guard broadcast that assistance was needed on the sailing yacht, Cottonwood.  That was one of the boats that was at Hop-O-Nose Marina when we were there. They have a beautiful Gozzard sailboat, but we had heard that they are very new to sailing.  They bought their boat a year ago and they learned to sail on YouTube. Oh, boy.  I hope he was kidding. I talked to the man yesterday and he said they would be leaving this morning, just like us. We didn't see them this morning, so we don't know if they are ahead of us or behind. Regardless, we are keeping a lookout for them. It gives me a stomachache when I hear about boats in distress.  Eventually, we heard that they called SeaTow to help them.  We don't know if that means they have engine trouble, or if they went aground. Either way, it's not good news.

We have been sailing with the jib most of the day, but we had to be ever vigilant. There is a lot of traffic on the river, so we had to be careful when we had to gybe.  Through the area near West Point the winds got very confused.  It's a hilly area, so perhaps the hills were causing the problem.

We arrived at our anchorage at 6:30 in Haverstraw Bay. I hope it won't be too rolly, but we shall see.  (We decided not to go to the other anchorage in the protected bay that Dave had suggested, because it was too unknown.  We had no charts that said any depths, so we are playing it safe.). Time to make our stir fry supper.  It was delicious!

Dave and Nicki decided to join us at this anchorage, too, so we have neighbours.

This is the first anchorage we've had on this trip.

Waterford, down the Hudson, to Catskill, NY

September 20, 2016

Here's a pic of me with a big, life-sized ceramic mule at Waterford. Mules used to pull the barges along the Erie Canal in the olden days. This one has a whole bunch of information about Waterford painted on it.  I love seeing artistic pieces like this on our travels.

We weren't thrilled about Waterford. Kind of run down and dirty, but the people were nice, and we had a delicious seafood dinner last night with shrimp, scallops, and haddock at McGrievy's. 

We had a good night's sleep and breakfast at the dock, so we were ready to go. We left the dock around 9:00, entered the Hudson River, and turned south. Yahoo!  We had one more lock to go through at Troy, Lock 1, but we had to wait quite awhile for it to open for us because some large boats were having problems in the lock.  Finally, at 9:23 we got the green light.  We followed 'Silver Tales' into the lock. They were a couple in a power boat from Oriental, SC  with whom we had chatted in Waterford, and they had told us about the pipes in Lock 1 instead of ropes. Good to know!

This is the first time we've had to deal with tides. We had learned about them five years ago in BC, but haven't done much with them since. This'll be a test for us. Luckily, our chartplotter shows tide information, which is wonderful, and means we don't have to buy a paper tide table (except perhaps as a back up).

So far, the tide has been with us so our speed over ground (SOG) is about 1.5 knots faster than our boat speed. Woohoo, we are just speeding down the river at 8.2 knots SOG.

The Hudson River has some pretty sights.

Sadly, however, it has lots of debris--branches, cups, bottles and other garbage.  We have to watch that we don't hit some of the larger branches.

Here's a photo of the Hudson City Light, only about four miles from our destination today. It looks
like it's right in the middle of the channel, but it marks the end of a little island.

Today we were heading for the Hop-O-Nose Marina, in Catskill, NY where we will have our mast stepped (put back up).  However, when we got there, he told us to go to the Catskills Marina, across the creek, for the night and to take the boat to Hop-O-Nose Marina by 8:30 am tomorrow morning.  They are still working on another boat right now, and we are next.  By tomorrow, we hope to be ready to sail again. Yahoo!

From the Erie to the Hudson

Wednesday, September 14

The lack of wifi on the canal is a bit frustrating for me.  I haven't been able to update the blog or upload pics as much as I'd like.  That makes this post very long.  Sorry about that.  Of course, it's really hard to complain to anyone about the lack of wifi since we are getting FREE docks.  I'm happy about that part.

When we arrived in Spencerport we wanted to dock at the new wooden docks on the south side. They look lovely.  Even the bridgemaster said we could go there. However, 'Dick' from m/v W. R. Kenan hailed us on the VHF radio and said it was too shallow for us--only 4 feet!  He told us to tie up on the north side instead, which, unfortunately, is a cement wall. It does have power though. Dick was full of information. He says that Newark is a great place to stop, with free laundry facilities right at the dock. We will head there tomorrow.  Thanks, Dick!  We also met Don and Cathy on m/v The Last Rambler.  They were also very friendly and informative.

On another note, I am the definition of a lifelong learner. Every day I learn that if I don't duck my head when climbing into the cockpit, I bump my head on the stay wire that is now laying across the opening.  Aaaarrrrgggghhhh!


Thursday, September 15

We left Spencerport by 6:50 a.m. and we are going to try for Newark, which is 44 nm away with locks at the end. The locks close at 5:00, so we need to move today to make sure we get through those last two locks.  We usually have breakfast on the go so we can make better time.

Visiting the canal is a spectator sport, so we are always on stage when we go through towns. People come to watch the boats go by and they often ask where we are going.

Today, at the Genesee River which leads to Rochester, we had to pass a dredger and a tug pushing a big, rusty scow.  There isn't a lot of room to pass, so it got pretty shallow, but Carey navigated us through without an issue.

We went through Locks 33 and 32 this morning, both before 9:40 a.m. The bridgemasters and lockmasters are very well-trained. We don't even have to hail them, usually.  Once we've gone through one bridge or lock, that person calls ahead to let the next one know we are on the way. They watch for our arrival. Very efficient.

At Fairport, the sheriff's boat came out to meet us. They had divers in the water right by the lift bridge (which is in the Guinness World Book of Records because one end is higher than the other, it is built on a slant, and no two angles on the entire bridge are the same).  Unfortunately, the bridge operator was either sleeping or she wasn't sure how to proceed because of the police presence, so we got very close to the right wall before she opened the bridge. Always a little tense.

I've come to the conclusion (after 38 years of marriage) that Carey and I are perfect for each other.  He has been on the helm for the majority of our cruise through the Erie Canal, because I find it tedious. It bugs me that I can't multi-task while driving, because you really have to pay attention all the time. I want to be able to steer, pay my bills, eat lunch, and write our blog all at the same time. Carey likes to do one thing well.  Perfect match!

Tharon and Mary, from Tipsy Gypsy, a Nonsuch, came over for a nice visit tonight while we were docked in Newark. We first met them in Buffalo. They are a young couple who got into cruising around the same time as we do. He works in computer software development, so can do that right on the boat while they're travelling. They are heading to Annapolis and then on to the Bahamas.  We meet so many interesting people on our travels.

We went to bed early because we wanted to catch the first lock at 7:00 am.


Friday, September 16, 2016

When we got up there was fog everywhere!

We decided to hold off leaving until at least some of the fog had burned off. We had breakfast and then left Newark just after 8:00. We got into the first lock at 8:10.  Tharon and Mary were right behind us.

We are hoping to get to Baldwinsville today.  After going through the lock and around a few bends, we lost sight of Tipsy Gypsy. It turned out that Tipsy Gypsy's engine overheated right after the first lock out of Newark, so they had to stop to get it fixed. Hopefully, we'll see them in Annapolis or sooner.

I took a video of us going under a 21' bridge and uploaded it to YouTube. You can see why the 15' bridges we did earlier were knuckle-biters!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QN_pm4HPKzQ

I'm keeping track of the wildlife we see along the way. So far, we've seen (besides the usual geese, ducks, seagulls, spiders, etc.):
Swans
Bald eagles
Praying mantis
Herons
Cormorants
Woodchucks
Kingfishers
Fish (leaping)
Egrets (yes, New York has egrets)
Osprey
and ELEPHANTs?

We ate big, fat roast beef sandwiches at Sammy Malone's when we arrived at Baldwinsville. Delicious!


Saturday, September 17, 2016

We woke up at 4:30 a.m., because Carey could hear voices. Turns out there was a couple fishing for catfish out there almost all night long.  We have seen people fishing everywhere on the canal. And on Saturdays (or weekends) they triple in number.

We got to the Oswego Junction this morning, which is where the Western Erie Canal turns into the Eastern Erie Canal. Yippee, about halfway through.  We got our electronic charts back on our chartplotter, too. Happy days.

We went through Lock 23, which is the first lock to lift us up.  It pushed us into the wall a bit more, but it wasn't too difficult.

We reached Lake Oneida by 11:35. It is the biggest body of water that we have to traverse in the Erie Canal. By about 2:00, the wind was starting to blow harder and we were getting some waves on the beam. Carey got a little concerned because the mast was wobbling a bit on its bow cradle. We certainly didn't want the wood to break and our mast sink to the bottom of the lake. That would not be good. We turned toward the south shore, directly into the wind and waves to alleviate some of the rocking.  That helped a bit, and the wind was calmer near the shore, but that made the trip across the lake a bit longer.  Part of the bow cradle is only a single two by four thick, so we will shore it up on the way back with an extra two by four.

That night, we tied up on the wall at Whitesboro.  A young woman came in just before dark. She is sailing alone, with three dogs. She docks by herself and even goes through locks by herself. She packed up all of her belongings in Indiana, sold her car, bought a boat, and is travelling to the Carolinas. Amazing.


Sunday, September 18

Today we had a sleep in!  Ahhhhh, it felt so good. We got up around 7:30 and I put some bread in to bake.  It had rained overnight, so everything was wet.  We left the wall at 8:10 and went right into our first lock of the day, Lock 20. The young lockmaster was a little grumpy, but I smiled and thanked him so he had to unbend a bit.

We ate warm, fresh baked bread this morning for breakfast. Sooooo delicious. We take turns eating breakfast and lunch, because someone always has to be on the helm and on the lookout. There are logs and spiles in the water, and some are right in our path.

We got our first view of the Appalachian Mountains at 9:30 this morning.  Still a long way away, but Carey loves the mountains so he's happy.  We are also starting to see fall colours on the trees.

We do daily engine checks, and they are a must on the canal. We are running the engine all day, so engine oil, gear oil, and coolant need to be checked, but most importantly, the water intake filter needs to be cleaned out due to all of the seaweed in the canal. We definitely don't want to overheat our engine!

Our pristine white bow now has a yellow moustache. Eeeeeyewwwww!  Picture an old man with a white moustache that is stained yellow from his pipe smoke. That's what RC Wings looks like from going through the green/brown waters of the canal. The fenders and our stern dock line are slimy from the canal walls. Lotsa cleaning to do, Lucy!

It occurred to me that people might be wondering about the process for locking through. Carey tends to be on the helm through the canal, so we just leave him there. I'm the one who does all of the work. Haha. Here's what we do: First, we wait for the green light to tell us the lock is ready and the gates are open so we can enter.  Then, I don my gloves (thanks for the tip, Dine), grab my trusty boat hook and a stern line and wait for Carey to slowly and carefully take us into the lock and against the wall. I hook a rope that is hanging on the wall and loop my dock line around it.  This allows us to go down (or up) as the lock empties (or fills), while it keeps us from floating out into the middle of the lock.  I keep the boat off of the wall by pushing with my boat hook as needed. On the helm, Carey controls the bow with the bow thrusters, if needed, and moves the boat forward or backward to keep my rope in the same position. It's fairly still in the locks that are going down, so there's not a lot of jockeying around to do, but at certain points in the filling or emptying we are pushed forward or backward.  Going up, we are pushed against the wall more, so there's a little more work.  We always try to keep the fenders off the wall, because they get slimed. Ick.  Overall, it's pretty easy, especially when you've got a procedure for your crew and your boat that works.

In Lock 17, which is the highest lift lock on the Erie Canal at 40', a power boat, Magic Moments, went in ahead of us and was having trouble grabbing lines. He was sideways in the lock at one point, so we held back until he got under control.  Always something interesting happening.

At Lock 15, 'Magic Moments' got in ahead of us and they were lowering him when we pulled up. They are supposed to wait for the slowest boat when they know another one is coming. Lock etiquette; not my rule. It turned out to be okay, though, because it's only an 8 foot lock so it didn't hold us up very long.  Also, the lockmaster told us that the other boat was smoking and the fumes were terrible in the lock.  In the end, we were happy not to have to lock through with them.

We've been seeing some fun/funny boat names along the way.  Here are a few favourites:
Tipsy Gypsy
Instead of... (This lady said they got a boat 'instead of' kids.)
ForeveR Young (I'm pretty sure a Robert or Ronald Young owns this boat.  Bob, you could have a boat called ForeveR Older!)

We got through Lock 13 at Randall at 4:45, and tied up just 5 miles past that at Fonda (home of the Henry Fonda family).  Nothing here, just a place for the night.

Monday, September 19

We left Fonda at 7:35 and arrived at our first lock at 8:10. We were out in 15 minutes, which was good. Through the second lock (Lock 11) by 9:08.  The lockmasters have been great to us so far this morning--they've had their gates open and the green lights on when we approach, which means we can go right in without waiting. Love it!

The Erie Canal has many faces. Today, when we started out, it was a bit foggy and the water was so flat it reflected like a mirror. When we peered into the water it looked like we could fall into the sky. Sometimes the canal is lined with driftwood, which can be quite pretty when it's bleached and stark against the dark green of the forest.  Other times, we go by docks and pretty homes, or villages with lots of boats. Today, we have been in canyon land for part of the day, with big, high walls of rock on either side. No matter where you are on the canal, there is a certain serenity here.  No worries about wind and waves, just some locks to traverse.  I haven't had an aaarrrggghhh moment for a few days!

We were hoping to reach Waterford, which is at the end (or the beginning) of the Erie Canal and has a flight of five locks. They close the locks at 5:00, and it takes 90 minutes to lock through, so we were trying to hurry to get there by 3:30. (That's a sailing joke--we can't hurry anywhere at 7 knots per mile.)

However, we did it!  We arrived in Waterford by 4:00. Woohoo!  We did 11 locks today, including the Waterford flight, which is five locks in quick succession!  Tomorrow, the Hudson River and Hop-A-Nose Marina in the Catskills to have our mast stepped. Then, it's time for sailing again.  Yippee!

This is where we will turn south for the first time since the Detroit River.  Woohoo!

Prepped and Ready for the Erie Canal

Sunday, September 11

Sunday we worked and worked and worked. Craig and Jo came to Buffalo and they helped us take down the sails, and the boom, and secure it all to the boat. They also drove us to get groceries and some diesel. They're so good to us!  Hopefully we will pay them back with a nice cruise aboard RC Wings in the BVIs..

We are exhausted again, but we are ready for them to take the mast down tomorrow. I'm hoping that will be problem free and we'll be on our way again. We'll see.

Monday, September 12

Here is our sailboat without its mast. Poor thing!  It looks like a narwhal!  Or a cute little unicorn!

This morning, around 9, we took RC Wings over to the place where they were taking down the mast. We can't go through the Erie Canal with the mast up due to the low bridges. Carey was quite stressed about these guys climbing all over our boat, but in the end they did a good job. Carey felt good that they followed his suggestions.  We didn't get out of there until after 2:00, though.  Another day with no lunch. Aarrrrggghhhh.  (My sister, Jeanie, says that's my pirate saying.)

We decided to stay another night at the Erie Basin Marina, because it was just too late to start the canal. We also had to call Customs using a videophone to obtain a cruising permit for the US. We called and spent over a half hour on the phone with a Customs lady, giving her all of our information. She said she would fax our permit momentarily. Forty five minutes later, no fax, so I called back. The man who answered said there was no woman there and he couldn't find any record of our call. (Yup, I'm having a day of aaarrrggghhh moments!). He took all of our info again and, lo and behold, we got our permit. Yippee!

Tomorrow morning we'll head for the canal. The Erie Barge Canal is a total distance of 310 NM (356.7 Miles or 574.1 KM) from Lake Erie to the Hudson River with 34 locks.  We are looking forward to this new adventure.


We finally got into the Erie Canal on Tuesday, September 13.

The first low bridge we had to go under was 17'. Gulp. We weren't sure how tall we were with our mast cradle so we crawled toward the bridge as carefully as possible. We cleared it by about 3', so we
are about 14' tall. Phew!

At 10:20, we reached our first lock: Black Rock L&D. We called the lockmaster and waited for the green light.  We were the only boat in there, and they said it was a gentle lock, so we went to the centre and waited for the lock to empty. It took about 10-15 minutes for the lock to empty and we were on our way.  Easy-peasy.

They say that there are no nautical charts of the Western Erie Canal, which is all the way from the Niagara River (just north of Buffalo at Tonawanda) to Three Rivers at the junction of the Oswego Canal. Our chartplotter seemed to be showing us enough detail, though, so we were feeling fine. Someplace between Tonawanda and Lockport, however, our chartplotter went from showing a charted canal to a skinny, squiggly blue line. Yikes!  It's a little unnerving to have no more charted

information about this area. We do have Skipper Bob's "Cruising the New York Canal System" guide, though which is very helpful for info about what we can expect around the bend--i.e., bridge heights, locks, lift bridges, towns, free docks, restaurants, etc.

The canal is quite lovely.  It's tree-lined in many areas, and is dotted with small towns, parks, bush, and marinas.  There is a bike/walking path that runs all the way from Buffalo to Albany, right across the state. (Our avid biker friends would love it!). The canal is not very wide or deep. We usually have about 20' on either side and the depth is usually around 11'. (We have a 6' draft, so we don't have a lot of room left.). The canal has lots of turns and twists, too, so we have to pay attention at all times.

Carey did his best to relax on the helm, though.

After going under a couple of 16' bridges, I reassessed our height to about 11'.  Since the lowest bridge seems to be about 15.5', we are fine.

At 3:20 p.m., we were at Mile 320, just past Lockwood lock. The lockmaster was very friendly. He checked our 10-day permit and offered helpful advice about locking through and where to stop for the night.  The canal lockmasters and bridgemasters finish work at 5:00 (off-season hours), so we will usually have to plan to dock by then, too. While we were waiting to be lowered in the lock, an older couple came right up to the gate to watch us. Turns out he is the owner of RCR Yachts (the company that took down our mast) in several locations in New York.  They were very friendly and chatty, but eventually my head was lower than their feet and they couldn't see me anymore, as our boat was being lowered in the lock.

Although the people were very friendly, Lockwood lock was no fun. The wind pushed us into the lock and our fenders scraped against the walls, catching in the holes. It was very difficult to keep the boat off the wall.

In our cruising careers, we can now say we've gone through the Welland Canal locks, the Sault Ste. Marie lock, the Black Rock lock at Buffalo, and the Erie Canal locks. That's a lot of locks!

We tied up to the wall in Middleport, NY for the night. The bridgemaster, Rusty, came out to greet us and to tell us where everything is in town, including the public restrooms, the laundromat, the restaurants and the police station. Nice guy.  On the wall, we could connect to 30 amp service. Free!  Love that. We ate ribs and blue cheese and bacon salad for dinner on the boat, then went for a short walk to the Main Street. On the way back, we met a 60ish man setting up his hammock (complete with bug net attached) between two trees.  He was biking from Oklahoma City to Maine or Boston. Pretty impressive. We loved his hammock!

We had an early night and were in bed by 10:00.  While I was trying to sleep, it crossed my mind that it was not a very secure spot.  The whole town could walk right by our boat.  Anyone with mischief on their minds could easily untie our lines and let us loose!  Not a good thought to sleep on!  However, in the morning, we were still securely tied to the wall.

Here are two maps showing our route from Buffalo to Albany.

Having a good day so far on Day 2. We'll stay in Spencerport tonight.

Shuffled Off To Buffalo

And...we're off!  We left our dock just after 9:00 on Thursday, September 8. Jo-Ann and Craig And Alex and Kathy saw us off with a champagne and orange juice toast, and our dock neighbour John saw us off, too.  So nice!

We made it to Buffalo after travelling for over 280 nautical miles and 40 hours straight. To be eligible to participate in the ARC 1500 with the World Cruising Club, we needed to have done a 250 nautical mile non-stop passage on our boat with just us two. Done!

We took turns sleeping Thursday night while the other person was on watch. I didn't get much sleep so I was tired on Friday, but we kept going because we were in the middle of Lake Erie. It's a long and tedious passage to go that long without a break, but it was kind of neat travelling at night. We had a half moon and stars in the sky so we had some light that reflected on the water. We had to watch for freighters because they go the same route--right down the middle of the lake.

When we finally made it to Buffalo, at midnight, it was too late to get a dock so we tied up at the fuel dock, had a quick shower and went to bed. Finally!

Unfortunately, the next morning was a schmozzle!  I woke up with a ferocious headache that I couldn't shake and that made me nauseous. Plus, another boat had moved down to the fuel dock and wanted a fill up but they didn't open until 9:00. Then the fuel hose wouldn't reach either one of our boats, so we had to jockey the boats around, plus another boat came in to add to the mix. It was 11:30 by the time we had our slip assignment and fuel. And we hadn't had our coffee or anything to eat yet!  To top it all off, another boat was in our slip so we had to find a different one. Aaaarrrrggghhh!

Eventually, we went out for lunch and had a nap, so we're feeling better now. Tomorrow Jo and Craig are coming to help us take the sails down and we'll have the mast taken down on Monday at RCR Yachts. That's our wrap up for now.