We Survived Irene, the Whore

The best way to compose this post is to copy from my captain's log for the last few days:

Saturday, August 27th: The first bands of rain are due late tonight. Winds are not expected to pipe up until early Sunday morning. The canal is scheduled to close tomorrow at noon. The big unknown is when it will reopen... Currently, at 1800, the barometer is at 1028 milibars. That's pretty normal. Curious to see how far it drops when Irene shows up.

Sunday, August 28th: Rain started at 0300. Pretty significant amounts. Winds are coming from the NE and are predicted to shift to the NW as Irene moves through. This is good because we will be very sheltered by cliffs along the river bank. Our preparations have been very good as the boat has ridden very well and we have stayed high and dry. About 1700, the commodore of the club came by and advised that we should abandon ship and take shelter in the clubhouse because the water was rising at an uprecendented rate and that very soon we would not be able to get to land because the ramps going to the docks would be underwater. The docks float, but the ramps don't. He was right. We went to the clubhouse which was at the highest point of land at the marina. Our friends from NC joined us along with about a half dozen other club members. The rain stopped at around 2000 although the winds were still quite stout at 40 mph. The real concern was how high would the river rise. By the way, the barometer dropped to 1001 milibars - wow.

Monday, August 29th:  At 0200, the phone at the clubhouse rang and I answered it. The caller advised that several locks to the west had failed and that the Gilboa Dam was in danger of breaching. If that happened, the torrent of water that would come down on us would raise the river 24' above its norm, the whole yacht club would be washed away along with our boat, and we would be like the people from the 9th ward in New Orleans sitting on the roof of the clubhouse with signs reading "Help Me"! Fortunately, the dam held and we would be okay, but... By daybreak we could see the story that the national media whiffed on. The Mohawk River was rising to crest at 16' above its norm, running at 25-35 mph sweeping away everything in its path. At about 1000, our friends from NC saw their tug, Digby break loose from where it was chained to a bridge pier and bounce off a couple of boats. It would have been lost except that a single dock line held them in place just out of the current. But then the docks started to twist and groan and buckle. The header which runs parallel to the shore, is about 1000' long and has about 50 fingers jutting off of it into the river, holding about 100 boats. In a little over a minute, about 500' of the header was destroyed. Miraculously, all the boats remained attached to the carnage. None were lost. We spent the entire day staring at the mayhem, praying that the docks would hang together and not tumble like dominoes into the river to be swept over the dam, 5 miles downstream, with all of our boats attached. And we watched the water continue to rise. It was supposed to crest at 1500. Then the electrical boxes began to explode, one after the other, and the wind picked up to about 15 mph from the west - the absolutely wrong direction. Finally, around 1700, the winds subsided, the river began to recede ever so slightly, and the worst had passed. We had survived Irene. Tomorrow, we will start to pick up the pieces.

Tuesday, August 30th:  What a sight. The river level had dropped about 14' leaving a sea of mud where just yesterday a sea had been. Snow plows were brought into clear the 3' of mud so the crews could get to the docks and begin the work of securing boats and extracting broken docks from the river. The damage to the docks was worse than we had initially imagined. Alize was completely unscathed, just covered with leaves, mud and other debris. We are on our boat for the first time in two days. Marg cooked a great meal and I feel I can finally relax. Our next challenge will be getting down stream. Lock 7, the next lock on the river, is  closed indefinitely. No one can tell me what that means. There are 20 boats in the flight above Waterford. Waterford docks were destroyed. The Troy Boat Club was completely destroyed, 26 boats sunk or totally damaged. Albany Boat Club was under water. I look at our situation and can't help but think, it could have been worse.

Hunkered Down

Marg and I just wanted to let all of you know that we are fine and safe and waiting for the big blow. Each day the news gets marginally better but this storm will have consequences. We are in the Schenectady Yacht Club which in 2006 weathered the mother of all storms on the canal. The people here are experienced and everyone is pitching in with preparations including moving boats, securing docks, even setting anchors downstream to hold boats against the anticipated 50-70 mph winds. We are moving our dinghy to land, removing canvas and lashing down everything that could possibly blow away.

Dumping water from the canal in
order to lower the levels

The real consequence of Irene could be the closure of the canal. We have already received several Transalerts from the canal corporation advising boaters to seek safe harbor and to prepare for closures due to high water and debris. For the last 4 days, the canal corp has been opening flood dams to lower the water levels before the big rains hit. Unfortunately, the canal could be closed for up to a week. That could be a problem.

We are glad we are where we are. Some people went to Troy, NY to get out of the canal in the event it did close. Bad idea. Troy is at the confluence of the canal, the Hudson River and the Champlaign River. The sea walls are concrete so as the rivers rise so do the boats potentially over the top of the sea walls and on to ground. Also, hundreds of boats from NYC and Long Island will be charging north up the Hudson to get out of the way of Irene. That area can't handle all those boats. Like I said, we're glad we're here.

Thanks for all of your emails, texts and comments expressing your concerns. We are fine and look forward to posting "after-Irene" pix and commentary. Be well.

Only 88 Miles to go on the Canal

We have discovered that wireless internet service is spotty at best. About one or two stops a week have it. That's one reason we have not updated this blog in a week. The other is this Google app is a pain to work with and it takes twice as long to post than it should.

We are now in Ilion, NY. It's a quaint little town that has the Remington Gun Works as its sole industry. It's a little scruffy on the edges but the people are warm and welcoming. Big re-provisioning stop for us - meat, vegetables, scotch. The marina was built with grant money from the state, private investment and volunteer efforts. It now contributes positively to the economy of Ilion. Here's a case where government investment has paid off. I wonder what the place would have become if that investment was never made.

Lock 25 in all of its remote splendor

When last we posted, we were in Fairport. We left there and proceeded on Tuesday to Newark (NY that is) but could only spend one night. Marg got her hair cut and colored for $50 and it looked beautiful. If her hair doesn't fall out, I say "up yours Dino Palmieri". After Newark, we went through 5 locks on our way to Lock 25 where we spent the night. Lock 25 was interesting. It was in the middle of nowhere, in a park-like setting. The lock keeper said that it is so quiet there that city people can't sleep at night. We were tied to a wall, all by ourselves. Very peaceful.

Crossing Cross Lake

One of the many man-made cuts 

Go straight for Lake Ontario, turn right
to stay in the Erie Canal

The following morning we departed Lock 25 for Baldwinsville. We promptly dropped a fender into the canal and spent the next 15 minutes trying to fish it out of the water. I really appreciated the solitude of the place. Otherwise, we would have been the entertainment. Everyday, the canal is different. Today the canal was a mix of rivers, lakes and man-made cuts. On the rivers we twisted and turned through marshlands, woods and small towns. We arrived in Baldwinsville in the early afternoon. What a pleasant surprise. Beautiful docks with water and electric, a great visitor center, a liquor store in walking distance, and a great restaurant next to Lock 24 aptly named Lock 24.

Friday, August 19th, we depart for Winter Harbor Marina in Brewerton just west of the dreaded Oneida Lake. We are still having issues with the alternator however, I don't think it's the alternator. It's intermittent so I think it's a gremlin thing. Hopefully, we can get it fixed at Winter Harbor. They have a full service marine repair facility. We arrived at Winter Harbor around two in the afternoon and Jim, the service manager, stuck his head under the hood to see what was causing the alarm to go off. He tightened up some connections that were loose and fiddled with a switch that turns the alternator on and off and pronounced the switch as the gremlin. We haven't had a problem since. Now we are ready to tackle the crossing of Oneida Lake.

The mighty Oneida Lake

Departing Brewerton on Oneida Lake

Bright and early Saturday morning, at 9:15 we headed out of Brewerton to Sylvan Beach. The lake is 22 miles across and has been known to be very rough with waves up to 6'. Today was not one of those days. A very pleasant crossing. Kind of like going from Sandusky to Put-in-Bay. We arrived at Mariners Landing in Sylvan Beach at 1 in the afternoon. Mariners Landing is operated by the Oneida Indians. They charged for everything, had poor electrical service (constant tripped circuits) and the bathrooms were like something out of Deliverance. We had to pay a $5 deposit for a key to get into the showers only to discover that once in the showers, you had to pay to take a shower!! The town itself is a scruffy resort town with loud people and bad food. It was Bike Week when we arrived. Not too successful. We counted about 20 bikes making a lot of noise. Sylvan Beach was a one night stand.

Our latest "Oh shit moment". We decided to spend Sunday in Rome (NY that is). It was hyped pretty good in the cruising guides touting it's restaurants, groceries and hardware stores. Plus, Rome is the home of Fort Stanwix, an authentic reproduction of the famed revolutionary war fort from the 18th century. On approach to the town docks, we ran aground 75 feet offshore in water that was supposed to be 8 feet deep. WTF. In fact, all along the dock wall, there was less than 5' of water making it impossible for us to dock. Plus, the docks had no way to attach a line. How did they think we were going to tie up?! Rome doesn't get it. Too bad, we would have spent some money there. Instead, it was on to another destination.

Lock 20

What a great place to hang out

We decided to go to Lock 20     about 10 miles further along. What a neat place. Low floating docks, electricity, water, bathroom facilities, a picnic pavilion, and a park-like setting. All for the incredibly low cost of $0. 

Rome, you lose.

It's Monday and we are in Ilion. More about our journey next time.

Brockport to Fairport

Culvert Road running under the canal

It is very difficult to leave some of these towns. Brockport is beautiful. It is a college town with a fair amount of prosperity, and a very energized waterfront supported by the town with the help of 110 volunteers who serve as the greeters whenever a boat arrives. It costs $15 a night to dock there but that includes electic, water, free wifi, the use of the visitor center, bicycles and wagons if you need to haul groceries. I didn't take a single picture there. Just after we arrived, we got the rain that had been promised all day. It was pretty heavy so we stayed down below. The following day, we headed east for Fairport. We passed over Culvert Road. It's the only road that runs under the canal. Pretty cool.

We had an uneventful ride from Brockport to Fairport. The skies improved and I took the opportunity to shoot some pics of life on the canal. As you can see, it was just us and the indians and they were hiding.

Cars and boats... pretty strange

Check out the rock cut... done by hand

Great murals, probably done by trolls

Hmmm... maybe they offer recipricols

 

 

 

We finally arrived in Fairport, NY. What a beautiful place. This lift bridge is the last one we will experience and the most unique. One end is higher that the other and there are no two angles the same. Just standing on it and thinking about the time it has been is service boggles the mind. There are no parts for it and when it breaks, that is the end of an era.

I took this picture from the bridge of the terminal walls on the north and south sides of the canal. Like Brockport, the services were very inexpensive. The dockmaster apologized for having to charge us the maximum - $11!! Plus a person from the chamber of commerce greeted us with info about the town and coupons for discounts on dinner and stuff. I think of all the places we've been to, Fairport has been the prettiest. I got my watch battery replaced for $2.25, Marg discovered the Dollar Store and we had a decent pizza. Life is good.

Finally a pic of us

That's it for now. This blogspot program by google is the most difficult program I've ever experienced. If any of you are interested in starting a blog, DO NOT USE ANY GOOGLE APPLICATION.

Catching Up: Lockport to Medina

Here we are, stuck next to Lock 35

Me bad. I forgot all about the "oh shit moment #2". As we approached Lockport on Wednesday, our alternator on the our engine decided to give it up. We were no longer able to charge our batteries and it was only a matter of time before we were dead in the water. John, the lock keeper, offered us a slip next to Lock 35 that had electric and water. It is an unpublished dockage but he told us we could stay as long as we needed. Of course the nearest repair facility was RCR Yachts in Buffalo, where we were two days prior. The next morning, Joel the other lock keeper suggested we go to see Doug, the owner of Zimmie's, a tire and battery shop about a block away. Doug is a wizard and by that afternoon, he had rebuilt our alternator and we were ready to go the next morning. And he only charged me $115! Free in boater's terms.

Descending the last 25'

Finally, on Friday, we were ready to depart Lockport for Medina about 20 miles away, We slid into the lock and experienced locking down 50' from the Niagara Escarpment. That was cool. The process is pretty straight forward. You drive the boat up to the wall and run dock lines through cables that run from the top of the chamber to the bottom. This way you steady the boat as you descend. The algae and slime that coated the walls stunk the place up pretty good, but it was still exciting. A right of passage had been attained. More to come.

Our first lift bridge. Another right
of passage

As we exited the locks we were confronted with our next challenge - lift bridges. As you approach the bridge, you call the bridge tender on the VHF radio and advise him or her that you are eastbound and approaching. In turn, he or she advises you to continue on your course and the bridge will be raised by the time you arrive so that you can proceed. That is if the the bridge tender is there. In a number of cases the tender tends to more than one bridge. If he or she is at the other bridge, you get to wait. We were lucky. Of the twelve bridges we have gone under, we did not have to wait for any of them.

A welcoming fresco in Medina. There were a number of
these on buildings throughout town.

Medina is a very interesting town. Typical of rust belt towns that were built on some form of industry, Medina has suffered the same fate as most but the people don't know it. They are resilient, outreaching and friendly. We wound up staying there for two days, not because we had to but because we wanted to. On Saturday was Canal Days, a fun festival featuring bands, and crafts, antique cars, food and tours. Medina is famous for sandstone, some of which is found in Buckingham Palace. It is also where Pullman cars were manufactured during the hey day of train travel. Speaking of train travel, Medina boasts a world class railroad museum. We spent almost three hours walking through the place. Sounds dumb but it was fascinating. Also, Michael Symon would have been thrilled to eat at Zimbistro's, a local dining place that was imaginative, tasty and economical. Probably the best meal we ate on the trip.

 

The Rev. Ben Moss

I mentioned people. Meet the Reverend Ben Moss, vicar of St. John's Episcopal Church in Medina for over 28 years. Retired now, he is world traveled and has the most beautiful outlook on life that I ever experienced. We talked for ever. Having experienced Medina's greatest years, you might have thought that he longed for the prosperity and glory that was. Not Rev. Ben. He saw the prosperity and glory in the people of the town that worked hard and livings with what was left. And what they accomplished. Medina was a lovely town with lovely people and a spirit I wish I saw in my own home town. They took limited resources and invested in a water front that was beautiful and accomplished its goal of attracting boaters transiting the canal. We stayed two days and spent a little more money than I thought I would. It was worth it. At the end of our conversation, Reverend Ben hugged me and told me that he loved people who loved people. Pretty simple philosophy. Something we could all do easily.

Medina's waterfront. We are the boat to the far right

Okay. That's all I have for now. We are off to Brockport on Sunday. Brockport is a college town so I expect it to be much different than what we have seen. Stay tuned for all the news that's fit to print.

Finally in the Erie Canal

Tired but undaunted, we left the Buffalo Yacht Club and headed South to RCR Yachts to begin the work of turning our sailboat into a "Crawler".

Removing the mast

Alize with the mast going in the
wrong direction

RCR did a magnificant job of taking down the mast and positioning it on the cradle. Five hours later and $550 poorer, the job was done and we were ready to transit the Erie canal. It was a tough day for the guys at RCR because they had to work in the rain and manage my wooden contraption that I built in April after drinking a bunch of scotch. But it worked and the mast sat in it without crushing the deck or me. Next stop, Tonawanda, NY at the western terminus of the Erie Canal.



We arrived at Tonawanda at 6 pm on Tuesday. We immediately cleaned the boat washing away 8 days of yuck and began to feel reasonably respectable. The picture below shows the western entrance of the Erie Canal.

Tonawanda is straight ahead, a beautiful stop that is very accomodating to boaters. We met an interesting couple with 2 kids there. They were from Duluth and heading for Grenada on their 46' ketch called Dilly Dally. The Captain, Dale, couldn't stop talking. I guess it was because he had two pre-teens on board and a wife. He was glad to have any adult to converse with. Nice guy.

We departed Tonawanda and headed east to Lockport about 20 miles away. No biggy but nothing moves quickly on the Erie Canal and the trip took us nearly 4 hours. If you have never seen the Erie Canal, you must take a barge trip or stow away on someone's boat. It is a natural wonder. Built in 1817 to 1825 by thousands of laborers with shovels and donkeys, it meanders across NY for 338 miles. The picture to the left is a small representation of the waterway. I can't describe how beautiful the canal is. I hope congress doesn't decide it is not important in the scheme of things.
We arrived in Lockport around 3 pm at lock 35. The locks in Lockport actually lower you 50' from one end to another. Pretty amazing. There are actually two locks, one right after another. Each lower you about 25 feet. The process takes about 30 minutes and is a bit slimy. You drive into the lock chamber and grab onto a cable that extends down from the top. As the water exits the chamber, the boat lowers and you hold onto the cable to steady the boat and keep it from running into other boats. The cables are very stout and covered with mucus. Glad we had old gloves. Lockport itself is a charming town. We met a very nice couple from Watkins Glen that were transitting the canal for a week or so. I can understand why Huck Finn's tales of travels on the Mississippi were so popular. In a small way, travel on the canal is reminiscent of time long, long ago.

In Buffalo. The End of the Lake Erie Leg

We have been a little behind in posting due to a lack of internet connections. So now we will bring you up to date.

After a series of thunderstorms, we finally left the Erie Yacht Club and headed out to Dunkirk, NY on Sunday, August 7th. In very strong following seas and winds we made Dunkirk Yacht Club in only 6 hours. We were greeted by six club members to help us land the boat, and treated us to numberous dollar beers. I thought I was in Mexico. The club members buried us with more advice for our trip than you could get from 20 guide books. One of the members, Jim Christy, even gave Margaret a bag of vegetables from his garden. What a great place.

Our first view of Buffalo

On Monday, after numerous cups of coffee with our new "best" friends, we left Dunkirk Yacht Club, the friendliest yacht club I've ever visited, and headed east to Buffalo. Five and a half hours later we arrived at the Buffalo Yacht Club and began the work of stripping down our boat in preparation to having the mast unstepped. Sails had to be removed, and all rigging had to be strapped to the mast. Exhausting work. Marg made an incredible meal for dinner which made it all okay.

Today is a day of rest

Check out the water coming over
the bow.

After two 8 hour slogs - Cleveland to Geneva on the Lake, and Geneva to Presque Isle, we are taking a day off and hanging out at the Erie Yacht Club. When we left Cleveland, the weather forecast was for partly cloudy with winds of 5-10 knots out of the east. About an hour into our journey the sky was dark and sullen, winds were on our nose at about 20 knots and the seas were 5' and above. The sun did come out but that was for the last 3 hours of our trip and the winds and seas got worse. So much for weather forecasting. We finally arrived in Geneva at 1500 hours, 8 hours after we left. Boy were we tired. Of course, the slip we were supposed to be in was occupied and we had to squeeze into one that had no electric. We met a nice couple from Sandusky on their way south, Keith and Brenda. That made the stay in Geneva a little bit better.

What a difference a day makes

We got off the dock the next morning at 0700. Keith and Brenda had already left. What a difference a day makes. We were a motor boat once again but it was bright sunshine, comfortable temperatures and dead flat seas. Off we went to Presque Isle, about 50 nm from Geneva. Cruising along at about 7 knots, we arrived at Presque Isle about 1430 and to our suprise, Keith and Brenda were about a 1/2 mile to our north on their way into the same place. We motored into Preque Isle Bay and were amazed how similar it is to Sandusky Bay, only the water is much deeper. We pulled into the Erie Yacht Club, and were amazed at how beautiful a place this is. The finest docks I've ever seen, a club house sporting a fantastic restaurant (note: dinner for two with drinks was $55), a pump out that was so powerful you don't want to be sitting on the pot when it is sucking out the holding tank, and a sunset view that could rival the wall at Dock of the Bay.
So we are taking a day off and doing some cleaning. By the way, Keith and Brenda are docked next to us. Tomorrow we are sailing, I hope, to Dunkirk Yacht Club in Dunkirk, NY. After that, it gets a little more exciting. Our next stop will be Buffalo where we will take the mast down and become a motor boat for the next two or three weeks on the Erie Canal. At the rate we are going we may have been better off with a trawler. Hey Fred, isn't your trawler for sale?

See you later with all the news that's fit to post.

 

We're Retired and Are on Our Way

Attention Mark Bennett: these people
can attest that we did leave.
Photo by Jeff Bacon.

We departed Dock of the Bay on Monday morning at 0900, August the oneth. I'm suprised we got off the dock after all the partying and saying good by.

Cameron (on the left) thinks anything
bigger than a car is a truck. That includes
boats. Janet and Bob expecting in Dec.

We make a great couple.

 Thank you Janet and Bob and Cameron, Amy and Bec and JP and Jan and Dave and Blue and Jeff and Sandy and Carla and Odessey and Loretta and Mary and Mike and George and Trudy, and all of our DOB friends, for the send off. Dock of the Bay has been a spectacular second home to us. We have made friends there that will be damned hard to equal.

Good bye good friends.

Our first stop was Battery Park to take on $81 of diessel (I nearly had a stroke), and unload 44 gallons of used beer and other unmentionables at the pump out. So at 1000 hours we departed for Vermillion. We sailed for about 3/4's of the trip and motored the last hour. Thank god because we went a little faster under motor and arrived at 1400, just five minutes before the mother of all storms popped up and blew like crazy - our first "oh shit" moment. And it was only day one!
Day two was very uneventful. We left Vermillion at 0830 with no wind and motored for six hours to Cleveland. Gawd, all that diessel.

Our first view of Cleveland.

We arrived in Cleveland at 1430, found our slip at Lakeside Yacht Club and are in the process of getting significantly shit faced because we are not going anywhere tomorrow. Bad weather predicted. Next stop will be Geneva on the Lake. Hope you are all well. We miss you all already.