The Adventure Begins

As you have likely noticed we have left the dock and have been under way for an embarrassing number of weeks without a word sent!  We hope to correct this and keep you relatively up to date on our adventures.  Quiescence did leave the National Yacht Club on September 6^th (our birthday gift for Calvin on the 7^th was to vacate the house) complete with champagne and company to say good bye – thanks to all who stopped by that morning!

A proper champagne send off

A hot, sunny  sail with our crew Lynn and Trevor to NOLSC and a late dinner on the dock with the Nash’s, Mullin’s and cousins Greg and Sarah was a great start to our trip.

As they say trouble comes in threes. The first occurred on the way to Rochester while motor sailing in some gusty winds.  The boat heeled and the engine went into run away state. There was much billowing white smoke and all attempts to shut down the engine failed.  Once the boat righted itself the engine returned to normal but not without giving us all a good scare. Little did we know that this engine issue would follow us all the way to New York City.  Then, while tied up on the wall at the Rochester Yacht Club, the lock on the dry sail crane failed. The boom swung in the wind and the hook dragged across the back stay in the night – another good scare.

Rule 137: never tie up this close to a dry-sail crane

The next night was spent at Sodus Bay Yacht Club. We determined that diesel fuel was leaking into the engine lubricating oil. This caused the oil level to rise and we would later confirm with Yanmar experts that this was the cause of the runaway engine. Kim changed the engine oil to temporarily mitigate this engine issue. We now needed to determine the root cause !

We had the mast taken down in Sodus Bay. Having always done this ourselves it was unusual to have to get off of your own boat, not touch anything, and let someone do it for you.

Front row seats to the unstepping

Kim was politely asked to get off the boat and stay out of the way

The after "mast"

Problem three was still a few days away as we found ourselves in the Erie Canal Lock where we would get stuck for almost a month !  Most trips through these locks last about a week.

Our first lock on the Oswego canal. Fortunately the lock had
only an eight foot rise because we really needed the practice !

It took a few locks to get our routine down but we were a pretty well oiled machine by the end of that first day.

Going up in a lock can be much more challenging than going down…right Lynn? 

Don't forget to duck on the way out

This "lock" crewing is hard work.

Driving and navigating through the canal is a full time job

On September 15^th we went through Lock 14, and decided to stop at the town dock at Canajoharie where there was an Art gallery of American art. Little did we know Lock 14 would be our home for 17 days. The Art gallery was closed…and the only place open was a suspect ‘Irish’ pub…which of course we visited – we did have Trevor with us!  As we slept, the dam below us at Lock 13 breached and the water began to drain from the river.  Shortly after 7 a.m. Bill, the lockmaster, came knocking on the hull telling us we had to get back up stream to the lock immediately as there would soon be no water left – and he was right. We made it in time and they brought us back up into Lock 14 where we literally stayed inside the lock chamber...for 17 days (still can’t believe it).
 

This is the "floating" dock that we were tied to when the dam down stream breached

The lock guys were great, they brought us treats, and Bill brought us fresh Walleye caught at the dam. We had free power, water, we used their showers and they even brought in a pump out truck for us. Our little community had three and then four boats - we were an unusual collection of personalities and we experienced a side of life that we had never expected. (Lynn and Trevor have details)  We did meet some new friends, Pat and Ken on the fourth boat,  who have become a daily part of our trip – this being their second round trip from Miami to Canada and back - they are a great source of advice for us.

With both gates closed we were held "prisoner"

Sadly Lynn and Trevor had to return to Toronto without having sailed into New York harbour and before we had a chance to do much sight seeing.

We tried to make the best of our ‘time’ by renting a car and drove to Albany (state capital) a few times, to Hyde Park on the Hudson to tour the Roosevelt and Vanderbilt mansions and have a wonderful lunch at the CIA. (Culinary Institute of America! – we know what you were thinking…)

Roosevelt's "modest" mansion.

 Our friends Jim and Joyce drove in from Rochester to take us up into the Adirondacks for a day. We finally escaped the Lock on October 3^rd with only 7 feet of water in the canal to Lock 13 – only bumped the keel once.