Mast Stepping

Tomorrow, Ihana becomes a sailboat again! We are putting up the mast in Castleton-on-the-Hudson, about 1-1/2 hours south down the Hudson River. We will use the Castleton Boat Club's gin pole. And so the next part of the journey starts. 

About 5 sailboats docked here at Waterford, NY [east end of the Erie Canal on the Hudson], heading down the river to also put up their masts and re-rig their boats. Lots more room inside - and on deck - with the sails and spars up and not stored. 

We have connected to Tom Lee from Ontanagon, MI, (s/v Windsong II), to help each other out on the mast-raising part.

Reunion on the Hudson

When we got to Waterford, NY today (end of Erie Canal & Mohawk River; junction with Hudson River), we ran into several boats we have seen before and have been leapfrogging with down the Canal:  Sailboats from Ontanagon and Ann Arbor (all heading for FL & Bahamas), motorboat also headed to FL.  And got e-mail & photos from sailboat from Toronto that is now a day or 2 ahead of us.  Most of us are here for the night at the Waterford City Dock.

Tom just came over with some Tequila.

Our last night on the Erie Canal

89 degrees at Erie Canal Lock 7, east of Schenectady. Tomorrow we do a flight of 5 locks, dropping 150 feet in less than a mile down to the Hudson River. Then we find a spot at Waterford.  So, our last day tomorrow on the Erie Canal. 

It's Labor Day Weekend. Many more boats around here. And lots of [expletive deleted] jet skis. At the lock dock with another sailboat - from Ann Arbor, MI - they are also going to Florida & The Bahamas. 

We have been traveling with (or around, or in-spite-of) the Ann Arbor boat and another, a 27' C&C being singlehanded (!) through the locks and down to Fort Pierce, FL.  And I though I was tired!

Hope everyone else is staying cool. Bucket of water over the head trick works.

Plan is to step the mast in Catskill NY on Monday, about 30 miles down the Hudson River.  Or something like that ...  It will be nice to be a sailboat again.

Along the Mohawk

The Erie Canal is getting much better as we get further east. Last night (and most of the day) we hung out at the Ilion NY Marina - laundry!!!  showers!!! that, along with the groceries we got the day before, and a day of rest, improved our moods and trip a whole lot.

Today we traveled a whopping seven miles to Little Falls.  This is more like it. The Little Falls Canal Harbor is beautiful.  The harbormaster gave us a personal tour of the town and dropped us off there (walked, hardware, cash machine, lunch) and we walked back to the boat. Decided to stay put for another day.

Allergies are acting up for both of us.  I went with the drugs and slept a lot yesterday. I went without and sniffled but stayed awake most of today.

Little Falls is the kind of town we were waiting for.  Old, historic, right on the river in a gorge cutting through the Adirondack Mountains.  And, finally, a town actually on the river and Canal.
The Indians called this place Little Falls (the Big Falls being Niagara).

Some pictures:

Dredging the Erie Canal.
Had to stop and wait for them to tell us it was safe to pass.

Gates like this are at all of the locks.
They use them to close off the locks in the winter (for maintenance),
and also if needed for flood control.

Looking upstream from the Little Falls Canal Harbor.

Ihana tied up at the Little Falls Canal Harbor.

Red Right or is it Green?

There have been so many changes in the buoy convention that we needed a way to remember which way was green and which side was red.  It changed depending on which river or canal or lake we were on, and which way some cartographer thought was "returning from the sea".  We used these lines, where we could see them at a glance and tell which side to pass the buoys on.

Going east on this section of the Erie 'Canal,
keep the red buoys to port and the greens to starboard.

Mowing while Motoring

A couple of days ago, we met another sailboat.  They had a folding prop, and had to dive under the boat to clear the weeds.  We have a non-folding prop and (so far) have been able to clear the weeds off it by motoring in reverse.
This may not be a universal rule, but we are glad we don't have a folding prop.
Your mileage may vary ...

Eerie (sic) Canal

This canal is really strange.  Some days we see 1 or 2 other boats; other days we don't see any at all.  It is really beautiful, but so far away from civilization when we are on the river.  I feel like we are on one of the larger rivers in Northern Wisconsin or Minnesota.

There are towns all along the Mohawk Valley, but most of them are not exactly on the Erie Canal.  They were started along the Mohawk River (possibly by native Americans). The river often is separate from the newer canal; and now the towns grow along the New York Thruway (the Interstate). This makes it hard to get supplies, do laundry, or even take (real) showers. 

Today we found a real marina in Ilion, New York, that has showers and laundry (we walked a mile yesterday for groceries). So we are set again for a few days. We only motored for 5 miles this morning – were glad to find this marina and stay still for the rest of the day.  I'm catching up on my sleep – motoring all day, day after day, is pretty intense.  But it is easier than the Trent-Severn Canal: wider, deeper, and a whole lot less boat traffic. I guess that makes up for the lack of services.

Ilona is catching up on boat cleaning - Ihana looks really beautiful again.

For the last 3 nights, we have been tied up on the wall at the locks (3 different locks).  And we were the only ones there!  Really quiet (except for the trains and Thruway which share this river valley).  Great views of the Adirondack Mountains that we are traveling through.

Haven't heard any Drums Along the Mohawk, yet ...  And I guess there aren't any more Mohicans ...