Anchor up at Houghtaling Island after a peaceful night. The bottom was muddy, which meant a good hold for the night with 5 feet of (fresh water) tide, but the wash down pump is necessary to remove the mud from the anchor and anchor rode. The 6 boats from Hook Boat Club spent the night, anchored and rafted together. Looked like a good time!
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| Hook Boat Club has a few buoys. With this on the bottom of the river, the sailboats probably aren't going anywhere! Pretty ingenious! |
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| Crawdad, early morning at Houghtaling Island. |
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| The two black circles by Jim's feet are the "up and down" controls for the anchor. He is washing the mud off the anchor chain as he raises the anchor. You know who is at the controls. |
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We lowered the mast so Crawdad can make it under the bridges in the Erie Canal. We will turn north on the Oswego Canal to Lake Ontario. If we were to continue to Lake Erie, the canvas on the bridge would have to be lowered. Thank goodness we don't have to lower the canvas on the Oswego Canal route.
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| Pam and Dave, is this the kiln you mentioned? I wondered what the heck this was, but it was so interesting I had to snap a picture. |
The cruise took us past Albany with a stop in Troy Dock to buy liquid gold diesel. Sure seems like it with prices over $4.00 a gallon! Joe, the Dockmaster made it all worth while. He entertained us and helped us pump up our last two big orange balls. With 4 large orange balls, we have a start in protecting the hull from damage in the 31 locks between Troy, NY and Oswego, NY.
The first lock is in Troy, NY on the Hudson. Stay on the Hudson and you cruise up to Lake Champlain. Quite a temptation as Lake Champlain is incredible. Next summer we plan to do the "small triangle" which would take us in that direction. A turn west took us to the Erie Canal and Lock 2 with a bar to wrap the line around and dropped lines and Lock 3 with lines to hold. Jim held one on the stern and I held a line from the top on the bow. As the lock filled, we each moved up on the line.
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| Albany. As we cruised past the Albany Yacht Club we noticed our friend Charlie Crawford's boat, Bama Belle. |
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| Tied to the dock in Troy for fuel. Troy, NY appears to be a decaying city, much like many cities in Michigan where manufacturing is a thing of the past. |
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| Never know what you will see as you reach the top of the lock. |
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| Entering the lock. |
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| We had not seen a pipe like this before. We wrapped a line from the middle of the boat (midline cleat) around the pipe and the line rose as we floated up to the top of the lock. |
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| Ah, another lock. Lock #3. |
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| Many people were watching as we entered the lock. As we reached the top, they came and asked us questions. |
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| The old lock remains from 1825. |
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| In this lock we used a rope dropped from the top of the lock and held on while the boat rose in the lock. Gloves are a good thing as the ropes are really slimy. |
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| This work boat was tied to the lock as well. How about these fenders! We use orange balls and rubber fenders to protect the boat. |
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| Boaters used to tie bales of hay to the hulls as protection. |
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| These rubber fenders would offer some serious protection of the hull. |
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| Charming and well maintained modest homes in Waterford, NY. |
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| This grated bridge was not Buddy's favorite. He wanted Jim to carry him, but Jim said "No"! |
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| This time we have three happy boys. Boo wasn't happy later as fireworks soared over the locks. |
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| Along the Erie Canal..... |
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| We could not dock at Waterford Docks as the weekend has a raft of activities. Today was the Steamboat Meet. There were about 30 charming hand-built steamboats. |
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| Erie Canal boat. Tourists can ride up and down the locks. Fellow Loopers on Dragonfly bought an Eric Canal boat and modified it for the Loop. They primarily used solar power. |
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Steamboats lined on the Waterford Docks.
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Yes, that's the old lime kiln south of Albany. I grew up in Waterford, spent a lot of time on the rivers and canals as a kid.
ReplyDeleteThe federal lock in Troy is the only lock without ropes hanging down the walls. The first time I went through there, I only had bow and stern lines tied, and I wound up sideways in the lock with my 33' sailboat. LOL! Glad you guys were better prepared!
A tip for you- if you plan on spending the night in Amsterdam, you can stay and pay at Riverfront Park, which is right downtown. If you continue up another lock, you can stay for free at Guy Johnson Park which is on port just past the lock. Free electricity, if I remember right. There's a great little neighborhood Italian bar and restaurant just outside the park called Russo's, one of my favorite places.