15 miles on the Erie Canal

Today we left Oswego around 9:00 and headed down the Oswego canal. This leads to the Erie Canal after about 20 miles. The locks are a bit of a project for us. Many have lines just hanging down for you to hold on to. Others have cables recessed into the wall for you to grab or throw a line around. Some have a combination. In any case when the bow person (Sue) has one line it is an adventure for our intrepid helmsman (Scott) to manuever the boat over so that he can grab an aft line. Must not be a big deal because whether you are ready or not they open the valves and in comes the water. In this pic you can see the water swirling in as we are on the rise. You can also see some of the recesses wherein lie the cables.
A trip down the NY canal system is certainly scenic. On a 95 degree day with no breeze and listening to my engine, though, perhaps I just missed the charm. Sometimes a little wind would come up from behind and I'd mistakenly think, "Mabye a little main sail would give us a push". No, we are motor boat for a few days and will adjust.






So, here's what Enee looks like tied to a wall in Brewerton, NY. I'm sorry but that is just a bad look to slap on a sailboat. I'm already looking forward to SAILING down the Hudson river. But, say, aren't those supporst nicely engineered and constructed! They had a major test today when we crossed paths with our first power boat. Of course he didn't slow down for us and the 3 foot wake just about put the mast over the side. Oh yeah, I gave him and earful and then added about a dozen more lines to the mast! All the other power boaters we encountered seemed to 'get it' and slowed and lowered their wake for us. That costs them about 15 seconds out of their day. Why is that so hard for some (most) of them to understand?


While tied to the wall in Brewerton we noticed the local teens jumping off of the railroad bridge in to the canal. Look and you'll see one of these daredevils in mid leap!