June 16-20, 2009 - Erie Canal

We had a wonderful, happy reunion with Grand Fromage at the Winter Harbor Marina in Brewerton, NY. The folks at Winter Harbor did a fantastic job storing Grand Fromage for the winter. They also gave Grand Fromage a shiny, lovely bottom paint job. We can't say enough about the professionalism, kindness and courtesy of the folks at Winter Harbor. Click here for their website.

We had a lot of work to get Grand Fromage ready for another summer of cruising. Our friend, Ralph, from Naples, Fl, joined us to help us go down the Erie Canal. We took 5 days to test all systems and provision. It rained and rained.

On June 16 we left Winter Harbor. The first day we crossed Lake Oneida and tied up to the free dock for the night. The next day we woke up to rain. For the second mate and I, foul weather gear was in our immediate future.

Captain Robert helps second mate, Ralph, dude up in foul weather gear.

The deck crew prepared for all weather contingencies.

The great blue heron appeared prepared to deal with the rain.

Our trip through the Erie Canal last fall was a relaxing, fun experience with plenty of time for pictures and admiring the gorgeous scenery. This trip was a whole other story. Remember I mentioned it rained and rained before we left the marina? It continued to rain during our passage through the canal. What this meant for us was water over two feet above normal, tremendous logs and debris in the water, swift currents and rapids. We all had to stay vigilant to spot logs. The worst were the "dead heads", What you would see would be a seemingly harmless piece of wood on the surface. However, if it were a dead head, it would be the small visible part of a huge tree limb or trunk. Hitting a dead head can cause significant damage.

A working barge from the Erie Canal district going out to find and remove debris.There was significant current entering each lock, however, Captain Robert quickly learned the technique to avoid stress and disaster. Leaving the lock, the water rushing out of the dam was filled with rapids and logs. Once again, Captain Robert learned the combination for steering plus engine to avoid the debris. Smaller boats going west up the canal were having a horrible, terrifying time of it, especially the sailboats. Their underpowered engines could not rev fast enough to power through the rapids and current to enter the lock. We heard their conversations on the radio and they were having a scary go of it. Now that I'm working on the blog, I certainly wish I'd taken pictures, but at the time we were very busy.

Second mate Ralph holding the aft rope at the top of the lock.Ralph holding the rope near the bottom of the lock.

There are many bridges we go under on the Erie Canal. The lowest bridge is either 21 or 20 feet, depending on the source. With the radio antennas up, radar tower up and the bimini top on, Grand Fromage has a bridge clearance of 28 feet. Uh oh, you say, how is that going to work?. The first owner arranged for this contingency with a radar mast that lowers hydraulically. Last spring, Captain Robert and friend John lowered the mast to a little over 19 feet and we had no problems clearing the bridges with room to spare. With a few more hours' work, our top can go even lower to clear a 15 foot bridge, but for the Erie, the extra time and effort was not necessary. All together now, "after all, we'd cleared all bridges with no problems the year before". Since the water did seem a tad higher this year, it was prudent for Ralph to stand on the mast, ear phones on, to make sure we'd clear each bridge.

We going to make this bridge, Ralph?

Ralph using the earphone to discuss with Captain Robert whether Grand Fromage will clear the bridge. In this case, the answer was AOK.

On the second day of our passage through the Erie Canal, just outside Schenectady, we needed to go under a bridge the chart said was 24 feet. Hey, this should be no problem, we'd cleared bridges 21 feet that day. On this occasion, Ralph said we would not clear the bridge and we would hit our TV dome. Whoopsie daisy. Time for plan B. Errrrrrrrrr team, what is Plan B, anyway??? There was no place to tie up the boat within easy reach. There was a lock wall to the west, which would mean transversing back through the current, rapids and logs of the previous lock and then going up the lock to get to the wall. This choice did not bring chortles of excitement from Team Finnegan. Ok, there was the marina in Schenectady where we had a reservation for the night....oh yeah, that was on the other side of the bridge we couldn't clear. Captain Robert ordered us back a short ways where we could go up a side channel to the river and put down the anchor. Once our anchor was holding, Captain Robert turned into McKyver and rigged up all of these safety devices, ropes and measures to safely lower the tv dome another foot. We were now at 18 feet 4 inches. Back to our nemisis bridge to try again. This time there were a bunch of kids on the bank yelling, "Go under, you'll make it!!!" The word we were waiting for was from Ralph who gave it a go. Ralph said we cleared the bridge by 6 inches.

We were very happy to make it to the Hudson River on the third day. We still had the Federal Lock at Troy, but that was easy. It was a relief to tie up at the Albany Yacht Club for a couple of days. Ralph, having saved our TV dome and possible damage to Grand Fromage, jumped ship in Albany to fly home to Naples. Thanks, Ralph for all of your help!!!