Moving Right Along

Saturday, September, 6th - Sodus Bay

It's 8 p.m. and dark. We have happened upon an outdoor wedding reception at the Sodus Bay Yacht club so when our there's a lull in our Andrew Lloyd Webber CD, we can hear a mix of rousing dance music. It's likely we'll be listening to the beat of whatever the DJ thinks will keep the crowd going until later than we'd like.

Yesterday we were wondering if we were going to make it away from the dock at Olcott. Our newly installed rebuilt starter motor didn't start. After repeated tries - Bob would go down into the cabin, lift the stairs to have a look at the engine - clank at something and then come up to try again. Following several rounds of this, the engine finally started - but we were afraid to turn it off again even when the winds came up and we could have made good time without it. Actually, we've never gone so fast. The winds were strong and with the engine running at low revs, to our great surprise, we were at times doing more than 8 knots (our hull speed is 7.3 knots).

Bob phoned ahead to a marina in Rochester and was able to book a mechanic for this morning to replace the current starter with our spare starting engine. The mechanic arrived promptly and after an hour of work, I am thankful to report that the engine now starts with one press of the button. At about noon, we set out for Sodus Bay where we are now - listening to loud wedding music.

Photo - Sunday Morning at Sodus Bay Yacht Club

Sunday, September 7th - Oswego

After a half day of motor sailing over bumpy seas (I was green by noon) we are here at Oswego Marina. The sails are off of the boat , the radar has been dismounted and we will soon walk over to John and Eileen's trawler, Somewhere in Time for a "celebratory dinner". Bob has the stand for the mast partially built - he'll finish it tomorrow morning and then in the early afternoon the mast comes down, will be laid across our deck and secured and then we will go through the first lock of the New York State Canal system.

Laying the mast across the "cradle".

Here's Sea Change at Winter Harbor on the Oneida River - part of the Erie Canal system.

We went through 8 locks today - 22 more locks to go. This was our initiation day - it was pouring rain on and off all day and we started through the first 3 locks with strong winds coming from behind us. It was quite something. I won't go through the gory details but it didn't go well. After the first 2 locks, we considered throwing in the towel for the day but since there was no place to tie up on that part of the canal, that wasn't an option. Eventually the wind began to drop and we got better at grabbing the ropes or cables running down the lock walls. Still we were glad to tie up at the end of today and to join Eileen and John for an "after action review" debrief and drink.


Tomorrow is supposed to be a beautiful day which should be great since this is a picturesque area - and we will be crossing Lake Oneida and then going on to more locks - 2 more with the water "going down" (as the locks so far have been) and all the rest "going up" adding a new dimension to our lock management learning. Onward and upward!

Docking Surprise

Posted from the hamlet of Olcott, part of the town of Newfane, NY
Photo: Bob repairing the damaged "S" in Sea Change.

Yesterday, after Sea Change hit the wood box encasing the steel rod at the end of our slip, climbed it and slid back down to finally come to a stop, I said to Bob, "I won't put this in the blog". News that the boat was for a few minutes moving dangerously in the wrong direction might scare some of the people who care about us as it certainly scared us. When Bob had tried to stop the boat by putting it into reverse as one does when docking, the boat continued forward and picked up speed. When the bow of our boat hit the wood box, it split open but cushioned the impact. Some of the gel coat on the bow was scraped and part of the S on the port side "Sea Change" is missing but that, surprisingly, is the extent of the damage.

This morning Bob put on his goggles and went under the boat to see if there was weed wrapped around the prop. Negative to that. The boat was shifting into reverse and forward but the shift was sticky - and inconsistent. Catherine, from New Bliss in the next slip to us, got on her bike and went to alert Marine Services that we were on our way over to have the boat pulled again and that we would be arriving with compromised stopping capabilities. It turned out that the longer screws that Bob had put into the zinc at the end of the prop yesterday (to ensure that we didn't lose it), had "bottomed out" and were preventing the prop from turning properly. The addition of an extra washer to each screw fixed the problem.

So - since, ignoring my oath of secrecy, I told everyone that I talked to throughout the day about our mishap, and also since, as it always seems to be with these experiences, once you have some distance from the event and especially once you can explain it, it doesn't seem so bad after all - I'm putting it in the blog.

What a Day...

Wednesday p.m.
We're at the boat - We made it out of the house and we're pooped. Sean picked us up at 4:30 and drove us to the launch - Bob raced to his meeting and I worked on completing the fridge defrost and cleanup - and then I very artfully managed to get everything that we'd brought in 2 cooler bags - all into the fridge. No mean feat I assure you. And now - its 10 at night but Bob hasn't stopped yet. He's on a roll or is it a tear? We had a slight problem with the boat this a.m. and Bob is concerned that we may not be able to set out tomorrow - well so am I. We do want to get on our way as our friends John and Eileen are meeting us in Oswego in a few days. The boat is not filled to the brim but it's pretty packed - and Bob wants everything as stowed away that can be. Apparently my yoga mat has to be put in the locker under our bed - it's quite possible I'll never remove it if it goes out of sight. For now I've promised to "take care of it" - so I'm going to have to get creative. Anyway - I've put off the yoga mat dilemma and Bob is not rumbling about in corners of the boat - so it's time to head for bed and see what develops tomorrow!

Thursday 10 a.m.
Propeller problem solved (details later) - the dinghy is on the davits; the outboard had been hoisted and fastened onto the boat rail. We're off!