19 May 17

Well, that was a wild night. Although we did not get the predicted 50 kn gusts, or anything near it, we did have a world-class lightning storm. We sat up in the cockpit watching the show until we had a couple of ground strikes within half a mile; then it was time to go below and hide all the electronics inside our Faraday cage, also known as the microwave. It rained hard and thundered and flashed until well after we went to bed at 22:30. We woke at 07:00 to a beautiful, cool morning and were immediately up and at ‘em. The Admiral prepared breakfast, while I took advantage of the heavy dew and rain-wet decks to mop down the whole upper body again; it is looking pretty clean. Now, if only we could get the cabin into the same shape.

And what a day it turned out to be. We started well enough; we were away from our nice anchorage by 09:00 and motored up-river with the weakening flood all the way to Troy, arriving at the Troy Federal Lock about 12:20. We had thought that we might spend the evening at the Waterford Visitor Center dock before starting into the Erie Canal, but since there is no fee this year for using the canal (175th anniversary celebration or something), and nobody in line and we were early, we just went straight up the Waterford flight (the first 5 locks that lift the boats 169 ft over Hudson Escarpment and around the Coho Falls on the Mohawk River) and carried on. The wind was starting to get up - forecast was NW 15 - 25 kn and that seems to be about what we experienced, although with no anemometer, it is a bit of an educated guess. Beyond the Waterford flight, which we cleared at 15:30, it was quite blustery and chilly. About 16:30, as Captain’s hour was rapidly approaching, we decided to try to get into Crescent Boat Club. They warned us that the water was a “bit shallow”, as the lake pool level had been lowered by the canal authorities while maintenance was being performed on the locks, but that we “should” be able to get up to the fuel dock OK. So, in we went. About 200 yards from the dock, the water depth suddenly dropped to 4.1 ft on the sounder and we immediately stopped dead - hard aground in the soft mud. Unable to either back off or turn around, the club boat came out and towed us back into deep water, allowing that the entry to the marina was deeper on the other side of the island (they could have mentioned that earlier). On the way back to the main channel, on near-enough the reciprocal course of our original entry, the keel hit something very hard; we bounced off, but it did not feel good - I expect to find a good ding in the keel when next we haul her. On the second try, via the “deeper” channel, we hit bottom about 40 ft from the dock and could go no further. Again, the club boat towed us back to deep water; this time, we demurred and decided to seek shelter elsewhere, but all the other marinas in this pool were suffering the same problem - i.e., the lowest water they had ever seen after the locks opened. By the way, today is opening day for the NY Canals this year.  

So, we had no choice but to carry on. There really are no good places to anchor between Locks 6 and 7 and we had thought we might tie-up to the wall below Lock 7. However, even though the Waterford flight shuts down at 17:00, Lock 7 (and apparently, the other locks) operates until 22:00, although who the hell would want to carry on through the locks and the canal well after dark (and Captain’s hour) is beyond me.  Three miles west of Lock 7 is the Schenectady Yacht Club, where we stayed, quite happily, 2 years ago - on 4 June 2015, to be precise. We got to Lock 7 just after 18:00, called the SYC and they said there was a slip with sufficient water depth and that they would wait for us. We finally straggled in at 18:50, tied up and settled in for the evening. Whew! Long day for us, but we made 45 N-m and got through the first 7 locks of the Erie Canal system, which puts us a bit ahead of schedule. Not bad, but good ole Sal is one tired mule and will sleep well tonight.

42-51.064’N, 73-53.221’W; 45.3 N-m; Sum (2017) = 85.4 N-m