More Ups and Downs

Life keeps rolling on in Tonawanda.  The Labor Day holiday passes without much more commotion, our fellow distressed boaters move on with their plans, and we sit canal-side waiting for instructions and a date from the trucking company. The neighborhood people who stop by daily for updates are our main company.  They kindly give out suggestions for occupying our time in Tonawanda.  Towards the end of the week, we hear that the truck will pick us up on Monday, the 12^th, but then late on Friday we get word that they can’t get a wide load permit due to all the flooding on the Susquehanna River. We cancel all the plans we have made including the rental car that will take us to Maryland.  The weekend sees us feeling pretty down.

We are totally convinced that we have made the right decision to truck the boat.  Make no mistake; the Erie Canal is not reopening anytime in the near future, although the canal commission has not yet made that announcement. You might want to check out www.timesunion.com/news/slideshow/Erie-Canal-damage-strands-boaters-30826.php. Bear in mind that many of the pictures you will see are a week or more after the hurricane strike. Our new friends from Holland, Michigan have pulled their boat and are now back at home.  We follow the path of the trawler on SPOT (a service that allows you to go online and see a boat’s position on a map), and see that they are struggling to make way towards Chicago with the challenging weather that the Great Lakes can produce this time of year.  While we feel fairly frustrated with the turn of events, we are actually quite lucky.  People in the Mohawk Valley have lost their homes, businesses, and, in a few cases, lives due to the flooding.  We have been inconvenienced and have incurred an unexpected major expense.

Mid-Monday afternoon we get another call from the trucking company.  We need to be at the yacht yard Tuesday morning.  The only problem is that we are ten miles downstream of Buffalo and the slog back is against the swift current of the Niagara River.  Burt immediately takes off with the boat as we no longer have any running lights and will thus need to be docked before dusk.  I, meanwhile, get on the phone and begin lining up a rental car before the agency closes. Miraculously it all works out.  I negotiate the maze of Buffalo highways to arrive at the dock in time to catch Burt’s docklines.

Our night is not spent in the yacht yard as they do not have any spare docks available.  Instead, we tie up nearby at the Buffalo Naval Park’s recreational boat docks.  It’s off season, and we are the only small boat there. But, we are still in good company.  Off our stern are a decommissioned US Navy Ballistic Missile Cruiser, a Destroyer, and a good sized Submarine.  Exuberant is the small fish in the pond.

Tied up at the Buffalo Naval Park

 

That night, after dinner, I am in the head taking a shower when I hear five horn blasts from a very large boat.  Five blasts indicate immediate danger so I quickly look out the port.  There I see the bow of a freighter a hundred or so feet away, pointed right at us.  It is one of those “deer in the headlight” moments before I realize the freighter was in reverse and backing out of the commercial harbor.  Yes, we are definitely in the land of the big boats as freighters are coming and going all night.

Freighter in the Buffalo Harbor

The next morning we get the call from the yard that the travel lift slip is vacant and we can head over.  In a short time, they remove the mast from the boat and put it on stands which gives us a little more time to tie and pad the shrouds that we couldn’t reach while it was on the boat.  Right on schedule, Kevin appears with the truck and trailer, along with the news that they still don’t have the wide load permit. Up goes the boat and we place it on the trailer for the night.

Exuberant gets ready for the highway

The next morning we finish up securing the boat and preparing the mast.  All of a sudden, at noon, we get word that they have a permit.  We take off, deciding not to wait for the escort car to show up – I am so nervous I don’t want to see this huge rig careening down the highway.  Without us, Exuberant takes off as one of those wide loads you hate to see in front of you on the road!

Off to the Chesapeake at 65mph

We take a slight detour to stop at Letchworth State Park in western New York.  I remember going here a number of times as a child and thought it would be fun for Burt to see this incredible gorge. Besides, we need a break and opportunity to do something fun after all the stress and work of the past days.  The park did not disappoint – we hiked along the trails, enjoyed the vistas of the three large waterfalls on the Genesee River and the deep gorge of slate cut by the river, and the lovely park architecture and landscaping dating from the days of the CCC. That evening we drive as far as York, PA, knowing that the boat was now about a half an hour behind us. 

Letchworth Gorge

Middle Falls, Letchworth State Park

It is now Thursday morning and we have about a two hour drive to Galesville, MD where the boat will be launched.  We get to the yard in time to make the necessary arrangements and then we see the escort car turn the corner into the driveway; we know the boat is not far behind.  In short order the boat is up in the travel lift slings and the mast is unloaded on to stands in the yard. We all take a short lunch break, Kevin heads back to Buffalo, and we splash the boat down into the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic watershed – we’re where we want to be, albeit by a very different route than expected.

The Chesapeake, at last

 

Galesville is a very small town on the West River that feeds into the Chesapeake, about 15 miles south of Annapolis. It consists of two boat yards, a couple of marinas, three streets, two restaurants, and a post office.  But, it’s a good place for us.  We have a nice, inexpensive dock at the marina next door to the yard and enjoy the view out on the waterway.  This is the land of sailboats. The ratio of sailboats to power is probably the inverse of Lake Erie.  We enjoy watching them ply their way through the channel – Hinckleys, Aldens, large ketches, and race boats abound – it’s truly eye candy for sailors.  The shore line is dotted with an assortment of homes; some are quite modest and others definitely in the estate category with long piers extended into the water and lovely boats tied up.

Waterfront home near Galesville

 

Now the work begins all over again as we reassemble the boat. It’s no surprise there are a few issues to resolve.  The outboard for the dinghy refuses to run so it’s quick off to a repair shop before we need to return the rental car.  Ethanol is the culprit, and we are told that we need to get used to having the carburetor serviced regularly.  The mast and boom are filthy, scuffed, and scratched.  The scratches in the paint are our fault as we missed a few places that needed padding and securing.  The dirt disappears with a good scrubbing and waxing, so all in all, they look better than before.  Burt over tightens one of the fittings for the spreaders so it needs a trip to a welder for repairs.  We think the mast will go up on Monday.  But no, Monday morning we get word that the crane the yard would normally use is now on its way to help in the reconstruction of the Erie Canal.  The yard contracts with another crane operator that will come on Tuesday.  It seems we just can’t get away from the Erie Canal.

Tuesday is our mast raising day.   A huge truck crane is rented – definitely overkill for the job at hand but the only one available on short notice.  Up goes the mast, again a nerve wracking experience for us, but things go smoothly, and we are delighted to once again be a sailboat.  

Oversized fork lift brings the mast down to the water

Giant truck crane has no problem with the mast

Boat yards are dirty places and we’ve seen our share of boatyards over the past month so some serious cleaning is in order.  We also mount the radar dome on the mast, something that couldn’t be done until the mast was up, and finish up the installation of the wind generator with some help from a boat docked near us. 

We are finally ready to do what we have been setting out to do along - go cruising.  And tomorrow we will cruise to our first destination, a whooping two miles away.  We plan to attend a Seven Seas Cruising Club Gam.  A Gam is an old-fashion term for a gathering of sailors.  We will socialize with others, many of whom have traveled in their boat all over the world, and attend some informational seminars. So, while Bob Marley may be jammin’, we’ll be gammin’ for the weekend.

All Tied Up in Tonawanda

We’re still here in Tonawanda; most of our friends have moved on and we will too in a couple of days.  Meanwhile, people ask what is the attraction of full time cruising when there can be so many difficulties?  There are no pictures with this post, but it is a nice story and indicative of why we pursue this lifestyle.

Several weeks ago while we were getting ready to permanently leave Sandusky a transient boat stayed at the Sandusky Sailing Club, our home club.  Friends mentioned that we should try to connect with the owners, a German couple, as they had just completed a circumnavigation.  It never happened, but we kept our eyes open hoping we’d bump into Ursula and Eckhardt along the way.

Here in Tonawanda the grocery store is a short bicycle commute along the waterfront.  As I was riding there one day, I saw a sailboat with mast up moored at the beginning of the canal near a facility that drops masts.  I thought it best to go up to them and let them know the situation on the canal as perhaps they would want to change their plans.  As I got closer, I noticed it was a German flagged boat also flying the burgees of Middle Bass Island Yacht Club and the Sandusky Sailing Club. I knew I had found our wandering Germans.

That evening they joined our community of displaced boaters for happy hour, and their stories were out of the pages of National Geographic.  The circumnavigation had taken them 14 years and to places as far flung as Cape Town, Alaska, the Pacific islands, and all places in between.  They even visited a few locations with names we didn’t recognize. They had stopped at every continent except Antarctica. It was a fascinating evening for the bunch of us fledgling cruisers.

But here’s the charming part of the story. Western Lake Erie is riddled with islands, one of which is Middle Bass Island.  It’s a quiet island with summer cottages, two restaurants/bars open only in the summer months, and a state park with a marina.  Within the marina is the Middle Bass Island Yacht Club, a quirky sort of place composed of a picnic shelter, portable toilets, and a well-known outdoor, open-to-the-sky shower.  This year the state park completed major renovations and the MBIYC has a new, fancier but not extravagant home, still with an outdoor, open-to-the- sky shower that has to be called a fish cleaning station due to code restrictions (figure that one out).  Besides the shower, the club can claim to have the best burgee on Lake Erie – three vertical fish on a field of blue with the middle one outlined in red – Middle Bass, right?

Anyway, in the early years of their circumnavigation, Ursula and Eckhardt were traveling through the Great Lakes and stopped at MBIYC for a night.  The members there were fascinated with their sailing plans and gave them one of their burgees to fly during the trip, with the hope it would eventually end up back at the club. Actually, it took more than one burgee as flags seem to disintegrate over time. But, this summer, ten years later, Ursula and Eckhardt showed up at MBIYC with a burgee that is now framed and on display in the new clubhouse along with some pictures of their adventure.  They had detoured from their path northward along the Atlantic coast to bring their boat back into the Great Lakes and personally present the well traveled burgee to the club. Apparently, it was quite a celebration. They are now in Tonawanda where they will leave their boat for the winter, heading back home which is now in Austria to prepare for the transition back to a land based life.  Come next spring, they intend to sail out the St. Lawrence River and across the north Atlantic, perhaps stopping at Iceland, before reaching  their final destination of a harbor in the Baltic.

So, why do we cruise?  You get a chance to meet some very interesting people.  

Ups and Downs

We are in a period of ups and downs, the first of which involves our mast.  If you ever want to raise your anxiety level, just try watching your 1000 pound, 65 feet long mast float around in the air.  Initially a truck crane comes over and raises the mast out of the boat, brings it up into the parking lot, and deposits it on stands.  Then the travel lift is brought over.  The mast is hung in its slings and lowered on to the support structure Burt has built on the deck of our boat.  It is nerve wracking, but goes smoothly, and in a matter of a couple of hours we are ready to cast off.  But, just prior to leaving, the yard manager comes down and says that the floods from Hurricane Irene have washed away the boat yard on the Hudson that everyone relies on to re-step their mast.  It is the first inkling that this trip may not go entirely according to plan.

Before it all starts, the meeting of the minds.

The mast starts the trip up.

Coming down on the mast stands

The travel lift lowers the mast back onto the boat.

The mast drops down on the supports.

  

We’re a funny looking power boat now with this long stick atop, and we put-put down the Niagara River to the Black Rock Canal, built to protect shipping interests from the currents and shallows of the Niagara.  It contains one lock that we easily take, making us now around five feet lower than Lake Erie.  It’s another down and the official exit from the Great Lakes. 

A few miles later, we make a sharp turn to starboard where we enter the Gateway to the Erie Canal at Tonawanda.  The town has developed a pleasant waterfront with docking along both the north and south walls of the river. 

Exuberant along the wall at Tonawanda

Park land and bike trails parallel the walls while an assortment of interesting but low bridges span the river.  This is power boat territory as no sailboats can proceed through here unless their masts are down. We stop for the night to avail ourselves of the showers, laundry, and nearby large grocery store and to enjoy the beautiful bike trail that follows the Niagara River back to Buffalo.  

Vista from the bike trail along the Niagara River

 

 And we also take the time to investigate online what is happening with the Erie Canal.  The official web site is nebulous – the canal is closed in the eastern portion; updates will be available next week.  That leaves us wondering, do we keep going or stay put in a nice facility as opposed to finding ourselves marooned further up the canal where things are more primitive.

We opt for the more cautious route as another sailboat with mast down powers past onto the first set of locks. After all, we’re pretty comfortable here. The sailboat has gotten our phone number from the boat yard and gives us a call the next day.  According to the lockmaster at the first set of locks, it might be a week before the canal is fully open.  We try calling locks in the affected area but calls don’t go through – the phones are not yet operational. Unofficial word is beginning to surface on other web sites that the damage far exceeds anything that the canal commission is admitting.  We stay put, other boats begin filtering in and we become part of a small community of distressed boaters.  The locals walking the park or coming by in their boats are friendly but seem to know nothing about conditions in the Mohawk/Hudson River valley.  We are surprised that media is not covering this catastrophe.  Finally, a gentleman who is an engineer on the railroad that parallels the canal seeks us out.  He has been past the affected area several times and says there is no way the canal can open this year and perhaps even the next year or so.  The damage to the canal infrastructure is overwhelming, and the state will have to have a major bond issue to fund the reconstruction.  At the same time, a web site begins to show pictures of the area.  You can see these pictures by goggling Waterway Guides and clicking on the NY State portion.  Finally, the Hudson River is clogged with storm debris.  The Coast Guard warns against navigation down the river due to all the half sunken boats and floating remains of houses and cars.

Reality bites and we experience a downer.  The four boats in our little community start formulating Plan B.  Two of us are full time liveaboards so a winter in Buffalo is out of the question. The liveaboard trawler from Florida decides to retrace its path, returning to Chicago by a long Great Lakes passage and then heading south by the river system.  The Canadian skipper of a Nonsuch, also bound for the Bahamas, and we decide that having the boats trucked to Annapolis is the best option, and we begin to make the necessary arrangements.  The final boat owners have a home in Holland, Michigan so they decide to have the boat pulled in Buffalo for the winter and hope to restart their cruise in the spring.  Over “medicinal drinks” that evening they say that having to write in their blog that their cruise, a dream for many years, is on hold was one of the most difficult things that they have had to do. No one is smiling but coming to a decision does relieve some of the stress. 

It’s now Labor Day weekend.  The trucking company will give us a definite haul date after the holiday, and it will be approximately ten days from now.  They are working in conjunction with the boat yard, but with holiday hours we don’t have any specific instructions on how to prepare the boat. Burt undertakes some basic tasks in anticipation of removing most of the fittings and structures that extend above the basic fiberglass of our boat.  This is not a simple or easy job, and we are anxious to get a start on it.

 Meanwhile, it is definitely holiday time in Tonawanda.  The walls are packed with docked local boats and the river is alive with all kinds of floating devices – power boats, kayaks, canoes, jet skis, stand up paddle boats, and a sort of bicycle on pontoons that looks like something out of Dr. Seuss.  The waterfront bar/restaurant across the river from us is packed.  Come dusk the boat traffic increases giving us something of a cross between Put-in-Bay’s B-dock and a 20ish foot power boat version of Annapolis’s Ego Alley. By dark the river is alive with red, green and white lights while on shore, those strolling the waterfront park are donning glow stick necklaces.  With a live band playing, blaring stereos, and the revving of cigarette type boat engines, it can only be described as a zoo, albeit a relatively well behaved zoo.  We have front row seats and are enjoying the spectacle. 

Holiday crowds begin to filter in.

That is until 4 am when one idiot decides to give one more vigorous rev to his engine.  The question is, do we take him out with a flare gun or just show up in a couple of hours with an air horn posed above his companionway? An interesting conundrum, but one we can’t act upon as we have no idea which boat was responsible for the disturbance. We still have two more evenings to go, so it could get very interesting.