Dragged across the finish line!

Today was the day we would cross our wake and complete the Great Loop. The plan was to cast off just before 5 am and meet Pelican in the harbour. We were a bit late getting off however, as we had to deal with a giant dock spider on the boat. Louise managed to get it off the boat using her spider grabber, but it ended up on the stern rope near the dock cleat. No way I was reaching for that rope, so I had to use a boat hook to scare it away, and it did not scare easily! Eventually it moved far enough away that I could untie the boat and off we went.

Conditions started off pretty nice. We had small rollers on the beam, but the motion of the boat was comfortable. Unfortunately, we were in two wave trains, one on the port bow, and one on the port stern quarter. Any stern component to waves messes up our autopilot, so I had to steer manually. As we approached the centre of the lake, the winds built resulting in bigger waves, and the ride became a bit more sporty. We were still comfortable, we have been through much worse, but you had to hang on to something if you wanted to move around the boat.

All of a sudden the engine exhaust sound changed, it got loud. Uh oh. I looked back at the stern of the boat and saw steam coming out of the exhaust. Immediately I throttled back and the steam went away, but a few seconds later it re-emerged. Throttling to idle did not fix the problem, and now the engine temp gauge was starting to move, so I shut down the engine.

I went into the engine room and checked the strainer, which was clear of debris. Next to check was the raw water pump, and water was leaking out the side of that pump. I removed the backing plate and saw that the impeller was OK, but water was leaking out of a hole on the side of the pump. Of course this hole faced the engine. Using a mirror, I could see that the hole was threaded. OK, we lost some kind of plug. 

Before proceeding, we decided to get help. At this point we were about half-way across lake Ontario, and drifting towards a shoal. The shoal was far away, but so was help, so we called BoatUS, and they told us they would dispatch a boat to tow us. At the same time, Paul volunteered to tow us using Pelican, and we decided to accept his help. It took a couple of tries, but eventually we caught his tow rope and got rigged for towing. Paul set off at about 10 kmph, which would take us about 4 hours to reach Kingston.

Pelican towing us across lake Ontario. When towing a big boat like ours, you want to use a long tow rope. This acts like a kind of shock-absorber for the swells. Luckily for us the waves smoothed out during the day, so we had a pretty smooth ride.

Just after we got rigged for towing, the BoatUS operator called us and asked what our situation was. Since we were already being towed by Pelican, we told them we had things under control, and that Pelican would bring us in. At the same time, Just a Dream and Wastin Away came past us. They slowed down for us, and Ted hovered nearby as we got hooked up to Pelican just in case. Once we were under tow, Wastin Away continued to Kingston. So nice to cross big water with other looper boats.

I spent quite a bit of time in the engine room trying to find the small plug that was missing from the side of the pump. I ended up getting a couple of burns from reaching under the engine to feel for parts. I found a few nuts and bolts, but nothing that looked like a plug. I did find one small screw with an O-ring (foreshadowing), but it did not fit into the hole. 

During our years on the boat, I have never been sea sick, but the boat was rolling pretty good when I was down in the engine room and I was pretty green when I came out. Luckily I didn't puke, and as soon as I could see the horizon I lost the nausea. As we travelled across the lake, I continued to search in the engine room to see if I could find the plug for the hole in the pump, but I had to limit my time in the engine room as each time I went down there my stomach complained.

Pelican had to negotiate between ferries, work boats, other boaters and rocks as we came into the harbour. Paul made a securite call as we approached to warn other boats that he was towing us and we had restricted maneuverability. To enter the harbour he had to make a big U-turn and thread the needle through the entrance. Mike and Ted ran interference for us on the dingies as Paul did the close maneuvering.

As we got close to Kingston, the traffic picked up, so Paul made a securite call that he was towing another boat and had limited maneuverability. Several boats acknowledged and offered help. As we got close to Confederation basin, Ted (Wastin Away) came out in his dingy to help us, followed by Mike in his (Thyme Away). As we approached the basin, Mike went ahead to run interference to make sure there were no boats trying to exit the harbour. Pelican towed us into the basin, whereupon all the looper boats in the harbour sounded their horns for our wake crossing! Freakin awesome!

Once inside the basin, we dropped the tow rope and Pelican moved clear to recover the rope. Ted and Mike then moved in. Ted came alongside and did a side tie, while Mike pushed our bow. Using the two dingies, plus iFloat's thrusters, and lots of hands on the dock, we made it safely into the slip. We thanked everyone profusely, but Mike summed it up best when he said "that was fun, I'm glad I got to help out. Wouldn't have missed it". Loopers!!!

As we were dropping the tow lines, Ted an Mike came alongside. Ted did a side tie, while mike pushed from the other side to pivot us.

Here you can see Ted alongside and tied up to us, while Mike gets ready to push the bow.

When we were about an hour away from Confed basin we had called customs to check in, and so we were pre-cleared once we landed. There was a customs boat in the harbour, so we waited around for a while in case they wanted to check in with us, but they were not here for us.

Beth (Wastin Away) shot a video of us approaching the dock with our tugs.

The iFloat has landed!

We celebrated on the dock with the other loopers, and then I went over to thank Paul and Jill for rescuing us. On my way back to the boat, Louise texted me to say that Ruth had arrived with our gold looper flag, so the next order of business was to swap our flags out. 

WE ARE GOLD LOOPERS!

WE DID IT!

While we were coming in, one boat crew that was absent from the festivities was Just a Dream. It turned out that they got inspected by customs. The CBP boat that was in the harbour was here for them, and the officers spent 2 hours going through their boat, even using a dog to look for stuff. Eventually they were cleared in, but what an ordeal. Fortunately for the rest of us, they only searched that one boat, but all the boats that had recently arrived expected to get searched by customs.

That evening we all went to dinner at a local brewpub to celebrate our rescue and wake crossing. Afterwards, we visited a bit with Pam and Mike on Thyme Away, then back to iFloat to sleep. We turned in pretty early, but both of us were exhausted. What an emotional day!

Boat name of the day:

iFloat

Weather days.

After yesterday's grind we wanted a short day. We considered staying where we were, but it turned out we could do a short travel day and stay at a nicer place. Because of the way the lockmaster had mis-handled the last lockages at 17, there was a large group of boats stopped at this small town. Since we did not want a long trip, we decided to wait for the second lockage, as full locks make for slow transit.

A bunch of boats set off for the next lock around 7:30 while we relaxed and enjoyed our coffee. Just after 8, we started up engines and set off with Pelican and Wastin Away. We only had to pass through two locks, and since we were only three boats the lockages went quickly. 

The water levels and flows were really high in the Erie canal. We saw lots of the canalligators along the way, especially near locks as the cycling tended to concentrate them.

The illusion of being in a giant model railroad continued into the Erie canal. There is so much transportation built in a narrow corridor. We keep passing under railroad and highway bridges.

Along the way we made a pit stop at Ilion marina to get pumpouts. They could only fit one boat on the service dock at a time, so the other two hovered while each boat got pumped out. Wastin Away was first on the dock, and while they were hooking up the hose, a local kid with a set of bagpipes started playing. Wow! Ceremonial pumpout pipes! The marina owner told the bagpipe kid to stop playing, I don't know why, but the kid was good and we wished he had kept going.

Wastin Away being treated to the ceremonial pumpout pipes. Just another random thing you would never have predicted on the loop.

Shortly after getting pumped out we arrived at our destination for the day, the Portofino restaurant. The three of us got tied to the dock, and we were joined a few hours later by Thyme Away. We had a great afternoon visiting with the crews of the other boats, before having some docktails on the grass beside the canal wall. The restaurant had a live band on the patio, so we went over and had dinner. It was enjoyable, but the band was way too loud for our taste. They were good, but should have turned their volume down by at least half.

Dinner on the patio at the Portofino restaurant. Crews of Thyme Away, Pelican, Wastin Away and iFloat. The food was good, and so was the music, but the music was waaaaay too loud.

After dinner we had Little Beers.

Passed a couple of work barges along the way. These were tied up to some dolphins and seemed to be involved in dredging operations. Lots of cleanup crews here removing logs and repairing facilities.

After dinner, Pam fixed up a set of Little Beers for all of us, and we had a nice after-dinner visit. As it turned out, the topic of conversation was the weather, which is a popular one for boaters, but this was the first weather discussion we have had since entering the Hudson.

Occasionally along the way iFloat turns into an aircraft carrier, usually with dragonflies. Here we had some bee come in for touch-and-go landings.

We were approaching lake Oneida, which has a 30 km fetch and so can be a dangerous lake if it is windy. The forecast for the next day was for light winds in the morning, with strong winds and thunder storms rolling in shortly after noon. We all agreed that we were not going to attempt to cross the lake, but instead would plan two short travel days and hunker down after the second day to wait out the weather.

This part of the canal was a long straight section many km long. Kind of boring, as other than the occasional canalligator the scenery never changed and auto did the driving.

In the morning, I went over to talk with Mike and Pam on Thyme Away while I had coffee, and discovered that they were going to attempt to cross the lake today. mmmm. Not a good idea in my opinion, but they were confident and willing to try it. The rest of us were going to stop short of the lake, so we waited while Thyme Away left so they could lock alone and transit the next three locks quicker.

We had to sneak beside this dredge along the way. Tight squeeze as the water on the starboard side was shallow. He shut down the dredge as we passed. It made a cool sound as it re-started as we could hear all the sediment being pumped through these giant pipes set along the shore.

The locks in the canal are protected by these flood control gates. Here you can see Pelican going under one. 

Wastin Away, Pelican and iFloat left the docks about a half hour later and locked through smoothly. About an hour after passing the lock, we came to the first decision point on our trip, Rome, N.Y. There was a free wall here with many mixed reviews online. When we got to the dock there who did we find but Thyme Away. Turned out they discovered after they left that they were low on fuel, and there were no marinas in the area that sold diesel. So, they stopped at the free wall and Mike contacted a local fuel company to get fuel delivered by truck. So much for their plan to cross the lake today.

Thyme Away tied up to the free wall in Rome waiting for a fuel truck to fill up their tanks.

Our group of three decided to press on and went through the next two locks smoothly. At this point we were at another decision point. The lock wall here was isolated, but very well protected from weather. We could see black clouds forming in the sky, and we knew that our next stop was going to be a bit more exposed. So far no rain was heading our way on weather radar so we decided to go for it and cruised the last 8 km to Sylvan Beach at the east end of lake Oneida. The free wall here was not well designed for mooring, they only had steel rings to tie up to. The wind had also started to blow, making for a bit of fun, but, with the help of a couple of sailboaters who were already on the wall, we all got tied up securely.

It wasn't just logs we had to dodge along the way, this drum was floating just at the surface. Although made of plastic, it would not be good to hit as the mass of water inside could ruin your day if you hit it.

Louise finally managed to get her ducks in a row.

It really looked like we were about to get nailed with rain, but the black clouds blew over and we enjoyed a sunny afternoon on our lawn chairs in the park beside the boats. We had some great laughs, especially after Ted served all the ladies margaritas. As the afternoon wore on, the canal wall filled out with boats from the last lock.

Nobody in our group ordered king crab legs for dinner. In fact, I wonder if anyone ever does.

The town here was kind of interesting. It looked like it was stuck in the 1950's, and they even had an old county-fair-style amusement park. Around supper time we saw lots of custom cars arriving at the canal side restaurant. Pretty cool to see these guys cruising around revving their engines. 

Liked the way the town did trash collection in the park. This guy drove around with a loader and dumped the contents of all the trash cans into the bucket. He told us that the whole town only has 5 employees, so they have to come up with creative ways to do things.

The sky finally got black and we got hit with a thunderstorm just after supper. By this time the winds were blowing really strong, and they continued to build into the night. Overnight the boat was continually shoved around by the wind, which seemed to max out around 2 in the morning. When we woke up it was still blowing and gusty.

Nasty waves on lake Oneida. The buoys you see were part of the race course for the seadoo event scheduled for the next day.

Mike and Pam got their bikes out and asked us to join them on a ride around town. Ted had his bike out as well and joined us. The town was pretty small, and it did not take long to see it all. On the way back to the boats we went along the beach and watched the surf. The lake is 30 km long and the west wind was blowing directly down the lake making 2 to 3 foot waves which were stacked about a second apart. Glad we were nowhere near that water. They were having sea-doo races at the beach the next day, and so a couple of sea-doos were out on the lake setting up the race course markers. In the park all the racers were getting set up. Lots of trailers, 4-wheelers and sea-doos.

The sun came out in the early afternoon so we set up our lawn chairs under a tree in the park and hung out watching the fleet arrive. The place really filled up over the course of the day. Mati Hati was one of the last boats to get here. We were really glad to see them, as we had separated in New York.

Louise arranged a dinner at a local restaurant for all the loopers on the wall. There were 18 loopers spread over 5 tables, we took over the patio. I think we overwhelmed the waitress a bit, but the food was tasty and the company was great. 

Louise arranged a dinner for all the loopers staying at Sylvan Beach. We took up most of their patio.

Back on the boat we stayed up a bit later than usual as I had to run the generator to recharge our batteries, and did not want it to run all night. During dinner, we could notice the winds dying off, and by the time it was dark there was no wind at all.

Next morning was calm and sunny, and we enjoyed our coffee for a while. Today we were just crossing lake Oneida, so it would be a short travel day. We set off at 7 am with Thyme Away and Pelican. As we went across, we could see the fleet behind us, as everyone at Sylvan Beach was moving.

The fleet arrived at Brewerton and we got in contact with the marina there, Ess Kay yards. We were told they were busy with a boat launch, and that we should slow down a bit. We slowed and arrived about 45 minutes later. They were indeed busy, but we managed to get fuel and into our slip pretty smoothly.

We had some issues with shore power. Our boat runs on 240 volts, and they only had 30 amp outlets here (120 volts each). We need two out-of-phase outlets (red/black) and the two outlets on our dock we on the same line so no bueno. Rich suggested to Louise that I run an extension to another dock and voila, power now worky.

I really liked the decor in this place. The stores looked like an old-time boat yard, and they had nice touches like this spread around the office and store areas.

Over the rest of the morning the looper fleet arrived and filled up the marina. They even had a couple of boats docked on the gas dock. They had those boats leave the dock and return at closing time. The people at the yard did an excellent job working to get everyone in. I was impressed with this place. 

Big group of loopers at the BBQ put on by Ess Kay yards. They made burgers and hot dogs for us, while loopers supplied all the fixin's.

Paul of Pelican tried to get a courtesy car, as he needed to pick up a prescription. The car was fully booked, so the owner lent him her van. Paul took Louise, Trish (Mati Hadi) and Brenda (Blue Moon) to go shopping and get some provisions.

The yard put on a barbeque for us with burgers and hot dogs. There were over 30 loopers at the festivities. During dinner, I walked around their work shops and checked out all the various tools they had. 

Rainstorm at sunrise on the water.

Overnight we had some heavy rain. One of our favorite things is to listen to the rain on the boat when we are in bed. Very relaxing sound. It was still pouring rain when we got up in the morning, and it turned out that the power was out in the marina. No worries, we fired up the generator to make breakfast, as did all the other boats around. Since we were not travelling far this day, we decided to wait out the rain before leaving. While we were waiting, Pelican had trouble with their fresh water pump - it stopped working. Paul had difficulty getting in and out of his engine room, so I went over and replaced his fresh water pump for him. Turned out he had just received a spare water pump the previous day on an Amazon order he had sent to the marina. When these pumps go bad, it is always the pressure switch. The pump motor is still good, but the switch will not operate. I told Paul about this so he could keep the old pump as a spare, and just order a replacement switch.

Lock E-23 was our last lock along the Erie canal.

We set our around 9:30 for a very pleasant day of cruising. The water was flat calm, and we were the only boats in the locks. We have found over the years that many boaters do not like to travel in the rain, and so rainy days make for easy travel and locking. We arrived at our planned destination, Phoenix, N.Y. around 11 to find the docks full, so decided to press on to Fulton. Of course the wind and rain picked up just as we arrived which made for nasty docking, but we got it done and set.

First lock of the Oswego canal.

During our travels on the Erie canal, we have regularly checked the Erie canal website for notices. Well, today they closed the section between locks 16 and 22 due to high water and loss of electricity. Our first lock of the day was lock 23, so we were lucky. There were two weather windows opening soon on lake Ontario, so we were expecting the herd to come stampeding through, but now we will have Oswego to ourselves and not have to play dock-space-hunger-games.

The Oswego also had high water levels. This photo shows what should be a retaining wall that is normally above water, but is now about 2 feet under.

The afternoon the rain burned off - literally. The temperature was over 33 degrees C and it was 100% humidity. Hot and sweaty. We put the generator on early to get the AC running. Our AC has been running fine since the incident at Coeymans, so I have left it alone (not broke don't fix it). We visited with Paul and Jill on their boat and played jokers.

Our weather window to cross to Kingston was going to be in 2 days, so our initial plan was to stop just short of Oswego, then go to Oswego the next day to stage to cross. However, we were so close to Oswego at this point that we decided it would be better to go all the way to Oswego and wait there for the two days. This would put us closer to downtown, and also outside the locks so we would not have to worry about any lock breakdowns.

At the exit of the second lock there was a concrete wall that is marked on the chart as being above water. On the day we passed by the water was about a foot over this wall making a waterfall and a major current perpendicular to the channel. We had to power up to get through.

The first lock of the day was no problem at all until we were leaving the lock. The water level was high here and was spilling over a retaining wall creating a strong current at the outflow of the lock. We throttled up as we came to this current, but still got swung around quite a bit as we went through the swirly water.

The first lock on the Oswego also has a lift bridge. Two years ago this thing broke, closing the Oswego for several weeks. As a result, we had to bring iFloat back to Canada through lake Champlain.

The entrance to the next lock was blocked by a big canalligator. This thing was telephone pole size and was floating right across the entrance. There was an opening on the starboard side, so I came into the lock on that side. Big mistake. The lock guide wall had big gaps in it with an outflowing current, so we got sucked towards the starboard concrete wall. So, we had a choice, hit the log or hit the concrete. I went for the log, and put it into reverse as we approached, but the contact was still a bit stronger than what I would have liked. Worse, the bow rode up over the log, and so I had to reverse to avoid getting the log under our hull. Did I mention the suction on the side? Hit a pretty high pucker factor for a minute until we managed to push the log far enough out of the way to enter the lock. Getting out of the lock required negotiating between this big log and another, slightly smaller log. We went really slow and Louise used a boat hook to push the logs away from the hull.

We had to engage beast mode and push this log out of the way to get into the lock. Unfortunately, instead of rotating, the log got pushed perpendicular to iFloat. Had to maneuver and keep a close eye to ensure it stayed away from our prop and rudder. At one point Louise used a boat hook to push it away.

Exiting the lock, we had to slip past two big canalligators to get out. The black one in the middle was partly pushed under so we had to drift by it.

iFloat enters beast mode. Here we channel our inner tugboat to try to push a canalligator out of the way as we enter the second Oswego lock.

After passing the last lock we tied up to a concrete wall that was run by the local Hotel as it was very inexpensive. But, we saw another wall with power that looked like it was run by a restaurant. Just as we were trying to figure out if we could go there or not, Ted texted Louise to ask if anyone was at the wall that had power. She answered that iFloat was the only boat there and was run by the local Hotel. So, we untied and moved ahead to this wall with shore power and got set in for the day. Nice to have AC as the temperature was over 30 degrees C at this time outside.

Pelican ended up going to the nearby marina. Jill called them to check that they had his reservation. Back at Ess Kay yards, I thought he had not been able to get a space. When she called today, they confirmed that she had a two day reservation. Well OK! The marina was packed full, so it took a while to get them sorted into a slip they would fit in, but eventually they were set. Then a second boat named Pelican showed up claiming to have a two day reservation. mmmmmm. Seemed like Paul scored the other boat's reservation by having the same name as this other boat. Well, possession is 9/10 of the law, the marina had to play some Tetris to figure it out.

Later in the afternoon Wastin Away and Just a Dream showed up and tied up with us on the hotel wall. They had both been delayed at lock 7 when the hydraulics that control one of the lock doors broke. The staff allowed them to go through, but Just a Dream got a fender caught on the way through the gap and damaged one of their big fenders. When we heard about the breakdown we were glad we had decided to go through as we did not want to be stuck when our weather window opened. Ted made various fruit drinks for everyone, and we spent the afternoon on the stern deck of Just a Dream visiting with the other crews. 

Just a Dream ran into some power problems here on the dock. This is actually very common in marinas. Because they are kind of "industrial", many marinas receive 3-phase power. Without going into all the physics, this results in 240 volt systems getting only about 208 volts. This brownout can create issues with electrical systems on a boat. Things like air conditioners have low voltage cut-offs so these devices will shut down if the voltage is too low. On our boat we do not have issues, but Tony on Just Dream could not charge his batteries on the shore power. I thought this was strange, as we have the same brand of charger as he does, and our charger will run on voltages as low as 65 volts. Anyways, he had to run his generator every few hours to recharge.

Saw some snails on the dock at Oswego. We recognized them immediately as they were the same species of snail that our kids used to play with when we lived in Montreal.

First thing the next morning, Louise went in early and paid for our slip for a second day. We were on a first-come-first-served dock, and she had seen some people sniffing around for space for a super yacht. Time to secure our space. With that done, she went off to do laundry while I did a full engine inspection in preparation for crossing lake Ontario the next day. 

With our chores done, we both relaxed in the afternoon, Louise inside in the AC and me up on the flybridge enjoying the 33 degree C weather. Later that day, we prepared the boat for the lake Ontario crossing, as we planned to be up at 4 am for a 5 am start.

Boat name of the day: Pelican and (the real) Pelican

Moving through the Erie Canal

We watched the opening of the Erie canal on Nebo. The app showed looper boats moving through locks 16 and 17, which were the ones that had been closed for repairs. We also saw many boats moving in the first part of the system, from locks 2 to 15, so the path ahead was clearing out for us to transit the Erie canal. Indeed, we saw a lot of snowbird sailboats passing the marina and heading north, and other looper boats started to arrive at the marina. Watching the flow, we did not see any clogs, boats were moving through the system, so we figured we were good to go.

The Erie canal, at least the part we need, is now open. Time to start locking.

The day was sunny and cooler, so we took the opportunity to enjoy the day. Another looper, Journey, was here for an extended period and had a car, and they offered to take Louise grocery shopping. Never turn down a car ride! Louise got a few items we needed and then relaxed on the boat.

Since the restaurant here was so good we went for dinner again with all the loopers in the harbour. Louise organized the dinner for 12 of her closest friends, 6 of which she had just met that day. At the table are the crews of Thyme Away, iFloat, Dolly, Pelican, Indigo, and Her's IV.

Doug (Her's IV), Mike (Thyme Away), and Bill (iFloat).

The next morning started out badly. The previous day I had noticed that our air conditioner was not working well. When I investigated, I found that the air filter was clogged and the condenser was freezing up. So, after having coffee, I removed the air filter and cleaned it. So far so good, a simple fix. But, when I went to put the filter back, as I was descending into the bilge I missed my footing and my foot raked down the front of the condenser grill. We did not hear any refrigerant escaping, so that was good, but the radiator fins had been bent over potentially limiting the cooling power of the AC. Not a great start to the day.

FRACK!!!

To add to the misery, both of us kept making small mistakes on the boat. Little stuff, like placing ropes in the wrong place, but enough to get me worried that this would be one of those days we should have stayed in bed.

We got underway in the rain around 8 in the morning with Pelican. They were behind us on the dock, and we both needed to back out, so they left and we followed. Both of us needed pump outs, so we took turns on the gas dock getting pumped out while the other boat hovered nearby. With our holding tanks empty, we set off up the Hudson towards the entrance to the Erie. The cruise was pretty smooth, in and out of rain. We travelled a bit slower than normal, as we were going against the river current and the tide, so the trip took about an hour longer than planned.

We entered the Troy lock pretty easily and got tied up along side, but had some trouble when they started to fill the lock. We had used our regular fenders, and quickly realized we needed to break out our ball-type fenders for extra protection. You only tie up with one line in these locks, and the turbulence swings the boat around a bit. When we were on the Mississippi we were always going down, so the turbulence was nothing, but here we were going up so there were significant currents in the lock. Pelican had a lot of trouble, and had to resort to using their thrusters to hold away from the wall.

Approaching the Waterford town dock we saw one space available. We got tied up and offered to Pelican for them to raft on us, but they decided to tie up to the concrete wall just before the bridge. Luckily the sailboat behind us was getting ready to leave, so Pelican was able to move up with us after only a short wait.

Horse statue on the waterfront in Waterford. They have a free dock here. You don't have to pay for dockage, but have to pay for power. It was a great place to stage before entering the first flight of five locks in the Erie canal.

We went for a walk to the local grocery store. This area is not the nicest. The town dock is in a great municipal park, but the area around it was not the best. We were treated to a big show in the grocery store parking lot when two women got into a big screaming match over a parking space. After dinner we were invited onto Pelican for Paul's birthday. We had some cake and then played jokers. 

In the morning after breakfast I got the boat ready for a day of locking. First order of business was to break out our big ball fenders and set them up on the rails. We did not know where we would be locking, so just took a guess and set up on the port side. The locks open at 8 am, so around 7:30 we started seeing a parade of boats hovering near the lock waiting. We stayed tied up, and when we could see the lock getting ready, we hailed the lock on VHF to ask if they had space for us. The reason we knew the lock was operating was that they keep the lock chambers full at night. We were going up, so they needed to empty the chamber so boats could enter. When they do that, you can see the outflow at the bottom of the lock doors. Anyway, the lock guy said he was not sure, and would get back to us.

Lots of boats stacked up for the first lockage of the day at the flight of five. We managed to be the last boat in with a group of 8.

We counted 7 boats going into the lock, and we could see they were staking them 4 to a side, so we cast off in preparation for entry to the lock. As we approached I hailed the lock master who told us there was space, but before we could go in we got to play a game with our fenders.

We were packed in for sure in the first few locks. 

The boat just before us entered the lock on the port side, and landed on the wall there. To us, this looked like they were going to be on the port side of the lock, and so the last open space was therefore on the starboard side. We had set our fenders up on port, just taking a guess, so now we saw that we had to switch over the fenders. No problem, part of boating. I was driving so Louise got out and moved both big ball fenders over from the port side to the starboard side. As she was doing this, the boat in front of us moved over from the port side of the lock to the starboard. WTF? So, Louise now schlepped the heavy fenders back over to the port side. We have no idea why they switched sides, but stuff happens. With our fenders set, we entered the lock and got secured to the port side.

They use different systems for securing your boat in the locks. Our favourite on the Erie are these pipes, as they are really easy to use. But not a good idea to loop the extra loop around the cleat. Lesson learned - just a single line around it worked perfectly.

View from the top of the first lock in the Erie. The canal actually goes above the town here.

So, up we went in the lock. Now, the first 5 locks of the Erie are in a flight, one lock after the other with turning basins in between. As the other boats left the lock wall, we noticed that they were moving super-slow. There were two sailboats that were putting along, and one of the power boats in front was also over-cautious. Since we didn't want to be part of the traffic jam, we waited on the lock wall until the last boat had cleared the lock, then followed behind. Moving from one lock to the other was tedious, but eventually we got there. But, as we approached the lock, we saw the boat in front of us pull the same trick they did in the first lock. First they approached the starboard lock wall, then they switched directions and tied up on the port side. This was a major locking faux-pas. When you go through flights of locks, you should stay in the same order to avoid confusion and drama. These guys switching out was a bit of a jerk move from our point of view, especially since we knew the boaters were veterans. You could understand if they had never locked before, but this was a dick move. So, Louise goes out and switches over our fenders from port to starboard, and we get set to go in.

Cruising along in between locks. If the river is wide enough I can use the autopilot to take a break.

At this point I made an error. I told the other boat that we did not appreciate the last second switch on two locks in a row. I should have been nicer, and Louise called me out on it right away, so I felt like a jerk for the rest of the day. Anyways, we locked up and moved to the next chamber. 

This time the boat in front stayed on the port side, so we did not need to re-rig everything, but of course now we had trouble tying up. At the first two locks there were vertical cables we could tie our lines to, similar to the system in the Rideau, but in this one we had to grab long lines that were hanging down in the chamber. These were filthy. Luckily we had been warned about them so were both wearing gloves, but we got dirt all over the boat. To add to the fun, Louise had difficulty with the stern line and our stern swung out in the lock dangerously close to another boat. She got it under control, but we added to the drama of the lock.

As well, the lady on the other boat explained why they had switched sides. Apparently one of the sailboats in front had not moved far enough ahead and there was no space, so they switched sides. OK, so they knew they had made a mistake. But, all they had to do was wait for the sailboat to move, which is what happened (otherwise we would not have fit in), and having locked before, they knew this. Anyways, rant over.

Lots of different decorations at the lock stations. Here, they had taken an old derelict tug boat and made it into a display, painted in the colours of the Erie canal.

The next lock could only take boats on the port side, so we had to split our group in half. The first four boats went in and locked up while the second group, including us, stayed behind in the turning basin. Luckily we were able to tie off on the side while we waited. After about 20 minutes or so we went into the lock, all of us tied on the port side and went up. 

Here we are all waiting for the lock to turn around and bring us in. They had to split our group in half here since we could only tie up on one side of this lock. Luckily there were bollards here we could tie to so we didn't have to hover.

Smaller group going into a lock.

Coming out of this lock, we then had to pass under a guard gate. No big issue, it was like going under a bridge. However, the first boat in the line had not done any locking before and so was moving  a little slow, which caused the rest of us to stack up behind. After a bit of maneuvering we made it through. Once we passed the guard gate the river opened up and the last three boats in the line immediately passed the slower boat in front.

Lock 7 was an hour away, so we relaxed and enjoyed the view as we went. It was a nice sunny day, but kind of cool so I ended up wearing a hoodie. Our plan for the day was to get to at least the next lock before stopping. The only glitch we had was that the boat in the lead was new to locking so did not hail the lock as we approached. The boat behind him was a vet, so got on the radio to prompt the first boat to contact the lock. It is important to do this when you are about 2 miles out so the lock can prepare for you as you approach, and also so they can hold for you if they are locking boats through. This lockage was easy, as there were just four of us, so there was lots of room for everyone to get tied up. When we got to the top of the lock, it was just about 12:30 and we were feeling good, so we decided to go for one more lock, which was about an hour's travel up the river. 

The reason that parts of the canal had been closed for so long is that high water in upstate New York had damaged some of the facilities on the system. As we passed through, we could still see the aftermath of the floods, as there were large logs everywhere.

About half way to the next lock we got passed by a huge boat. This guy was a jerk. He did not hail on the radio and although he slowed down, he did not pass slowly, but rather at "max-plow" speed. We saw the guy behind us get waked, so I pulled over to the side of the channel and shifted into neutral so he could pass easily. Because of this, we did not get rocked too badly, but as soon as he passed us he went to warp speed and moved out. This was a big boat, easily 70 feet long. His wake was huge. The place he passed us had a rip-rap bank - big rocks placed to avoid erosion - on which a bunch of people were standing and fishing from the shore. The waves from his wake broke on the rocks, splashing all the fisherman with dirty river water. 

Lots of industrial equipment along the shores here. The canal alternates between wilderness and industrial. Check out the vines growing on this crane.

One of the boats in front of us saw him coming and tried to arrange a pass, but the guy did not respond to the radio. As least they were able to pull over to give him space. Once past the two boats in front, he took off at high speed for the next lock. Now, the guy in front had learned from the previous lock, and hailed the next lock to let them know we were coming. Smart, as I am sure the guy on the big boat would not have told the lock there were boats behind him.

The Army Corps of Engineers were busy cleaning out the debris from the canal after all the high water they have had. Some huge stuff on the barge, and there were a few big stumps that were too big for the crane so they were tied alongside.

Many of the lock stations had piles of logs waiting to be trucked away.

Getting into this last lock was not fun. The Erie in this section was in a high water condition and there was a large flow of water over the dam here which created a strong eddy on the lock approach. The lock master warned us about this, but his description of the flow was confusing. He was clear however, that we should enter one at a time, as we would need to power through the strong current.

At lock 10 the lock master had decorated the lock by making a planter out of an old boat. It even had a looper flag on the front.

The three boats in front of us made it in without issue. As they went in, I watched how the current pushed them, and thought I understood how the eddy worked. So, in we went. The first part of the swirl was no problem, but I misjudged the flow right at the entrance and came in too close to the starboard side. As our stern passed through the current we got yanked sideways and had to do some quick maneuvering to avoid hitting the lock walls. We were not completely successful unfortunately, as our dingy got caught in a piece of wood that was stuck in one of the ;lock doors. Luckily, the only damage was to our dingy cover. The cover was torn by the impact, but the dingy underneath was undamaged.

We exited the lock and tied to the lock wall on the top. We had gone one lock too far. The drama going in had pushed our stress level a bit too far and we were tired. We got tied up to the lock wall and took a break. About a half hour after we arrived, Pelican made it up the lock and joined us. There was not much here, so both Louise and I grabbed a nap in the late afternoon. A bit after supper, another boat joined us on the wall. Turned out the boat, Salute was Canadian, and they were from the Trenton area and kept Salute at Trent Port marina. They were on their way home after spending the winter in Fort Lauderdale. They had travelled back and forth on the ICW to get away from winter.

This is just wrong!

Turned out Salute had some technical issues in the morning as their generator was not working. Luckily their engine batteries were OK, so they were able to get the main engines going. The three of us all left together and had a short day ahead. After the grind of yesterday, we all wanted a break. We were joined in the first lock by a brand mega yacht that was being delivered by a captain for the owner. We are seeing lots of these huge boats on the Erie, and they all seem to be jerks. They were last in the lock, and lock etiquette is that you leave the lock in the same order you came in. Well, these guys decided to pass us in the lock. Yikes. Coming out of the lock they passed Salute and Pelican, both of whom had already left the lock, and as soon as they were past, they fired up engines and set off at warp speed. The three of us continued on impulse power and locked through the next two locks without incident, arriving at the Riveredge park in Amsterdam shortly before lunch. 

Every once in a while we run into credit card issues. For some reason, credit card software in the U.S. does not play well with foreign cards. The problem happens in places that ask for your address. To give a Canadian address you need a postal code, but the software in some places only accepts zip codes. We have been able to use the 90210 zip code in these cases as a work-around hack, but not today. The municipal marina would not do it. This is only the second time the 90210 trick has not worked, both times in municipal marinas. mmmmm

The town had a really nice pedestrian bridge that had been decorated with lots of plants and sculptures.

So, off we went on our scooters to find an ATM. Turned out that to get out of the marina, we had to haul the scooters up a few flights of stairs to access a pedestrian bridge. The bridge led onto the roof of a shopping centre, and eventually to a parking lot. Interesting route. We got some cash and returned to the marina to pay for the evening. 

These little towns have interesting random things you get to discover. Amsterdam had a castle in the middle of town.

During the day, a lot of other looper boats arrived and tied up to the wall. The moorings here are all canal concrete walls that are about 6 feet high. We have been tying to locations near rescue ladders so we can climb up. One of the new arrivals had been in the lock the first day with us. As soon as he met us he talked about how I had called-out the other boat for switching sides. He said they should have know better, being veteran lockers. Nice to get vindication, so now I felt better.

Here you can see what we are tied to. All the canal structures are big concrete walls with cleats, bollards or rings to tie to. The walls are so high we have to park near a safety ladder in order to get off the boat.

The terrain is very hilly here, and so a lot of transportation systems run down the relatively flat area, which happens to be the Mohawk river valley. On either side of us there were railway tracks, and we usually saw some kind of highway beside the canal as well. When we stoped for the night, there were lots of trains running by, several every hour.

Trains are constantly running along the side of the river here. We see lots of freight trains as well as many regular passenger trains.

We met lots of loopers we had not encountered before, and went to dinner with the crews of 5 other boats at a great Italian restaurant.

Instead of a little pleather folder, this restaurant used cigar boxes to deliver the bill and collect our credit cards. 

Group of loopers at Lorenzo's in Amsterdam. Crews of Knot Again, Ramble On, Wastin Away, iFloat, Pelican and Persystence.

We were hoping for a short travel day the next day. Although it would involve 6 locks, the distance was only 30 km so we figured we would get to our destination, St. Johnsville, around 12:30. We set off at 8:00 to catch the first lockage, and everything went smoothly. We were in a group with 3 other looper boats, so had lots of room in the locks, and each lockage went quickly. Along the way we picked up a sailboat in the group, and all the power boats passed them in the reaches between the locks. Turned out to be for nothing, as the locks were close together so we all ended up locking together.

The reason for planning to stop at St. Johnsonville was that we did not want to have a long travel day. The next two locks, 16 and 17 had recently undergone extensive repairs and so were only doing lockages on a schedule. As well, they had a strict speed limit of 5 mph between the locks, which meant it would take 1.5 hours to transit. Because of the repairs, they would not allow boats to stay overnight between the locks, so once you enter, you are committed. This limited our options, and so we planned to stop at St. Johnsonville for the night and then do the lock 16 to 17 transit the next day to avoid super-long travel days.

Arriving in St. Johnsonville we were pleased to find lots of space on their municipal wall, but as we approached we were told by the staff that we could not stay as they had a reservation from a 90 foot boat that was arriving later. OK, so now plan B. We decided to backtrack to the previous lock as there was lots of space there. Paul of Pelican asked about continuing through lock 16, but we did not want to get into a long grind, so started to backtrack to lock 15.

As we were returning to lock 15, we encountered Wastin Away, another looper boat. He got on the radio and told us there was a nice place to stop at the top of lock 17 that had lots of space for boats. He did such a good sales job that we decided to try going through locks 16 and 17. Now we were on plan C. 

We made it on time to lock 16 for their scheduled opening and locked through with three other boats. Now we were a group of 6. Lots of space in the lock, and it all went smoothly. Out the other side, we ran at idle speed through the transit to lock 17, as they had a strict 5 mph speed limit. Behind us, we could hear a conversation between lock 16 and another group of boats who were locking right after us. WTF? They were supposed to be working on a schedule, not on demand. The boats in front of us had to wait almost an hour, now the lock was giving special treatment to the group behind us? As it later turned out, there was a super yacht going through, and of course the rich have their own rules. But I digress.

We approached lock 17, arriving about 20 minutes before the scheduled lockage. As we were closing on the lock, the super yacht showed up behind us. We figured he had made the transit at about double the speed limit. Did I mention the part about rules not applying to rich guys? 

Lock 17 could only take boats on the port side, which meant that there was now about 3 lockages worth of boats waiting. The lock master here was a total dick, and would not open early. When he did, he gave us no help whatsoever (other lock masters have been very nice). He told us he could fit 5 boats on one side. But, the first two boats in our group were 60 feet long, and the sailboat in front was also big, so there was only room for four boats, and we were the fourth boat. The lock guy was super-slow and seemed to be going out of his way to be unhelpful. 

In these locks, they give you big ropes to hold onto, two ropes per boat. Some ropes were missing in this lock, which meant we only had one rope. Turned out to be impossible to control the boat with only one rope, and so I had to stay at the helm and control the boat with the engine. Louise held onto the rope, but it was a decoration only, if she pulled on it, it messed us up because the angle on the rope was wrong. At one point we gently bounced off the dingy of the boat in front of us.

While all this was happening, the lock master kept telling us he could fit 5 boats. The back of our boat was about 10 feet from the back of the lock, there was no space for any more. Then, the lock master tells us we can raft onto other boats. He then warns us that there will be lots of turbulence in the lock. WFT? No way we are rafting in a turbulent lock. Eventually he closes the door, and then for about 5 minutes nothing happens. Was he having coffee? Once we started to rise, the turbulence in the lock created a current that held us onto the lock wall, but I stayed on the helm as the only way we could control the boat was with the engine, the rope was just a decoration at this point. 

To add to the fun, this lock was different inside than all the other locks. So far, all the locks have been made of concrete, with regular swing doors. The inside of this lock was lined with steel plates, with big square bolts holding in the plates. The gate was a guillotine style closure that was also obviously lined with steel plate. It was like being in a submarine pen. Since it was run by this lock-nazi, I guess you could call it a U-boat pen.

We finally made it out and went to the municipal marina nearby, where we got tied up to their wall. Most of their electrical outlets were not working, but it was a safe place to be. They had a floating dock here, and we asked the harbourmaster to save a space on the dock for Pelican. They have a dog so need to get off, so high walls are difficult for them with the dog. As all this was happening, we could hear all the drama behind us on the VHF as the next group came into the lock. Their experience was just as miserable as ours.

Tied up to the wall after a grind of a day. 

By the time everyone arrived at the wall it was about 6:30. Freakin long day.

Boat name of the day: *&$%#@% lock 17