JUNE 22,2009

The 240-mile trip west across Lake Erie typically has the wind on the nose making for a long ride in a sailboat. That coupled with the fact that there are limited ports of refuge along much of the shore make planning the transit of usually 7-10 days challenging. When we arrived in the Lake and heard our weather forecast of calm winds and flat seas for the next 48 hours we decided to travel throughout the night and the next day and see how far we could get. Around 4:30pm Tuesday June 23 We arrived in Cleveland Ohio and docked at Whiskey Island Marina, 200 miles from Buffalo.

The trip across Lake Erie was fairly uneventful with one exception. Shortly after dark on Monday evening we observed a vessel on radar following us. They were close enough, 1-mile, that we should have seen them however they did not have their navigation lights on. Highly unusual, not to mention illegal. The boat followed us for an hour slowly getting closer when suddenly it was right behind us with emergency lights flashing. They called us on the VHF radio and said they wanted to board us and instructed us to lower our sails. The passengers identified themselves as a local sheriff patrol accompanied by several other government officials. After we lowered the sails and motored at low speed they came alone side and four officials boarded; sheriff, coast guard, border patrol and homeland security. Their vessel continued to follow us closely with several more armed personnel on deck observing our activities. Well it seems they had been watching us for several hours on radar, traveling in middle of night along the US/Canadian border. For some reason they found this suspicious. They checked our documentation and after a brief inspection and some friendly conversation they disembarked and we were back on our way. We decided we should probably alter our course to stay in US waters before we got a similar visit from Canadian officials.

On Thursday June 26th we passed under the Ambassador Bride on the Detroit River in downtown Detroit. It felt good to be back in Michigan as we relaxed that evening at Jefferson Beach Marina in St. Clair Shores.

June 19, 2009

Prior to arrival in Baldwinsville, NY we crossed the Oswego Canal. This is the point where many loopers exit the Erie Canal after 250 miles and take the short 24 mile trip north to Oswego NY on the south shore of Ontario. From there they either travel thru the Great Lakes or take the Trent Sovereign Canal into Lake Huron’s Georgian Bay. The route is limited to boats with 5 foot draft or less so it was not an option for us. We would have to continue on the western section of the Erie Canal for another 100 miles to Tonawanda NY where the Canal connects with the Niagara River just above the Falls

Much of the western Erie Canal still have sections from the original barge Canal. The toll path used by the mules to pull the barges has been converted to bike and hiking paths and parts of the old Canal wall are very evident.

On Thursday June 19th we arrived in Holley NY and tied up for the night on the wall right next to the lift bridge. On this section of the canal there are several lift bridges that only operate during the day so you have to plan your overnight stops based on lock and bridge schedules. Several towns have two bridges that are operated by the same bridge tender. They raise a bridge and lower it after you pass then get into their truck and drive down the canal and meet you at the next bridge where they repeat the procedure. Not a place to be in a hurry.

On Friday we passed through our last two locks of the canal at Lockport NY. At this point we had passed 34 locks and had been raised from sea level in the Hudson River to 564 feet above sea level at Lake Erie.


We arrived in Tonawanda NY Saturday June 20th. We were not scheduled to step the mast until Monday so we spent the weekend relaxing on the wall in downtown Tonawanda.

We were a bit surprised when we arrived at Wardell Boatyard on Monday morning to step the mast. The boatyard consisted of one employee, the owner, and the “crane” that he built to raise sailboat spars, hardly a full service boatyard! Quite a contrast to some of the yards we has seen a few months earlier in south Florida. Remarkable though, in a couple of hours we had the boat rigged and we were ready to sail again. By five o’clock that afternoon we had passed the Black Rock Canal on the Niagara River and were in Buffalo on the eastern end of Lake Erie

Erie Canal

On Wednesday, June 10th, we arrived at Hop-O-Nose Marina in Catskill NY where we planned to build a couple of cradles and un-step the mast in preparation for the 340 mile trip on the Erie Canal. The maximum bridge clearance on the canal is 15 ½ feet so our 63 ft. mast has to come down.
Friday morning the mast was down and loaded on the deck and we started on our last day up the Hudson River to Albany, NY. Once again we arrived with the Hudson anniversary replica fleet and watched the celebration at the Albany Yacht Club. Denise, Kevin and Reese ended their trip in Albany and flew back to the real world on Saturday morning. I’m glad we had a week to share the experience with them.
Sunday was Andy’s 27th Birthday so we went downtown for dinner and after that we took in an arena football game. Later Sunday evening Gary Gaudreau flew in to rejoin the crew for the rest of the trip home.
On Monday the 15th the three of us entered the Erie Canal in Troy NY about 9:00 AM. Within two hours we had passed through the first 5 locks called the Waterford Step. In this group of locks boats are raised 169 feet, five times the total lift of the Panama Canal. By the end of the day Monday we had transited 11 locks before arriving in Amsterdam NY for the evening.
Tuesday we passed through 8 more locks on our way to Herkimer, NY. Mid afternoon we passed through lock #17, the largest single step lock on the canal, a 40 foot lift. The original canal had 5 locks to raise boats at this site. There are ruins of the old canal where you can see the original canal walls and the towpath that ran alongside it. The original Erie Canal was only 40 ft. wide and 4 ft. deep and mules, on the adjacent towpath, pulled the barges through. Later , as steam powered vessels became self propelled, much of the old barge canal was replaced with wider/deeper “canalized” stretches of rivers. Tuesday evening we tied up on a canal wall in Herkimer, NY.
Wednesday we traveled 92 miles, including 20 miles across the open waters of Oneida Lake , ending up for the evening in Baldwinsville, NY.

Thoughts from Denise

Reese Goes to Summer School

Taking land lubbing family members for an afternoon ride on your treasured sailing vessel is one thing -- inviting them along for a week with you boating the Hudson River is another! In a weak moment that’s exactly what Brad did, and brother Kevin (Stu), nephew Reese (8), and sister Denise were only too happy to accept the invitation. Brad’s son Andy would be joining us as well, and he’ll remain on the boat after we depart.

We packed Andy’s car with provisions for the 12 hour drive to NY: blue Gatorade, red bull, pop tarts, Doritos, pretzels, and 4 lbs of red licorice. Don’t worry, Clare, the licorice was made from strawberries. Andy drove half the distance, Stu and I shared the other half. Reese slept for the majority of the trip, waking up at 4am. He said he always wakes up early. We were all surprised by the landscape as we neared West Haverstraw, NY. We weren’t expecting the beautiful hills and scenic winding roads that greeted us when we rolled into town at 5:30am. Thinking it was a bit early to wake Brad, Jay and Linda, we drove into town to look for a place to get breakfast and gas (for the car). We found a great local deli staffed by Puerto Ricans and got our orders in just before the rush of locals started coming in for their breakfasts to go.
After breakfast we found the marina and the Northern Light crew greeted us warmly. Before going aboard, Reese learned the importance of wearing a life jacket on the boat. Captain Brad filled us in on some essential information, assigned tasks (Reese will raise and lower the flags each day), and we were off on our first adventure. We started with a trip to Phillipsburg Manor where Reese and I learned how to milk a cow. From there we took a shuttle bus to the John D. Rockefeller estate. WOW, what a beautiful setting, and the home wasn’t too shabby either. At the estate Reese got some lessons in human anatomy as we passed by larger-than-life statues throughout the property. By the end of the day Reese had developed a fine blue moustache after drinking four of the Gatorades. Stu and Andy are on a mission to clean that upper lip, but so far haven’t succeeded.
Sunday morning Stu, Reese and Iwent for a jog before church. Reese learned the importance of pacing himself on a jog, but neither Stu nor I complained when we had to stop and give Reese rest breaks. They were never long enough. After church, we motored out of the marina, dodging water police, kayakers, and the Hudson River quadricentennial flotilla as they were all coming into the marina for the day’s celebration festivities. We motored to Newburgh and docked at a marina in the waterfront district of Newburgh. The place was packed with people awaiting the arrival of the flotilla later that day. We were treated to live music from three bars along the waterfront. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t make those three different styles of music sound like three part harmony to my ears. About 6pm the noise went up a few notches as the flotilla began to arrive. In the lead was a Coast Guard cutter, then came a parade of floating vessels: water boats shooting off their water cannons, police boats with lights flashing, canoeists, kayakers, stink boats, the flotilla itself, some of whom were shooting off cannons, and bringing up the rear was another Coast Guard cutter. All the while the boaters at the marina were honking their horns. It was quite exciting. During the excitement we were treated to a young lady making a wardrobe change in a boat not too far away. Clare, I tried to distract Reese, but I was no match for that cute girl. Stu, Reese and Andy were standing at the end of the dock when the Half Moon (replica of the ship Henry Hudson sailed) clipped it. A lesson in paying attention when you’re at the wheel. Yesterday while visiting the Hudson River Maritime Museum, we noticed a photo taken in 1909 showing the Half Moon replica o ship ramming another ship. Must be a Half Moon tradition to hit something at these river celebrations.
During our motoring down the river that day we spotted a Rocky Mountain on the riverbank that appeared to have a hiking trail. We anchored the boat and took the dinghy ashore. We were advised by some hikers to take the forest trail rather that the rock face trail. We had a real nice hike in the beautiful mature woods. We didn’t make it to the top of the trail before deciding we should head back to the dinghy. As we launched the dinghy Reese found out the importance of proper weight distribution in an overloaded dinghy. Don’t worry, Clare, he had his life jacket on and Andy would’ve gone in first if we had capsized. That night while Brad and I made dinner Reese was getting a math lesson from cousin Andy who was teaching him how to play Black Jack. He’s real good at adding to 21 now, Clare.
After galley duty I joined the guys for some 5 Card Stud. Andy’s already making plans for a Las Vegas trip with Reese as soon as he’s of legal age. Our next night we moored at Hyde Park Landing. This night Reese was taught the finer points of peeing off the boat - proper wind direction, good arcing angles, and whatever else he needs to know about that manly ritual. I have to admit I’m jealous I can’t participate, it’s a bit trickier for women! But I still have three and a half days to perfect a system.

Yesterday we found a great docking spot in Kingston, NY, right in front of the Hudson River Maritime Museum. After docking, we found another local deli where we had lunch. Reese switched to an orange flavored drink to add a little more color to his upper lip. After our private guided tour of the museum, Stu and I went for a jog, then off to do laundry and get some supplies. Reese chose a lavendar colored Gatorade this time. I was able to wash Reese’s Red Wings jersey after I assured him he would be able to wear it to watch the game later that night. Unfortunately, Andy’s prediction that washing the shirt would jinx the team came true. They lost last night’s game, but there’s still a chance to win the Stanley Cup. Sorry, Clare, I think the lesson learned from that experience was “don’t wash your jerseys”.

At the grocery store I requested eight strips of their artery clogging, man-sized bacon. The man at the counter didn’t understand English too well and we went back to the boat with at least two dozen strips of bacon. Breakfast today was cooked by Andy, great scrambled eggs, bacon enlaced with “gelatinous gobs of fat“, coffee, OJ. Sue, you would have been proud. I topped my meal off with a couple pieces of licorice. Perfect! Clare, I’m afraid to say that Reese is now a real bacon lover, I heard him ask for more after he finished his first six pieces. After switching to the lavendar colored Gatorade, his upper has taken on the same color as the rest of his face - dirty brown. I’ll drop some hints to Stu tonight about throwing Reese in the shower for an hour or two. He does have clean underwear at least!
This brings us up to date. We are motoring up to Catskill, NY where we’ll spend the rest of our time on this great adventure. I am truly having a great time, and I honestly wish you all were here (but I’m not sharing my comfy berth with anyone but Steve).

I just heard Andy up on deck say something to Reese about a barge passing by and mooning. I think I better get up there with my camera.

Denise signing off.

Monday, 6/1, we continued our trip down the New Jersey coast to the Manasquan Inlet. That afternoon, after several failed attempts to find a deep water dock in Brielle NJ, we were forced to anchor at the end of a small creek amongst a fleet of shrimp boats. The tidal current there was very strong so we set two anchors to limit our swing as the tide changed. We went to sleep listening to the anchor lines groaning until about 9:30 PM when one of the lines finally broke. Without the second anchor there was no way we could stay in that tight location so back out into the Ocean we went in the dark. We sailed south another 35 miles till we rounded Sandy Hook and found an anchorage in Sandy Hook Bay around 2:00 AM. Sleep came easily that morning.
Tuesday we made the short trip out of Sandy Hook Bay, under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, into New York Harbor and anchored in a basin behind Liberty Island the home of The Statue of Liberty.
Thursday, 6/4, after two days of enjoying the sights in the “ Big Apple”, we left early to catch the flood tide on our way to Haverstraw Marina in Haverstraw ,NY. Here Andy, my sister Denise and my brother Kevin and his son, Reese will join us for the trip up the Hudson River. Jay and Linda will leave the boat and drive Andy’s car back to Michigan.
While in Haverstraw we drove to Sleepy Hollow, NY and spent an afternoon touring Kykuit, the estate built by John D. Rockefeller.
Late Sunday morning, 6/7, we left Haverstraw just as the flotilla of replica ships arrived as part of the Hudson Quadricentennail. This is a weeklong trip of replica ships sailing up the Hudson River to commemorate Henry Hudson’s discovery of the river that bears his name. More info is available at the website http://www.exploreny400.com/ . The fleet includes a replica of Hudson’s square rigger the Half Moon. That evening we arrived at Front Street Marina in Newburgh NY , several hours later the anniversary fleet also arrived for the night.
Monday, 6/8, we anchored at Hyde Park Landing and spent the afternoon touring the Vanderbilt estate, another of the many mansions and castles that line this part of the river.
Tuesday, 6/9, we traveled up the river to Kingston and we were able to dock at the Hudson River Maritime Museum. We will have to leave early tomorrow because the Hudson fleet is arriving and evicting us.

Tour of the Big Apple!

Yesterday, Tuesday we stayed at one of our best anchorages of the trip and a milestone we have been looking forward to. The anchorage behind the Statue of Liberty in Liberty Park, it was awesome!

Today we had a wonderful day touring the City of Manhattan. We covered a lot of ground by ferry boat, buses and the famous New York Subway. They sure have a great public transportation system.

We started with the Empire State Building Observatory and the great sites of the city. If you look real hard you can see Northern Light across the Hudson River in the Lincoln Harbor Marina in this photo.

Next, we made a visit to Saint Patrick’s Cathedral and said a few prayers of Thanksgiving.

We spent a lot of time at the World Trade Center Memorial & Museum; it was a very moving experience that we will not forget. The photos of all of those lost on 9/11/01 were overwhelming to us.

This photo is the plan for the future WTC, a single tower 110 stories high and memorial park. Building has started and is scheduled for completion sometime in 2012.

We ended the day taking the subway to China Town for a great Chinese dinner. A great day in the Big Apple!

Delaware/New Jersey

Friday morning on the 29th we left Annapolis early in a light fog; by noon we were coming off the Chesapeake Bay and entering the Elk River. The Elk River turns into the C&D Canal on the North end of the Delmar peninsula. The C&D Canal, the third busiest canal in the world, was dug in the early 1800’s to provide a water route between the Chesapeake Bay and the Delaware Bay.
We spent the evening at dock in the Summit North Marina in Bear, DE.

Saturday morning we woke at 3:00 AM for a very early departure. The tidal current in the canal and northern part of the Delaware Bay runs up to 4 mph as the tide ebbs and floods, so we needed to time our departure with the falling tide. Traveling with the tide we move at 10 mph, against it we go 2 mph. On the days trip of 60 miles you can see why we departed when we did.

That evening we stayed in Cape May, NJ at the South Jersey Marina. Cape May is a delightful little resort/fishing village on the southern end of the Jersey shore.

The town was founded in the 1630’s, in the early 1800’s it became a resort area for visitors from Philadelphia, Baltimore and New York City. Today the entire town is on National Historic Register as a Historic Landmark City. The town also hosts a fleet of the best maintained shrimp boats we have seen, all brightly painted.
As we entered the harbor we viewed the graduation exercises for the U.S. Coast Guard Academy located in Cape May.

Sunday, the 31st, we left Cape May and traveled in the Atlantic Ocean up the New Jersey coast to Atlantic City. We anchored for the evening in a small basin just inside the Absecon Inlet. We will be travelling in the ocean for the entire trip up to the New York Harbor because our mast height prohibits us from using the N.J, intracoastal waterway.