August 28

Our first day on the Erie Canal, and it is apparent we have a few things to learn before we can consider ourselves canalmen.

The first thing to note is the canal is beautiful. I don’t know what we imagined, but it is much more beautiful and quaint than we pictured.

The canal also has locks and bridges – perhaps hundreds of them. One must radio ahead to request they be opened for you, and there are a few nervous moments as you wait to hear back from the tenders. It is impossible to sit still in the one plus mph current in the canal, and difficult to maneuver in tight quarters.

Our most interesting discovery, though, is related to lift bridges. Did you know a lift bridge lifts up? The bridge itself is about 6 feet above water. When you radio ahead, the tender raises this piece of the bridge straight up so you can pass under. At our first bridge we called, and the tender radioed back, “The bridge will be raised when you get here, Captain.” We confidently edged forward, but could not see the span of the bridge separating or lifting. We radioed again, but received no response. As our concern rose, Corinne finally realized, “Greg, I think the bridge IS up.
And so goes the adventure.

This is Middleport, New York, 29 miles down the Erie Canal. We spent our first night tied to a canal wall here.

August 27

Wardell’s Boatyard is situated about 50 feet from the first bridge on the Erie Canal, and getting the mast down and stored was the order of the day. Gorma is such a pretty boat with the mast up, and somewhat gangly when it is down. The scary part, as we are coming to understand, is the rather long tail (ten to twelve feet of mast) hanging over the back of the boat. It makes turning and maneuvering in tight quarters a bit of a challenge.

Note the boat beside us. It is a Columbia 30 owned by a lovely young couple from Poland. They are going through the Erie Canal to New York and then to St Pierre and Miquelon before heading to Bermuda and the Bahamas this winter. Next spring their plan is to sail back to Poland.

August 26

We were up early this morning and away by 7:30 am. It had been quite windy through the night and the water was quite rolly, but the wind had settled into a steady 10-15 knots and we had a great sail as far as Dunkirk. Gorma is a good boat and we become more confident with her all the time.

The wind died down mid-morning, though, and so we motored the rest of the way to Buffalo. The waterway through Buffalo to Tonawanda is heavily traveled, particularly on a sunny afternoon. There were sailboats everywhere in the outer bay, and hundreds of power boats on the river and Black Rock Channel, paralleling the Niagara River.

The river and channel are approximately ten miles, and besides giving us an opportunity to sharpen our aids to navigation skills, it also had a couple of bridge openings and a lock in store for us. Although they shouldn’t have, both of these came as a bit of a surprise, and we have our first lock with ropes under our belts.

Around every corner, a new adventure, and here the sign marks the beginning of the Erie Canal. The canal system is 341 miles long and contains 34 locks. It connects the Great Lakes to Troy NY and then to New York City.

August 21 – 25

We are trying to make headway to Buffalo as quickly as possible. This morning we set out for Conneault, which is the first harbour that offers the opportunity ot anchor out. Since we were itching to try out our new anchor, this sounded very good.

This was a long day, covering 65.6 nautical miles, and so we were happy to settle in and enjoy the evening.

Hint: We asked people later on how to pronounce this name. It goes like this –
Con ee ought

The next day, with good weather, we moved on to Barcelona. This is a most quaint little harbour and a step back in time. We have enjoyed the company and the beautiful scenery.

When we pulled into the harbour, we were concerned about finding sufficient depth to anchor. In no time two gentlemen had us pulled into a slip, rather literally I’m afraid, and tied up.

The owner of the marina is in his eighties and is as busy as can be. Finally after the third day, and a couple of interesting conversations, we settled on the fee, $10 per day. We’ll not likely find many marinas at that rate.

Keeping in touch has been a little difficult. We purchased a pay as you go phone, but have had trouble with calls to Canada. Feeling a little like ‘Children, where are your parents…’, we were excited to find a payphone just down the street from the marina. No go? Not to be deterred, we purchased phone card and walked up to the Interstate booth, where we were assured there was a working phone. Guess what, stymied again. Enough to make you tear your hair out.

In our travels today we found two great things, a library and a coffee shop with free wi-fi access, and a great roadside stand with the best fresh peaches. Things are going well.

August 18 - 20

We sailed on to Cleveland. The winds were not favourable, and the waves were rolly, so this seemed like a long and uneventful trip. As always, that drink at the end of the day puts everything is perspective.

The morning was dreary and raining but it was a great day to do some provisioning. Terry and Debbie offered to help us with before heading back home. It was sure helpful to have them help out in the grocery store as many of the brands are not familiar to us.

It was sad to have to say good-bye as we have had a wonderful time with them. They are great crew and we hope they will join us again.

More rain this morning so we stayed put and used the morning to do a lot of organizing and straightening up on board. We donned our rain coats and walked up to an internet café and spent the afternoon catching up on email and setting up our blog. Our walk passed through an interesting area that seems to be in transition between revitalization and somewhat more rough. We both decided that it is best visited during the day. We enjoyed a beer at an Irish pub (part of the revitalization) but decided to pass on the happy hour at the local bar.

August 17

We woke up to a gorgeous morning and headed down the Detroit River to Lake Erie. The Detroit skyline from the water is quite spectacular.

Once into Lake Erie, we had an awesome sail to Put-In Bay. The winds were waaa..y in our favour and so there was lively discussion about the size of the waves and the wind speed. How was it that Terry seemed to keep missing the big waves?? We moored out at Put-In Bay and spent the rest of the afternoon seeing the sights and climbing the Perry Memorial Tower to get a knock out view of the lake and surrounding area. This memorial is the third highest monument in the US, taller even than the Statue of Liberty.

August 16

We spent the morning catching up and Corinne also spent time fitting six months of clothes into four small shelves. We then headed over to Windsor to have another visit and a wonderful dinner with Wayne and Debbie. Of course that also included some more great wine from Wayne’s cellar.

August 15

Terry, Deb and I were up early and away by 7:30 on a beautiful morning down the St. Clair River. This was an interesting trip with lots to see. It was also an interesting lesson in navigation. One has to pay careful attention to charts as well as observe the buoys and surroundings. Since I was enjoying the scenery, it is good that the crew was taking care of the rest. Thanks, Deb.

Once across Lake St Clair, we arrived in Detroit mid-afternoon and had to scout out a few marinas, both to find one with deep enough water for us as well as shallow enough pockets that we could afford. We ended up at a very nice spot, Harbor Hills Marina.

After getting things settled, I called Wayne and Debbie to check on Corinne’s arrival. She was already in Windsor, sipping some of Wayne’s fine wine.

It was pretty exciting to have the full crew together for the rest of the trip.

August 13, 2007

After a two weeks of working to get the boat ready, and a little bit of procrastinating, the journey began. Friends from Bay City, Terry and Deb, asked if I would like some company for the first part of the trip, and I actually did need to be asked twice, because I wasn’t sure if I had heard right the first time.

We pulled away from Bay Harbor Marina at 2:30 pm Monday afternoon, with a dying breeze and clear skies.

Our progress was good and we had determined that we would keep going as long as we all felt comfortable.

When you’re having fun, there is sometimes no knowing when to quit, and so 27 hours later we passed under the Bluewater Bridge, marking arrival in Port Huron. You have to know that the end of a great sail is celebrated by a cold beer and a bite to eat at the most interesting local pub, and then in this case a good night’s sleep.