August 12-13, 2015 Days 53-54 New York Summer 2015
Waterford
Harbor Visitors Center
Waterford,
NY
The
past two days have been challenging, but we are happy to say we are at the end
of our journey on the canals and are back in Waterford where we began one month
ago. We are glad we took this trip all the way to the 1000 Islands. The scenery
has been beautiful and peaceful and we have met very nice people!
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| damage to the bowsprit |
We
left Canajoharie yesterday morning and traveled 37 miles. This included
transiting five locks. We did ok in the
first four locks in spite of having slightly higher winds at 10-15 mph. However
we had major problems in the last lock of the day. The wind pushed the bow of the boat over the
sill soon after we got tied up. The lockmaster pushed us back over to make us
parallel to the lock and then he walked away. He then began lowering the water
level and did not look back to see the process had repeated itself, and by now
the bowsprit had lodged itself on the sill as we were being lowered. It raised the bowsprit and caused a great
deal of structural damage to it with large cracks in several places. We eventually got through the locking process
and tied up on a lock wall for the night about four miles farther away (our
planned destination). We have talked
with our insurance company and everything will be taken care of – it is just a
very frustrating and exhausting experience. We are fortunate that we were not
injured in the process!
 |
| more damage |
Today
was our final day of 23 miles and six locks. The wind was lighter and we did
fine. We arrived in Waterford and got tied up on their floating dock just
before 1:00. We were exhausted and did
not do much of anything after we arrived. The boat needs cleaning and we
need to go to a grocery store but that will wait until tomorrow. We even
located an Italian restaurant that delivered dinner to us!
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Just after sunset - love the clouds reflected on the water -
our view tonight in Waterford |
We
hope to stay here three days and get reorganized and rejuvenated!
