Jeff is pretty pleased with his expert cradle construction. The true test has yet to come! |
So here we sit in a coffee shop in Phoenix, NY, a small town
just on the other side of Lock 1, the last southbound lock, on the Oswego Canal. We’re here for the same
reason every cruiser in every port on the planet is… wifi, air-conditioning and
coffee.
We started out from Little Sodus Bay yesterday, Jeff’s heart
in his throat as we motored our last two hour Lake Ontario leg to Oswego, NY.
While Jeff and Schyler, the Little Sodus Bay marina master-of- all-trades marine, did a splendid job building, rigorously reinforcing and testing our mast cradle the question still remained, how would it handle motoring broadside through 1-2 feet waves and higher winds? A new version of an old lullaby came to mind:
While Jeff and Schyler, the Little Sodus Bay marina master-of- all-trades marine, did a splendid job building, rigorously reinforcing and testing our mast cradle the question still remained, how would it handle motoring broadside through 1-2 feet waves and higher winds? A new version of an old lullaby came to mind:
Rock a bye Gracie, on the sea top.
When the wind blows, the cradle will rock.
When the “bow” breaks, the cradle will fall,
And down will come Mastie on solar panels, Bimini, dodger, our heads and All!
Man those old lullabies are SO SCARY!
The Inside Scoop on handling the Oswego Locks
Still intact, we motored into the Oswego Canal and right into Lock 8, the first lock for southbound boaters . No waiting, no phone calls necessary. The Oswego and Erie Canals now primarily service pleasure craft so there is no waiting on commercial vessels as in the Welland. The Oswego River is one of the few rivers in the U.S. that flows north. We are also going upriver and ascending in elevation throughout the Oswego lock system. This means we enter the lock flanked by an average of twenty five foot high walls which slowly decrease to five foot walls as the water fills into the lock and we ascend.
Cockpit view of lock as we approach |
Lock information sign inside the lock |
The green "can" needs to stay to our starboard (right) |
I will now give you the lowdown on the advice we received by seasoned Oswego lock goers prior to our trip and what actually happened. Mind you, ascending in a lock is much more demanding than descending because the force of the incoming water pushes the boat against the wall.
Advice: We were advised that each lock either
has poles or lines or both that the boater needs to use to control his ascent.
Hooking a line around the pole at mid-cleat is the preferred method because its
efficient in that you can cinch the boat close to the wall, and have big fenders on the fore and aft
beams to protect the boat from grazing against the wall and let the loop around
the pole glide up as you rise.
Reality: This was great advice and also a
whole lot cleaner. On some of the locks, there were only poles, on others,
there were both poles and lines and on one or two there were just lines. On the
locks with just lines, I held one slimy line at the bow secured under a cleat,
while Jeff held one equally slimy line at the stern that we slowly pulled in as
the water level rose.
On the locks with poles, I went mid-cleat
and looped one end of the mid-cleat line around the pole. The other end was
already secured to the cleat. I then wrapped the line under both horns of the
cleat, this formed a loose loop around the pole which allowed the boat to
ascend naturally as the water rose while still keeping midship close to the
wall. I handed the line off to Jeff who walked the line back to the stern
so he could fend off at stern if needed. I manned the bow to do the same.
See that skinny little pole running down the wall and our loop by the toe rail around it? Also notice the lovely muck-covered walls. |
Advice: We were warned that when ascending in a
lock the force from the water coming in will push the boat against the wall so
we will need to use our boat hooks to fend off.
This advice made a whole lot of sense to me, especially the relaxing part! I can say without a doubt that this well-kept secret works and definitely needs to be shared!
Here I am happily fending off the wall with my feet. |
Reality: In our case, we were able to
CHOOSE which side of the lock to tie off on throughout the entire system. Maybe
it was because there were NO OTHER BOATS that went through with us, the entire
time. So after lock 3 and three port tie-ups, we moved our starboard fender
board and a couple of the fenders over to the port side. Port tie-ups are
definitely the preferred side for sailors without a bow thruster because the
driver has much more control over the stern using prop walk. Now with two port fender boards coupled with
our newfound approach to fending off, we were getting this lock thing down. Fender boards are the cat’s meow! If I had my
druthers I’d have fender boards layered on top of maybe a dozen fenders, permanently
affixed around the entire perimeter of the boat!
Six fenders and two fender boards on one side - My dreamboat! |
Between locks we were able to enjoy the lush green banks, tall
old trees, blue herons
Starboard side view from our cockpit. Note the Green Can/ Navigation aid. |
and the many beautiful homes along the Oswego River shores. The entire trip of 24 miles was very pleasurable.
A wondrous journey to all,
Pam
It doesn't get any better then this. One nice thing is that in your travels the scenery and people will keep changing making the journey last longer.
ReplyDeletehow are you two doing with all the sun?
ReplyDelete