Unstepping the Mast (a sad day) and Waterford

Sailboats have mast so you can use the sails to move the boat. Today is a bittersweet day, we un-stepped the mast so we can proceed through the Erie Canal.  It is sad to see the mast strapped to the stands on the boat, but the Erie Canal has some bridges with a maximum clearance of 15.5 feet, that just doesn't work with a mast sticking up 51 feet above the water.  So down it comes until Buffalo.

We built the stands for the mast yesterday.  The marina was kind enough to supply some tools to help get this done.  They also had the wood available from those that were heading down the Hudson and had the mast stepped at Riverview Marina.  Since neither Gary nor I are engineers or carpenters, we probably over built the supports, but I am sure the mast will stay in place until we get to Buffalo.

Lesson Plan with her mast laying in the cradle.  

We discussed the process with Mik, the owner of Riverview Marina and he gave us a few pointers and then said, don't worry, we are going to make you power boaters in a short time.  I told him we would not be power boaters, we would be a sailboat under auxiliary power.

I had been anxious about the unstepping process since I left Lesson Plan in June.  I have stepped and unstepped the mast a dozen or more times on my Catalina 25, but that didn't require a crane, this one does.  The only time I have been involved in un-stepping one that required a crane was a frustrating experience.

We got the lines tied up and used a plastic wrap (the stuff used to wrap pallets of goods for shipping) to wrap the lines to the mast.  We pulled over to the crane area and Mike was right on the shortly part, the crane work went very smoothly.  A rigger climbed was hoisted up the mast, attached the strap, he climbed back down and soon the mast was up and we swung it around and laid it gently into its cradle (where it will sleep until Buffalo).

Gary performing his lock duties

The next morning we headed up the river toward the Erie Canal.  It would be 60 miles and one lock before we reached the Mohawk River and the start of the Erie Canal

We made it through our first lock at Troy with no problems.  The rise was 14 feet in this lock.  A great first test for our locking procedures.  The locks I have been through on the trip form Mobile to KY Lake had floating bollards to which you looped the line around and the bollard floated up on a rail with you.  This one just had a pipe running down inside a cut out in the wall.  You put the line around the pipe and you have to make sure it slides up the pipe as the boat is lifted.  It was a little more difficult than the floating bollards, but we made it with no problems.

We made it to Waterford.  Gary looks relieved.

Since the first part of the Erie Canal, heading west, is a series of five locks and you cannot stop between these locks we decided it best to stay in Waterford for the night.  Chris, the  volunteer inside the welcome center, told us these are the grown up locks.  The Troy lock lifts you 14 feet, these five are about 30 feet each.  Yep we better stay the night.

We went out and explored the town a bit and had a nice Lupper (that meal between Lunch and Dinner) at a great little Irish pub.  And I think I heard there was an ice cream shop near by, so we may go exploring again.

The locks begin operation at 7:00 AM so we plan to have breakfast early and get the boat ready to be some of the first ones through the lock.

No WiFi tonight so picture will be posted later to the progress map.

Lesson Learned:
1. Un-stepping a mast is not to bad when you have a competent crew to advise you and then operate the crane, especially when the crane is a permanent fixture in the yard.

2. It gets very warm in upstate NY in late July.  Not KY hot, but hot enough.