Arrive: Brewerton Winter Harbor Marina 5:00
Distance: 52 nm
Locks: 3 (E-20 to E-22)
The big question today with high winds was "Could we cross Oneida Lake today?" We decided we would make that decision when we arrived at Sylvan Beach on the east side of the Lake.
Some views of today's travels towards the lake ...
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| Restaurant Dock in Utica, NY |
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| Erie Canal near Utica |
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| Utica Lock (off to one side of the main canal) (not open to the public) |
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| Governor Roosevelt 1928 Work Boat |
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| Guard Gate |
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| Old Erie Canal Park |
Clark had asked at Lock 20 if there were any restrictions on side there or further along, and he was told that either one was fine. Where I had 2 hours of time between Lock 20 and 21, I had only 11 minutes between 21 and 22. Having timed the "move-the-fenders" exercise, I knew it would take longer than 11 minutes to get set up on the alternate side for locking. I managed to get the job done with minimal delay to entering the lock.
At Lock 22, with the high winds, Clark had a tough fight on his hands to grab and then hold onto the line hanging from the lock wall. The wind pushed us rapidly forward into the lock and did not allow him time to get the line before it was nearly out of reach. He stretched to get the line with the boat hook.
Instead of the line coming to the boat, the boat hook went into the lock! I saw what was happening and squawked, "Oh no! Don't loose the boat hook!" Clark responded with, "I'm more concerned with saving the boat than the boat hook!" I could do nothing but hold my line and watch the drama playing out behind me.
When the
boat hook fell into the water, Clark had to go back into the pilot house and
restart the engines to back up the boat against the wind. He then returned to
the stern of the boat, and amazingly, found the boat hook still floating in the water behind
the swim platform. Given that, he jumped over the transom onto the swim
platform. He could not reach the pole by bending down, so he had to lie flat on
the swim platform to stretch his arm out far enough to grab the pole from the water.
The reason
he lost the pole was because the black grip pad at the end of the pole came off in
his hand and left the hook hanging on the line to then fall into the lock.
After retrieving the
boat hook, he put it back together. Now,
with the boat hook in hand, he grabbed the next line hanging from the side
of the lock. Since the boat had moved forward, I dropped my line to pick up one further along. Nothing like a little action to liven up the day!
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| Exiting Lock 22 - Last Lock before Oneida Lake |
We needed to decide if we would cross Oneida Lake today or tomorrow. Sylvan Beach lies at the edge of the lake, so we stopped there to make our decision.
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| Sylvan Beach |
Since the winds would be pushing us, we decided to make the journey across the lake today.
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| Looking at Oneida Lake |
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| Leaving Sylvan Beach |
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| Last Look at Sylvan Beach |
Because we did not know what conditions we would find on the lake, we put up our antennas and mast in Sylvan Beach. We prepared for rough seas but really found no problem. The following seas made using the auto pilot for steering difficult since it had trouble staying on track; otherwise, everything was fine.
As we exited the lake and approached Brewerton, we had to lower the mast again. Once we arrived at the marina, we put the mast back up. We certainly get lots of exercise on the Erie Canal.
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| Low bridge coming into Brewerton |
After dinner Clark suggested we go for a walk around the marina. On our walk, we found a docktails party in progress with a number of boaters from boats with Looper flags. We exchanged boat cards and chatted until sunset when the party dispersed for the night.
Bad weather is predicted for this entire week with lots of rain, heavy at times, with potential for flooding. Pouring rain and lightening are no fun in the locks. We will have to decide in the morning if we will stay here for an extra day or move on.
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