Day 43- Waterford, NY to Schenectady, NY

May 29, 2024

We had the engine on 3 hours and 22 minutes, only went 15.3 miles,

but we went 195.9 feet UP. We are officially in the land of the locks.

Our first full day on the Erie Canal. Just to confuse us, Lock #1 is actually the Troy Federal lock we traversed yesterday. Since yesterday afternoon, we've been looking at the gates of Lock 2, which you have seen. The first challenge is known as the "Flight of Five", locks 2,3,4,5 and six in rapid succession which raise us up almost 200 feet.

In lock #2, waiting for the water to finish rising.

This 25 foot sailboat has some miles on it. Home ported in San Diego, California, Doug sailed it in the Singlehanded Transpac Race from San Francisco to Hawaii, then up to Sitka, Alaska and back to San Francisco. From there, he had it trucked to New Jersey and is going up to Lake Ontario, down the St Lawrence Seaway to the Canadian Maritimes and back to the East Coast of the USA. And he still appears to be sane!

I have no idea why the concrete is scalloped like this.

If I see something different, I take a picture of it.

We are following these two boats into Lock #3.

Each lock has a sign like this one.

A vintage, yet still active, work boat on the NY Canal System

Entering Lock #4. We were traveling in close proximity to 3 other boats so there were 4 boats in the lock each time. The locks are 45' wide by 310' long.

Lots of geese along the way. They all say hello

when they see the boat is named Snow Goose.

Each of these locks lifted about 30 feet.

The 25' sailboat on the right looks really little.

We loosely tie to or hold on to the wall in each lock chamber.

Each chamber wall has lines hanging or pipes/cables hanging from the top that we wrap a line around. You can see the lines hanging in the next photo. The pipes are in the recessed areas.

Found this nest, with eggs at the top of one of the cables.

This is one way we use the lines to keep us close, but able to move upward as the chamber fills. We wear rubber coated gloves, the lines are slimy.

This is a guillotine type gate. Yes, it moves up and down.

I think these big rocks came out of the channel as it was being dug.

It is apparently a common summer past time to watch the boat traffic go by.

The Twin Bridges officially named the Thaddeus Kosciusko Bridge

Lock 7, about 5 miles past the Flight of Five. The Lock Tender here was working Lock 2 when we visited last evening. He's quite a character. In the course of conversation with him and his boss, we learned that, not only did they have a colleague named Whelan, but this fellow's middle name was Whelan. Needless to say, when I gave him a boat card and he read my name, we became instant friends, if not relatives.

He told a story about his first days on the job when he was paired up with a veteran. He took to calling his mentor 'Sensei', and was then given the nickname "Grasshopper'.

From the conversation, I knew he was working Lock 7 today. Because of the distance between Lock 6 and Lock 7, two larger boats were out of sight ahead of us. I knew that the first boat had arrived at Lock 7 and the second one called from a mile back. We were yet another mile back. Boat number two approached the lock and they held the lock for them. A mile to go, I called Lock 7 and told them where we were. I called, "Lock 7, this is Snow Goose. We are a mile away, Grasshopper." There was some chatter on the radio asking if we expected them to wait for us, when a voice came over the radio, "Snow Goose, this is Grasshopper, we will wait for YOU!"

Once again, casual conversation pays off!!

This is Grass Hopper

Another bridge, love 'em.

Entering the marina at Schenectady.

Got in early enough to play. The sun was shining and it was warm... time to try out the new Oru Kayak (Oru Kayak). I have had an Oru Kayak for 10 years and love it, but it is a 12' kayak with a small cockpit. I wanted a shorter, lighter and more cockpit space so I ordered the Inlet model (Inlet model) and had it sent to Florida for this trip. If you aren't familiar with these, they fold up into a smallish, lightweight package that fits in my small car. I love it!

The next pictures were taken while I was kayaking.