Cruise from Albany to Lake Champlain 2005

[Russell]

This will be my big trip for next year. The wife and I are planning to take the Champlain canal up to Lake Champlain for the New England Trailer Sailers Rendezvous.

We will be actualy starting a little west of Albany so we can go through the higest Lock flight in the world (don't quote me on this). We will launch right after lock 7 on the Erie canal. We plan on stopping at Waterford for the evening as well as pick up anything we have forgot. Then we will head up from there.

I plan on taking off 2 weeks off from work and that should be plenty of time to do everything we want to to. The rendezvous hasn't been scheduled as of yet for 2005 but it most likely will be the first part of July.

Here a question? If any one has done this route before what would be a "must do" for this trip (ie. places to stop and check out or stuff needed on the boat)?

[Chip Hindes]

I recommend your first overnight be at Mechanicville; your taxes at work: they have free slips including hookups.

If the timing works out, I recommend a stop at Fort Edward and the prime rib sandwich at the Anvil Inn. If you're not in a hurry to get the canal over with, Fort Edward also has free slips (with hookups) and you can walk. If you're just interested in a meal rather than an overnight, the Anvil had its own dock, but it was not well marked and we missed it.

There are no marine refueling facilities between Schuylerville and Whitehall. We learned this the hard way, had to stop at Fort Ann and then carry the fuel about 1/2 mile from the Stewart's.

If travelling directly from lock to lock, do not exceed the 10mph speed limit; the lockmasters talk to each other and go out of their way to have the locks ready when they know you're coming (dependent on other traffic of course). But they also time your transit, and at the very least will give you a hard time for speeding; 10mph is not a happy speed for the Mac and we usually kept it around 7mph, but we once heard them tell another boater, "You're way early, you must have been speeding, and you're going to wait." Pretty embarrasing to say the least. I've been told they'll issue you a ticket based on your time if it's way out of line.

We did the whole thing in nine days including our time on Champlain, and wished we had more time to visit and wander some of the towns along the route. Ft. Ticonderoga looks spectacular from the river, we would have liked to tour it but you need to anchor out and dinghy in, and we had none.

Some of the locks have no tie ups, and "securing" to the walls consists of holding onto lines which hang down from above; these lines spend much of their lives under water and are truly nasty with marine growth. Wear rubber gloves.

[Catigale]

Upstaters - I have a potential business conflict in Boston but will otherwise join up! We slip in Shady Harbor (15 miles south) so would meet you at the first overnight in Waterford.

If you are launching off the Niskayuna Ramp off lock 7 watch out for that narrow ramp - you will drop a wheel off it if you are more than a foot from the dock.

I can even offer the 7 passenger recovery van if anyone wants to get a lift back to Albany area to tow back home and thereby maximise sailing time on Champlain

Hope to see everyone - fingers crossed on work...

Stephen

[Russell]

Thanks for the tip Chip. I was looking all over the charts for gas and didn't see any thing up where it starts getting narrow. So would you suggest one or two 5 gallon gas cans?

I am busy getting all the charts scanned in to the laptop so I have a nice way to plot the course. Let me tell you its hard to find the correct software for the Mac to do this.

Thanks again for the tips and I will keep you posted on how things are going.

[Russell]

Oh, one more thing. Do you need to grab one or two lines inside the lock? It looks like they are spaced for larger boats. What did you find to be the best practice when going through the locks?

[Chip Hindes]

I think my two Tempo 9Gas (which really hold something just over eight gallons) would have been just right for my gas hog Tohatsu, if I had filled at Schulerville.

As it was, I was full when I left Rensselaer, zipped right past Schuylerville without a thought, and didn't even realize there was a potential problem until I was above Fort Edwards; BTW I realilzed after it was too late that Ft Edwards has a Stewarts type place fairly close to the docks, just not on the water, and I could have easily topped off there if I had thought of it. By the time I realilzed I was running low, might not make it, and asked one of the lockmasters where was the next gas stop, Ft Ann was the best she could come up with. As I said, it was quite a long walk to the Stewarts and back. Even that would have been easier if I had a gas can with a handle, but all I had at that time was an empty Tempo, and those are tough to carry even when you don't fill them up, which I didn't.

Good thing I did it as the other tank ran out about two miles short of Whitehall. On the way south I filled up at Whitehall, topped off the empty tank at Schuylerville and made it with plenty to spare.

Most of the locks have pipes recessed into the wall, just loop a line around them and let them slide up or down as the water height changes. A couple of fenders and a single line amidships is best; I used a dock line on the winch.

The ones with the lines dangling down are a little harder, but you only need to grab one, then just keep a little tension on the line. At the bottom of the lock it's a little harder because of the acute angle, but it's still doable. The lockmaster will not open the lock valves until you are "secured", i.e., hanging onto the line or looped around the pipe. Since everybody's always going the same direction, you can tie up to either side, whichever is your preference, and it's best to stay between the entrance gate and the middle; currents and eddies can be surprisingly stong at the exit gate as the valves are opened. There's not much to it. The time of year we went through, late June early July, most of the time there were only one or two other boats in the lock the same time as us; frequently we were the only ones.

[Russell]

Thanks for all the tips. I can't wait for the trip I am sure that everything will go great. I am hoping that this will give us (Carole) more courage to try bigger and better cruises(ie. conch cruise). We'll see how it goes.

[Idle Time]

Hi,
My husband and I have a cottage in Kirkwood NY. We are planning on spending some time up this next summer and Lake Champlain is on our list. If we are still in the area when you get ready for your trip maybe we will join you. I'll be watching the board

[Russell]

Sounds like a great time and would love company on this trip and all are invited . I am in the process of getting all the waypoints downloaded for the trip as well as the charts scanned into the computer. I will keep you informed on our progress. If you need any info let me know, I have all the charts and travel guides.

[Catigale]

Russel - Catigale here...aka Stephen...

Any more planning on the Canal trip for July

My business appointment in Boston is firm June 29 through July 1 so would be interested in the trip if its not conflicting..

[Russell]

Well, I will be heading to Boston to meet with the "New England Trailer Sailers" this weekend (2/13/05) more than likely we will heading up June 27 or 28 for two weeks. Hopefuly after this meeting I can hatch out better dates, I will keep you posted.

[Russell]

It looks like we will be departing on the 26th. I have three locations in which we could launch from and many more were you could join along the way.

The two candidates are as follows. Lock 7 has a small double sided ramp with a small dock in the middle(I will have pictures this spring). This is a nice area and it seems to have ample parking. I will contact the lock officer about overnight parking also in the spring. This launch is breakwatered, so no current. The downside to this launch is that the ramp is very narrow and you could accidentally go off the side.

The second site is about an hour (on boat) west of lock 7 almost to lock 8. I have seen this launch from the water but don't remember if there was a dock with it. It is ran by the state this is the information from their site:
"Schenectady County, Freemans Bridge. Off Route 50 in the Town of Glenville. Hard surface launch. Parking for 15 cars and trailers."

Third choice I have not looked into yet is at waterford above the highest lock flight in the world. It's ran by the state this is the info from their site.

"Saratoga County. In the Town of Waterford, at top of Flight Rd. just after Lock 6 heading west on Rte 97. Concrete ramp. Parking for 50 cars and trailers."


Our first anchorage for the trip can be one of two places:

Waterford Terminal wall- pump out, electric,restrooms,water,trash,phone,fuel (G), 35 slips,no launch

A little out of the way Troy City Dock/terminal wall- Electric,pump out, rest room, water, trash, phone, fuel (G&D), no launch, 3 restaurants.


Second Anchorage- also an opportunity to join the cruise from here there is a launch just north of the Yacht Basin.

Schuylerville Yacht basin- Fuel(G&D) Water,Electric,Cable,Campground,Showers,Restrooms,laundry,Free coffee,Ice, store. Web site www.saratoga.org/syb/

Third Anchorage -
Lock 12 Marina mast raising ceremony because after this point we can sail.

I will be adjusting this slightly as we get closer to the launch. Let me know how many are interested on going I will see if we can make arrangements for the Marinas' in advance

[Catigale]

Russell

Ive dropped a wheel off Lock 7 ramp - there is about 12 inches of margin on this ramp. Not hard to do as long as you know about it in advance.
Its not marked of course...

Parking at this ramp is tight in the summer, its run by the town of Niskayuna, I dont know the overnight policy but my guess is its lax.

The Launch right above The Waterford Steps is really nice and wide and there is tons of parking and is quiet and secure.

You would go right into the Staircase which is a two hour transit and would put you at the Waterford Dock

Troy town dock, I have been told, is expensive - I have never paid for short tie ups but I would check that out.

By the way, there is a launch ramp at Waterford (if you dont want to do the staircase) and another one across the river in Lansinburgh
The waterford ramp looks tough for a Mac
The Lansinburgh one looks fine.

Catigale

[Russell]

yup, I think we will be starting at lock 7 launch ramp. I just stopped by and the water was taken down low to fill up the Waterford flight of locks. It looks like repairs were being made to the ramp with some new sections of pavement. Now I just need to get the boat in order........

[BBraun]

How did the trip go?

The major reasons I am interested in a Mac 26X, as opposed to a performance sailor are four trips I am dying to do:

1-Down the Columbia River System;
2-Puget Sound to Points North;
3-Mississippi -- Tom/Tug (sp) canal to Mobile and on to Florida; and
4-Buffalo to NYC the long way along the Erie Canal, up to Ottawa through Champlain and down the Hudson to NYC. (Numbers 3 and 4 may morph into a trip along the entire ICW for which I think the Mac is very well suited.)

So I was excited to read you were doing a portion of number 4 and wondered how it went? Would it be worth doing the Erie canal or is it just a dirty ditch now depiste its wonderful history?