A Jouney up the Erie and Oswego Canals on Audrey Two
Audrey Two Crew - Henry & Chris Williams, Greg & Stephanie McMahon, and Dave Schantz
all photos @2000 David G. Schantz
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While the trip up the canal generally begins with unstepping the mast at the Hop-a-Nose Marina in Catskill New York, this first Photos here were taken at the Troy Marina in Troy New York, about an eight of a mile from the first lock, a.k.a. the Federal Lock. Waiting with us at this lock were a number of power boats, a few tugs and one other sail boat, "Peppin" owned by Don and Patsy Sullivan from Travers, Michigan. Photos in the sequence show our approach and exit from the first lock.
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After going through the first lock, we arrived at the intersection of the Champlain and Erie Canals. Between the Federal Lock and E-2 (the second lock in the Erie Canal system) is the Town of Waterford where we stopped to pick up the food items that would be needed on the trip up the canal. From this point on in the journey, we also provided one of the crew from Audrey Two to "lend a hand" to Don and Patsy Sulivan on Peppin in going through the locks.
This sequence shows the Erie/Champlain split, several photos of locks E-2 and E-3 , a typical sign showing the lock information, and the boats rafted at the Waterford terminal during the brief stopover.
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On day one, we were able to get as far as the Arrowhead Marina, just west of lock E-8, but were unable to use their facilities because of insufficient depth. This, and just finding marinas at places along the canal that conincide with the distances you may wish to travel during the day can result in your spending the night at a lock-side landing area. For this reason, its a good idea to have a contigency plan in place for eating and sleeping. On day one we enjoyed the surroundings at lock E-8 near Scotia and I-890.
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The locks are open to recreational boaters from about 0730 to about 2000 hours. We typically got off to an early start to both try to put some of the miles behind us and also try to get to one of the few marinas on the canal. Since going through each lock can take anywhere from fifteen minues to eternity, the best plans can often go astray. As someone once said, "If you want to give God a good laugh, tell him about your plan." Our plan for day two was to reach the Illion Marina just west of Lock E-18 but delays in several of the locks later in the day, caused us to run out of daylight and we decided it was best to tie up at a siding near Herkimer; especially with the experience the previous day of getting to the marina and finding that there wasn't sufficient depth to accomodate our boat.
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On Day 3, it rained, and rained and ..., especially when Greg or
Henry were on the helm. For some reason, when it was Dave's turn to steer the boat,
the rain would let up . Go figure. Stephanie, spent most of the rainy part of
the day aboard Peppin under the full cover of its bimini and dodger. Traffic on the
canal was busier than usual this day as we overtook a tug towing a barge and passed
several sail and motorboats heading east. At lock E-20 we reached the
highest point of this part of the canal system - 420.4 ft. At lock E22, we began our
descent to the level of Lake Ontario - 245 ft.
At lock E-22, just east of Oneida Lake, Stephanie returned to Audrey Two and David went
aboard Peppin. The trip through the lake, at first looked like it was going to be
through a thick fog, but as we made it across the lake, the fog subsided and clear weather
greeted us at the Brewerton Boat Yard where we spent the night.
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On day four we went through lock E-23 of the Erie Canal then went through the eight locks of the Oswego Canal. Just outside of Lock O-8 in Oswego (there are 8 locks between the juncture of the Erie and Oswego canals), and about 1500 hours we entered the Oswego Marina and stepped the mast. Having done that, we motored over to the Oswego International Boat Basin, tied up for the night and went to enjoy some food and wine. While we were at the restaurant, Emil drove up with the sails, they were put on the dock, the miscellaneous pieces of equipment and mast supports were offloaded and put on the truck and Audrey Two was made ready for the sail to Sodus and Rochester.
Hope you enjoyed this brief account of the journey up the canal. Feedback and comments may be welcomed. For permission to use or print any of the photos, or if you would like to add to the content of this journey. please contact Dave Schantz
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