Delivery from NY to the Great Lakes

Created by doina. Last modified on 2005-10-11 10:26:19
Countries: USA

Having sold Harmonie we agreed with her new owners to move her to her new home near Rochester, NY on Lake Ontario. In early August the four of us sailed from Baltimore, up the Bay, through the C & D Canal, out Delaware Bay, up the Jersey coast, through NY Harbor and up the Hudson River to the town of Catskill where we dropped both of the masts. This was no small job but competently done at the Hop-O-Nose Marina. The worst part was the 100+ degree temperature the day all the work was done. From there we finished the run up the Hudson River to Troy and the entrance to the Erie Barge Canal. Four days and 22 locks later, we departed in Syracuse, NY. The new owners and two of their sailing friends did the last 9 locks to Oswego and re-stepped the masts. They reported that all went well.

The Hudson River was very pretty. Of course we motored the whole way and did not have time to stop in any of the little towns. We anchored for one night in the river, just pulling over to the west bank and dropping the hook. Conditions were benign and there was not much traffic. We saw a couple of ships and barge tows on our roughly 160 mile run up the river.

In the Erie Canal, we had virtually no other traffic. Only in one lock did we even have another boat and it was a bass fishing boat. Maybe because there were so few boats or because we had prepared so well (bumpers everywhere), the locks were quite easy. There was no "huge" rush of water and our fending off was very moderate. We had the Erie Barge Canal Guide and it told about the various places to tie off for the night. Two of our three stops were no charge, one at a Canal maintenance site and the other a small town. Again, we did not have time to stop at all the small towns but the people we met were friendly including all of the lock operators. To our surprise, the locks operated from 7 am to 10 p.m. each day. We always stopped well before dark, around 6 p.m. A 10-day pass for the canal costs $50. They also have a 4-day pass for $20, which as it turns out would have been sufficient for us. At various locks we had a few tourists watching our boat handling technique; we looked good!

Ann and Ralph, looking for Harmonie II