029 - Cheerio Erie O

The last few miles of the canal uses the Niagara River to make the connection with Lake Erie at the city of Buffalo NY. There is one last lock parallel the river that lifted us about 15ft, the fall of the river for the final 8-mile run. From the top of the lock there is a dike to separate us from the raging Niagara which was flowing at 12kts! We would have gone over the falls had we traveled the river. The dike didn’t look very substantial as shown in the picture but it worked.

How appropriate that General Mills has a plant in Buffalo that waffles the smell of fresh baked Cheerios. And how sweet to see the mast back where it belongs, yeah! What an amazing waterway full of history and surprise. So glad we did the full length, the best towns are west of the Oswego exit to Lake Ontario. It’s glory years have passed and it’s no longer commercial but it is a wonderful opportunity for those with a boat to explore some history and to dream of what it was like. Brian’s highlight was traces of the old canal, the locks and swimming in the lakes. Lucy loved the villages on the western end, the scenery of the eastern, and the battlefields. As for me, I marveled at the engineering and how it evolved, the dying towns and the people who live there, and the beauty of the Mohawk River. My imagination was charged with the thoughts of settlers and Indians making the best of the wilderness and why it was the British saw it as so important to holding the colonies.

Thank you New York and Fed’s for keeping this treasure alive, it was a privilege to be one of the few to experience it. Cheerio!

Comments

034 - USS Niagara

What a beautiful working replica of this historic ship. It is used today as a training ship and offers 10day expeditions for youth to learn the ways of sailing a Brigg. It is about as exact as you can expect. I loved their use manila rope, linseed oil, and other items that gives it the smell of an old ship – I don’t know what it is but it’s very familiar. Below decks were tight, it only had a 5ft ceiling in the galley area – how anyone could operate in that space long term was beyond me but the professional crew does. Galley stove and 5ft ceiling - how do they do it? Watching it sail was like stepping back it time. It passed us on the breakwater silently, tall, and majestic. It was easy to imagine the awe seeing this come into an isolated harbor like Presque Island 200 years ago. Something so big and complicated carrying so many men and cannon would change the balance of power with its arrival. It would intimidate the strongest and lure the wondering spirit t

049 - Currents

I admit the picture doesn’t show much, but this was 5.5kts underneath Peace Bridge near Port Huron. We were doing 1/2kt against the current. People on the shore were walking faster than us. It was impressive. I’m glad to be on Lake Huron where there are no currents. The lake does slosh around with wind but I can handle that, I really don’t want to fight 5.5kts of current again, it was taking the boat and tossing it all around like a cork. I was working the tiller harder than in a following sea. You can see a bit of an eddy in the lower right but you’ll have to trust me on this one. The dramatized blurry picture below shows the turbulence and terror of the experience. It also captures the Loch Huron monster in the middle left – it’s unexplained what that silver hump is. Yikes!

038 - Avoiding Customs

The waterway from Lake Erie to Lake Huron is a bit confusing. The Detroit River is more like a fast-moving delta region with “the river” breaking up into 3 channels at one point with multiple islands. The USA/Canadian border winds its way around these waters and it is very difficult to keep track of what country you are in at any one time. Lake St. Clair is straight forward enough, but the St. Clair River which is the outflow from Huron to St. Clair is similar the Detroit River, more a flooded delta region that makes it difficult again to know what country you are in. The basic rule is you can transit each other’s waters as long as you don’t anchor, transfer people or cargo to another boat, or touch each other’s shore or facilities. If any of the three occur you must report to customs within 24 hrs. The Canadian’s make this relatively easy with a phone call, the American’s not so much, they require a face-to-face in one of their “conveniently” located offices. I’m not sure w

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