We have always known that living on a sailboat would mean that weather would dictate our schedule. What we didn’t realize is that weather is only one of a gazillion variables that affect how our day actually unfolds. The others? Boat issues, surprise changes with marinas, and boat traffic are just a few of the things affecting our first few days. Variable 1 – our mast de-stepping day was surprisingly moved up a day by Oswego Marina. They never step masts on a Sunday but they had a lot of boats on their list for early in the week so slotted all three boats in our pod to get the masts stepped today. We got the news yesterday morning and hightailed it to Oswego Marina from Henderson Bay by mid-afternoon so that we would have enough time to prep the masts for de-stepping. It was a slog. The 20 knot wind was at our noses, meaning lots bucking through of 4 foot waves crashing over our bow for several hours. Mast stepping this morning went extremely well due to the crazy expertise knowledge of the Oswego Marina staff. It was an early morning start though. All crew was up and at ‘em by 0700. The good news? We are now officially canal ready with our mast securely set on deck. Variable 2 – Sensai’s engine failure in our first lock. Yikes! We all went into the lock together and learned the ropes of lock management. It was a lesson! The ropes were slimy, we had to fend ourselves off the wall as the current of the “up” locks swirled us around. Exiting the lock we got a call from Sensai that their engine was overheating. The decision was for us to go ahead while they resolved their engine issue. We got through 4 locks today, learning on each one. Now we are comfortably docked, showered, bellies full and, well, we may or may not have an alcoholic beverage in hand 😊. Variable 3 – Boat traffic. Or, rather, the absence of it. We are apparently a week ahead of the “rush” so we are finding that the locks are so far just our little pod. Yeah!
Tomorrow will we head for Brewerton, NY, at the mouth of Lake Oneida. If the forecast of light winds for Lake Oneida holds for Tuesday, we will cross the lake. Oh, and Sensai? Their engine got fixed by 4pm today. They intend to meet us in Brewerton. Yay!! Comments are closed.
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AuthorVictoria is a hiker, dog-lover, blog writer and planner extraordinaire. Oh, yeah and she is kind of fond of living on a boat. Categories
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November 2024
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