Day 8
Begin: Whitehall Terminal Wall, Whitehall
End: Bay North of Five Mile Point Lighthouse
Day 8 began at about 8:30, I had got up and looked out the window to see a large barge/tug only 20 feet from the boat. That woke me up pretty quickly, I expected to see the ball fields on the other side of the river, perhaps with some people playing. The barge was waiting to lock through, so it was just idling in the channel. I got up while Leila slept a little longer. I walked around and to see what was nearby. I found that there was the remains of a formerly busy ‘Main Street’ that was now somewhat run down, and without any shops of interest to us (antiques, etc.).
I went back to the boat where Leila had woken up and we had breakfast. We discussed out plans for the next few days and decided that we would just do what the weather/wind allowed. Being on the lake meant that we had to content with not only the weather, but waves and wind availability as well. I have seen all the worst of Oneida Lake in our 25′, but I know Lake Champlain is bigger, and being in unfamiliar waters, we planned on playing it very safe.
We took a walk around and went to the two local marinas, one was closed until later in the morning and the other was open early so we went in and grabbed a map of the lake. We also checked out the lock and then headed back to the boat. I had a digital map of the lake, so I knew what to expect, but I took some time and verified our plans against the map, and marked the map so I could find things easier while on the water.
We called ahead to the Lock Master and were on our way. On our way down it was a good and bad feeling to be out of the canal, we had enjoyed our time, but were also glad to be on the lake. We exited the lock passed the marinas and were on our way on the lake, sorta.
Entering Lock C12, the last lock for a few weeks.
The first 10 miles felt almost like the canal, it was narrow and felt more like a river rather than a lake. Eventually it started to widen and we felt like we were on a lake now, albeit a smaller one.
Bridge that separates the 'river' portion of Lake Champlain from the southern open part. We did not try and fit, clearance looked tight and we did not have a depth finder.
Bass boats on Lake Champlain for the annual Pro Bass Tournament.
At this point I figured its time to put up the mast, in hindsight we should have done this while in the river section as we were now in a bit of chop and drifting, but it was not too difficult. We got the mast up in about 15 minutes and then started to sail. We had a strong south west wind, perfect direction for flying the spinnaker, but a bit too strong, so we sailed on the main and genoa for awhile and then downgraded to the jib. The strong wind made nice sailing as the waves were small compared to what we were used to on Oneida Lake, but we were able to sail at hull speed in almost every necessary direction as the lake twisted and turned.
Weed collection crew.
Weed collection crew unloading into a dump truck.
As we passed Fort Ticonderoga, we noticed that there was a reason for the strong winds, there were thunder clouds forming to our southwest. Not overly concerned as we were still in a relatively narrow portion of the lake we pressed on in the strong breeze, not steadily 25mph+.
Our decision to not seek cover caught up with us and we noticed a black wall of rain coming over the hill/mountain to the west about 1-2 miles away. We were in front of the International Paper Company Plant. We quickly got the motor going, sails down and tied and headed straight for it.
Storm coming while we were still sailing.
My goal was to see refuge from the storm’s waves by heading to the western shore. We were doing okay and Leila buttoned the last of things up as we motored in. We eventually switched places and I sat on the bow checking the depth first by and then by dragging the anchor at about 6′ while we were going about 4 mph waiting to feel the bottom. This is the third time we absolutely NEEDED a depth finder! It is nearly impossible to tell the difference between 12′ and 6′ in this clear water. Fortunately we only draft about 3′ so unless there is a large rock sticking up we were not likely to hit, and if we did we were going slow to the point of hopefully only minor damage. This doesn’t sound bad until you realize that it is a pouring rain now and the waves are starting to kick the bow up and down. Eventually I say good enough and Leila killed the engine, I waited for us to stop our forward momentum and threw the anchor.
The storm came and went in under about 30-45 minutes. We took the time to clean up the boat, which was a mess from getting all the sailing equipment out a few hours earlier and had a bite to eat. Heading to the western shore turned out to the worth the trouble, the waves were about 1 foot where we were 300 feet off shore, so they were probally about 2-3 feet on the other side.
After checking that there was no additional storms coming we decided to continue on as where we were was not a great spot to be for an overnight. After checking the map, I noticed that there was a large bay just north of us on the New York side that would protect us from wind in all but the north and north east directions (which would be a nightmare). I checked to see what the wind was going to do between now and tomorrow morning and it said north west winds till after midnight and then north/north east winds. Great, exactly what I did not want. Fortunately there were to be under 5 mph, so hopefully the waves won’t kick up to anything much.
We motored about a mile around the corner to the bay and did the whole, guess the depth and such until I felt we were close enough to shore for protection from more storms and the now lighter west winds. We anchored and relaxed for awhile.
I did eventually go for a swim. The boat has a 5′ swing keel encased inside a 2′ fixed keel which would not drop. I knew that this had something to do with running aground while in the village of Mohawk a week before. I just did not know if it was missing or just jammed. The water was COLD (low 60s), so leila did not join me, but I checked the boat the whole way around including the keel. The keel was jammed by some smaller stones that must have been forced up in there when we ran aground. They came out relatively easily enough and it was good to go. The rest of the boat was also looking good, with nothing to be concerned about, other than a bit of the bottom paint was wearing faster than expected.
From storms to a beautiful sunset in a few hours.
Back on the boat I warmed up and we watched a movie and called it a night.