In the canal

Hi everyone,

Man, am I beat! Very busy 2 days. Yesterday morning I got underway at 5:15 in flat calm conditions. Listened to the weather and they called for southerly winds at 10-15. Great, sez I, I will be able to sail. And sure enough, a couple of hours later I hoisted the main and killed the engine. Now one thing I have been noticing, is the tendency of the weather bureau to lowball the wind speed predictions. I see this over and over again. Now they do a really excellent job, forecasting the weather, but estimating wind speed accurately seems a bit problematic. So, as I was sailing along, the wind keeps picking up. I had thought about setting another sail, but I was exceeding 6 knots under just the main so there was no need. I kept looking astern at the really impressive mass of Whitecaps behind me, and thinking I should take a reef in the sail. But there were sandbars outside the channel and I just didn't have the room. It was blowing a good 30 in the sustained gusts and things were going well. I had the preventer deployed, a multipart tackle to prevent an accidental jibe, but I also knew that at some point I was going to have to jibe. And it was really too windy. When I did get to that point I ended up tacking instead. Basically, I needed to turn slightly to the left. Had I just made that slight turn I would have released the preventer, turned that small amount, and most likely have gotten myself into serious trouble, either damaging the sail or possibly dismasting the boat. So instead, I put the tiller hard over, and turned thru about 350 degrees. And it works fine. The sail pivots on the mast, and everything is good. I made a couple of these manoeuvres and approached the Rip Van Winkle bridge. I was very unhappy to see a large empty barge, being pushed by a tug, that was going to reach the bridge at about the same time as me. Having worked on a tug in an earlier life I knew that he had his hands as full as I did. I could not risk sailing thru there, especially as the wind was blowing even harder now, probably 35 in the gusts. So I started the engine, figuring to dump the sail. But, because I have been having some issues with my cooling pump, and because I always check anyway, I looked over the transom and was horrified to see NO cooling water coming out. I immediately shut off the engine and took a very brief look at the chart. I could sail outside of the channel and thru a secondary opening in the bridge. Once thru, I could drop sail and anchor the boat in about 12 feet of water. That's what I did, staying well clear of the barge, whose captain was undoubtedly wondering what sort of idiot would be out sailing in these conditions. I proceeded to do the worlds worst furling job on the mainsail, and went below to fix the engine. The tide and wind were in opposition and the motion was excessive, with the boat rolling wildly from side to side and circling around and around the anchor. I kept looking out the companionway to make sure we weren't dragging into a bridge abutment.  I had the problem solved in 15 minutes, but now had to get the anchor up. No way could that be done without mechanical advantage so I rigged a snatch block and led the anchor line back to the cockpit winch. We had that anchor up in several minutes and got underway. I said the heck with any more sailing.

Several hours later, I pulled into the boat club at Castleton on Hudson. I picked up a mooring, giving it a good inspection as I remembered the fiasco last fall, and made arrangements to unstep the mast. Now this operation really needs to be seen to be believed. They have a DIY mast stepping crane. You sign a release, pay $55, and do it yourself. How this place hasn't been sued into oblivion is beyond me, but I love it there. So, back on the mooring I get the mast ready. The wind is blowing way too hard for me to fold the sail, so I just stuff it in the main cabin. Plus, it was wet. I forgot to mention that I went thru a nasty thunderstorm an hour earlier. Had everything ready by dark. The forecast for today was for 15-20, with gusts over 30. Great. And that indeed, is what we had. I did the mast entirely by myself. The wind made for a real challenge as I was lowering it down to the deck, but I prevailed. At this point I was nursing a bad attitude towards the weather gods and really wanted to prove myself. I left a bit before noon  bucking a strong tidal current, and the wind, but eventually made it thru the first lock. There is a ton of water coming over that dam by the lock and it was nervewracking getting the boat in. So, the Champlain Canal is still not open, due to high water. Looks like I will be cooling my heels for several days.

Best to all, Charlie