Sunday, August 24th, and we are still in
Pittsford.The day dawned with little
dew and partially cloudy skies. Applying a second coat of Cetol was the first
priority.It didn't take long.For those of you who have refinished
furniture, you may wonder why there is no sanding between coats. Cetol is a
product designed for boats. The instructions say no sanding between coats.The intent is to build a thick U-V resistant base,
quickly. It is great stuff and we have used it for years.A couple of years ago we stripped the wood as
the multiple coats were chipping off.Time ran out and new Cetol did not get applied. And of course, last year
Sadie B. stayed in storage.This project
has made Sadie B look really sharp.
Thursday, August 14th , we awoke to dense
fog. This made for a lazy morning as we waited for it to lift before getting
underway.It may have been a lazy
morning, but not with out its trauma.
We spent the night at Mays Point in the Montezuma Wildlife
Refuge.The Lock Master warned us about
mosquitoes, but no one mentioned the spiders.Spiders are a fact of life on the water, especially along the lock
walls. When Dennis brought the Honda
Generator back on to the boat a HUGE spider jumped off the bottom and landed at
my feet.Dennis will tell you that the
body of the spider was half dollar size. But with his legs out-stretched, he
would have filled my palm. Thankfully, the fly swatter was within easy reach
and I stopped him cold.I shuddered to
think he could have found a hiding place and attacked at night.
Written on Wednesday, August 13,
2008 (The date above is incorrect)
The last log entry was from Lock 23 (Mile 153) at Brewerton
on Monday August 4.
Tuesday August 5, we cruised 7 miles to the junction of the Erie and Oswego
Canals. It was decided to
go north 3 miles to Lock 1 on the Oswego
Canal at the town of Phoenix.
Phoenix
is a little town, with an assortment of small restaurants, a bakery, a laundry
mat and the home of the Bridge House Brats. It is the later the enticed us to
revisit Phoenix.
On Tuesday, the 29th, I went to a Laundromat in Frankfort, NY while Dennis took the computer to the library to use their wifi signal for email. He also purchased the daily bag of ice for refrigeration and happily found the bakery open so he could buy a cannolli. This confection is a favorite of Dennis', but he only buys them when we are here in Frankfort. They are very, very rich.
On Monday, morning the 21st, I shopped in a very nice Hanniford Super Market in Amsterdam. It had a great bulk product department. I then drove the car to the Enterprise Rental Office and they transported me back to the boat. Sadie B left the dock about 10:30 AM, heading for Fonda, approximately 10 miles up river. This required passing through lock 12.
Sadie B completed the cruise of the Champlain Canal and found a space on "the wall" at Waterford. Once the boat was secured to the dock, Dennis took his bike and went for a ride. I went for a walk. There were several boats here but not as packed as some years. One commercial barge made passage through the locks, heading west.
Thursday, July 3rd - Last night we went to bed in a peaceful but somewhat open bay knowing if the wind changed we were going to be less comfortable. So we were not surprised when the moderate winds kicked up waves just big enough to slap the haul and wake us earlier than we wanted. No problem, the sky is light by 4:45 with the sun rising by 5:15. However, we hung around until a reasonable hour for retired folk to set off for the day. The anchor was hauled and Sadie B started off but then the engine almost immediately started to overheat.
Lake Champlain has been absolutely beautiful Tuesday and Wednesday. We launched on Monday, provisioned (groceries) and started stowing. Tuesday morning we parked the car at Vivian's and headed out. I had been told we would stop in the Islands and I could get things stowed, organized and my nesting instincts met. NOT. Dennis made an appointment to meet a broker on Wednesday morning.
We arrived in Vermont on Monday afternoon, 6 days after leaving Florida. We left June 17th, early afternoon and stayed in a motel half way to my Aunts in Dowling Park Florida.
We spent the 18th and 19th, (my birthday and my aunt's birthday) with my family in northern Florida. We drove 600 miles on Friday, and 400 on Saturday, arriving at my brother's in Lancaster PA., late afternoon. My niece, who lives nearby, and her family arrived for another birthday celebration. I have a great niece that shares my birthday, and my brother's is a week later. Another scrumptious dinner and another birthday cake.
This site is designed and maintained to share the cruising and tennis activities of Esther and Dennis Bruckel. We’ve been fortunate enough in our retirement (10+ years so far) to put 8,000 hours and perhaps 50,000 miles of coastal cruising, Intracoastal Waterway cruising and inland cruising on our “pocket trawler”, Albin 27, Sadie B.In 1996 we crewed several months on a small sailboat, S/V Panacea, passagemaking in the South Pacific from the Caribbean to Papette, Tahiti
Through contacts we have made cruising we were lucky enough to be involved for several years producing 25 TrawlerFest events around the country. Through these events we developed a network of fellow cruiser friends which allowed us to become involved with cruising large Nordhavn yachts doing deliveries and passagemaking which continues today.
After our relationship with TrawlerFest ended, Dennis took on a part time position as a Cruising Editor with Waterway Guide publications. He covers waterways around New York City, the Hudson River, ChamplainCanal, Lake Champlain, RichelieuCanal, St. Lawrence River, Ottawa River, Rideau Canal, TrentSevernCanal, LakeOntario, and all of the New York State Canals waterways.
