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September 2007 |
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28 September - Arriving in Canada
We left Bear Mountain on 28th August after waiting all day for the tide to change, only to realise when we started moving that we had mixed up our tides and it was fully against us! Luckily we weren't going very far as we were only doing 2.5 knots, but managed to anchor up in front of a dilapidated castle on a small island which was very pretty.
We carried on up the Hudson stopping briefly in Richmond for a night then onto Catskill, which was to be the last stop before we were to de-step the mast. Catskill was a very nice little town with friendly people, and we managed to take the boat down the river and anchor pretty near the town and the other marinas. It was a very nice, well protected spot and we anchored in 6 metres with our stern tied to the trees to stop us from swinging into the channel. This was perfect for the cat too as we could set him free up the woody hill without having to worry about him going to far, then when he meowed to come home we would go and pick him up!
We stayed in Catskill for 4 days as a cold front was coming through then we moved up to Castleton Upon Hudson and prepared to de-step the mast. We saw an advert for their yacht club in a paper somewhere where they claimed to be the friendliest club on the river, we were a little skeptical as that is quite a grand statement to make over such a large area but I have to admit we couldn't help but agree after visiting. They were so welcoming and let us use full facilities, gave us helpful advise and the prices were so good. I can't possibly see how anyone could have a bad time of it there.
The moorings were £5 a night and the use of the facilities was also $5, the beer $1.25 a pint and Wheel of Fortune was a must watch every night at around 5! It cost $50 for the use of their crane to de-step the mast which is great value, if you get it removed at most marinas down here it will cost around $200. I was a bit worried about taking down the mast and had all sorts of unpleasant images in my mind of worst case scenarios but it turned out to be extremely simple and we had it down and secured to the boat in no time. We had to stay an extra day here as we were enjoying ourselves, we even got a free dinner from the club one night!
Next up to Albany, the capitol City of New York State, then onto Troy and our first set of locks that take us into the New York Canal system and up to Lake Champlain (or Lake Erie if you intend to go that way). The locks themselves are a little different to what we had envisaged. We were ready with fore and aft lines which we expected to be able to loop separately around 2 different pipes that are on the lock walls for this purpose, but they are spaced differently so you only got one to hold on to! After observing another boats we quickly worked out that you loop both ropes around this one but I was a little worried that the boat would still be sent spinning with the turbulence of the water being let into the lock. Our last lock experience being the Panama Canal which fills with a lot of force but we had no need to worry, the locks fill up very gently and the boat barely moved, we now knew for the next time.
There are a lot of different places to stop throughout the canal. In Mechanics Ville there was a free public dock with water and electricity to use, and the same in White Hall just before the last lock. There are marina's in between that you can pay to stay at if you wish, other wise you can just tie up to the lock terminal walls, which on the most part were very well maintained and were surrounded by parks so this was not a problem.
Click here to see pictures of us on the way up the Northern Hudson
We slowly made our way up the canal doing a few locks a day and finally made it through the canal and out to Lake Champlain in 4 days. It was funny going through the locks, as it is not a busy time of year and there were not a lot of boats going up and down everyone seems to know who you are. One lock must radio to another to let them know that you are coming and at one point we came into a lock and there were a few people standing around watching us come in. They then came over and said "Yeah! You are hear, we have been waiting for you all day, we have all been having a bet to see where you come from, half of us think you are from New Zealand and the other half think you are from Australia, who has won??" I think they were a little disappointed when we said we were from England!!
We Stayed for a night in White Hall then went through the 12th lock and were officially in Lake Champlain. From here we carried on doing short day hops and anchored in various places on the way up to the Canadian boarder.
Up until leaving New York our only plan was to get up to Canada, but from then on we had the problem of what we are going to do for the winter. The choices were either to find some work there that included lodging (and where they won't mind you bringing a cat) or to find someone to look after the cat and fly home for the winter. Staying in Canada will also mean taking the boat out of the water for the winter season as the lakes freeze over. So we started searching for ranches on the internet around the Champlain area and emailing them for live in work, also emailing different yacht clubs and pet forums regarding someone to look after the cat.
We had spent some time looking at a website for a Curly Horse Ranch near Lake Champlain called Namaspamoos (curlyquebec.com) we loved the look of the place and was very impressed with the fact that the horses were hypoallergenic (as horses do tend to make me sneeze quite a lot!) So we sent them an email telling them about our situation and asked if they may have any winter work available. When we next checked our emails we had received a lovely email from Isabelle saying that they would like to meet up with us. So we kept in email contact with them on our journey up to Canada and when we anchored up for the night off of a marina on the American side of the boarder we emailed again and arrangements were made for us to be picked up the next afternoon to see the ranch and have dinner. The only problem was that we hadn't checked the weather and the next day was appalling conditions, it must have been 25-35 knot winds all day long.
It turns out that you don't need to sign out of America but just sign into Canada, although the Canadian customs was nearly visible from where we were anchored we decided we had better take the boat over there as it may look a little suspect going over in the dingy. The water was pretty rough and the chart said that the depths near the customs office were too shallow for us so we anchored a little way off of the office in deeper water. The customs were very nice and said that normally you would need to bring the boat to the dock (the depth would be ok) but as the weather was so bad he wouldn't make us. We got signed in really quickly, we would need to go back at a later date to sign the details to the bond that the marina has to supply when you take the boat out for the winter, but apart from that we were all done.
The next plan was to find somewhere not far up the Richelieu to anchor, then find a spot to leave the dingy and a phone to call Isabelle and Andre to let them know that we had arrived, although things rarely ever go to plan. We went a little way up and attempted to anchor in 35 knot winds but the anchor just wouldn't set and we soon found out why when Stuart pulled it back up again, the bottom was covered in weed, we have never seen so much, it was so heavy Stuart had problems lifting the anchor. It was almost like kelp in the fact that it rose up from the bottom in metre lengths and it was everywhere. We tried again a little further up the river and the same thing happened. We decided we had better find a marina to stay in for the night as it looked very doubtful that we would be able to anchor anywhere. We keep trying though on the way up to a group of marinas with no luck, then when we turned into the channel that lead up to the marinas the engine stopped working! Stuart threw the anchor over and funnily enough the only place that it did set was in the middle of the channel! He set to work on the engine and finally after about 45 minutes he got it going again. We were getting a little worried now as it was 5pm and we hadn't been able to get in touch with the Ranch (as all good things come in 3's our mobile phone has no coverage here either!)
We finally managed to get into a marina with the help of a very nice couple who took our lines, it really wasn't the kind of conditions that we would normally want to dock in, but we had no choice. The place that we first chose was on the windward side so the boat was getting blown onto the dock, the fenders kept popping out and the boat was getting a fair beating. I had run to the marina to try and find a phone, and found a pay phone but we had no Canadian money on us so I couldn't use it! So I went off in search of the office which a kind man told me was shut so I had to beg a coin off of him to use the phone! He was happy to do so but when I got the the phone they had upped the charge and I didn't have enough! I ran back down to the boat and we then begged another 25c off of the people who had helped us bring the boat in and finally managed to make the call to Isabelle and Andre at around 6pm!
Andre sails also so they were very understanding about our problems, although we were not very impressed with ourselves for being late for our first meeting! By this time Stuart had managed to talk to the dock master and got us a more protected spot so we moved the boat again (we only took a small lump out of the dock!) but we were much happier with the position and would not have to worry leaving it alone for the night. We had just enough time to change clothes and run to the marina entrance to meet Andre, then we headed back to the house and slowly began to relax a little! Isabelle made us a lovely dinner and we all got on very well and ended up staying the night.
The next morning we went out to see the horses, they are the friendliest horses I have ever come across and they all came over to say hello and have a scratch, even Jolie the non curly who is not generally as friendly came over to say hello and receive her fair share of attention (and set me off on a sneezing mission!) Back at the house Andre and Isabelle said they would be happy to have us (and Mano) stay with them for the winter in exchange for us lending a hand with what ever work needs doing. So we were very pleased with how it all turned out in the end (with such a bad start!)
Click here to see pictures Ranch Namaspamoos, Canada
Since then we have slowly moved into the ranch, poor Marie is anchored in the lake all alone and I feel very sorry for her, she has seen us though a lot and now it feels as though we have abandoned her a little. She is anchored in front of a house owned by a good friend of Namaspamoos' and they have very kindly let us keep our dingy on their pier. Our next mission is to get the boat out of the water and into winter storage, we are currently working on a couple of plans.
Since we have been at the ranch we have had a whole new realm of experiences, we started off by feeding the horses which entails going up in the hay barn, throwing down a load of bails of hay, loading it onto a trailer then driving up to the mares field and filling their mangers and scattering slices around the field (making sure that you don't electrocute yourself on the electric fence at any point!) We also helped with bailing a field full of hay which I am sad that we didn't get any pictures of, the 4 of us filled up 2 lorries with 457 bails of hay in around 2 hours which I am very impressed with!
Mano has settled into the house pretty well and has now made friends with the other 2 indoor cats Jules and Pinta and even Arthur the dog. He has run around with the ponies, hidden from the horses and been chased up the tree by Minette the barn cat!
We are now on a mission to learn some French which we are pretty appalling at and it keeps turning Spanish (which is funny as our Spanish wasn't that great!). The weather has been lovely for the last week and back up in the mid 20's, it is cooling down a little at night and is currently 11 outside.
I don't think we are going to be writing much about sailing in the next 6 months!