Matt's Sailing Voyage #4

Hello again!

I made it to New York, NY!! Finally… Motored 500 miles in eight days. Had a couple short days and several long days, some were more than 15 hours. Made it through the 35 locks with the highest drop being 40 feet. The “the flight of five” into Waterford were five locks within 1.5 miles with an average drop a 35 feet each bringing you down to the Hudson River. I put my mast back up in Catskill, about forty miles down the Hudson but still had to motor the rest of the way to New York. It would have been nice to take more time to do some side trips along the way, like the finger lakes and the Adirondack Mountains. Many of the towns along the way were very nice and historic and some were not… by all means avoid Lyons, NY very depressed area. The Hudson River Valley was very scenic and very beautiful, rolling hills and mountains, huge mansions, rock faces, historic light houses all the way into New York City. I decided not to anchor but to get a dock at the West 79^th St. Boat Basin because of the approaching tropical storm Danny which will be coming though on Saturday. So I will be stuck in New York City until Monday I think. It has been raining all day and will rain all day tomorrow and T-storms on Sunday then a good forecast next week. Joe Conway was a huge help getting though the canal and he left this morning so I will be single-handing it to the Chesapeake Bay on Monday where I will be for about six weeks. I plan to fly back to MKE for Labor Day Weekend.

Till next time…

Matt

The Concept II

Matt's Sailing Voyage #3

Hello Everyone!

I almost made it to Erie, PA under sail, only had to motor about two hours. I didn’t do much there besides anchor in a remote lagoon and took a nap after sailing through the night, then worked on the boat for a while and got a good night sleep. Next day (Tuesday) forecast was for storms all day and SSW winds 20 to 30 knots. I got lucky and had sun all day, I was out 5 to 10 miles in Lake Erie and it stormed on shore from Erie to Buffalo all day long. The wind gusted up to 33 knots and the seas built to over six feet and the auto pilot couldn’t handle it so I steered the entire way. I had the spinnacker up for a while until it was too rough and windy to handle, then I put up the jib. Made it to Buffalo by sunset and pulled into a restaurant and had a good meal after a long rough day at sea. I was driving by the Yacht Club and was invited in for the night. The next day (Wednesday) I went to Wardell Boat Yard in Tonawanda just two hours up the river to take the mast down. I went through one small lock. I made quick work of un-stepping the mast and packing it away. I had a bit of an accident when I was securing the rigging, I lost my hold and fell into the water scraping and cutting my right hand on the way down. I rode my bike for about two hours to find a place to get six stitches. Went back to the boat I continued packing it up for the Erie Canal the next day. Joe Conway flew in that night to help me through the Canal. The first day of the canal was absolutely beautiful and much better than I thought…more interesting than sailing through the Great Lakes. There were farms, orchards, parks, peoples back yards, marshes, bridges, locks, and nice little towns. We stopped in a small city called Brockport, NY and tied up to a wall at marina in the center of town where the docking fee was $8 dollars a night. But since I didn’t need power or water the docking was free. It stormed that night and into the morning and has been light rain most of the day so far.

Till next time…

Matt

The Concept II