Day 81, Wednesday, September 11

Day 81, Wednesday September 11^th

Mast being lowered onto boat

The RCR mast stepping team arrived bright and early at 8:30.  Already it was a sweltering day.  Today’s job was to mount the mast onto the boat for us to transport it with us down the Erie Barge canal.  Makes one wonder why we aren’t in a trawler.  It took about 4 hours to get the brackets customized and mounted and the mast set in place.  Thanks to Glen (previous owner) we had lots of bungee cords and some nylon ratcheted straps to secure everything in place.  We no longer could put the bimini back up but we had bought an extra 4 meters of fabric that we were able to strap onto the stainless frame to shade us from the sun.  Julie spent the morning paying bills, and dealing with her tax review.

Peace bridge to Fort Erie

First raised bridge

First lock-Black Rock Lock

By 3:00 we were ready to take off and head down toward Niagara Falls ensuring we stayed right so as not to get into the Niagara river.  We had 2 bridges and 1 set of locks between Buffalo and Talawonda which is the gateway to the canal.  We had clearance for the bridges, but still a little nervous so the lift operators offered to lift and swing so we took them up on it.  As much for the view of the mechanics of moving these bridges.  Quite cool to watch from so close and with a water view perspective.  We reached our first locks and with no one else around we were able to proceed immediately.  The lockmaster indicated it was only a 5 foot drop and we could just float in the middle versus tying up.  All this went well.  We drifted over to a wall but Dawson just fended us of a bit and we were on our way.  The river widened after this and the wind picked up.  It was probably blowing at least 15 knots so between that, the current and wakes from other boats we were a bit concerned about the security of the mast.  It stayed in place, but we would check all the lines upon our arrival before our next takeoff.  After about 2 hours and at about an average speed of 7.8 knots which is fast for us, but the current helped, we reached Tonawanda.  There was lots of space along the wall to tie up to so we were all settled in by 7:00 and ready to head to town for dinner.  We ended up at the “Smoke on the Water” restaurant which serves pulled pork.  The meal was enough for a family.  We took half of it home for future eating. 

Tired old swing bridge
at Tonawonda

We then wandered home and stopped at the dockmasters office which was now open and paid for the night, and were able to purchase a “Skipper Bob’s” Erie canal guidebook.

We sat out in the cockpit reading for an hour or so in the lovely breeze after a hot sticky day and then called it a night.

Cheers

Julie and Dawson