A Large Lake and a Bit of Rain

Phoenix to Utica – 3 locks, 50 nautical miles, and crossed Lake Oneida

 By 8:15 we had pushed off the Phoenix docks and were on our way south towards lock 23 of the Erie Canal. We soon came to a fork in the river – turn right and you would head downhill towards Buffalo; turn left and you would head uphill towards Albany. I expected there to be a giant sign with:

 

BUFFALO -->

ALBANY <--

 

..but there was not – just a big green park with a boat launch.

 

The first lock of the day (Lock 23) was easy – just a seven foot lift – but it started raining shortly before we arrived. Mike checked his weather app.

 

“Looks like it will clear up by 10 then get sunny. Should be all good,” he said after we cleared the lock then reassembled in the cockpit and hung up our raincoats.

 

We reached the entrance of Lake Oneida and started our crossing. Thankfully we had a slight wind at our backs which provided for a flat lake. I had seen some videos where strong winds created very choppy conditions on this lake, making it unpassable while carrying a big mast on your boat. Unfortunately, 10 am came and went and the rain kept pouring down, making it difficult to see much so we kept the side panels of the cockpit open for visibility.

 

“Guess the Weather Network got it wrong, but now it says should be all clear by noon,” said Mike, looking into his phone after wiping the rain off it.

 

Ana made us a delicious pasta for lunch with a sauce made from the remaining cherry tomatoes I plucked from the garden before we left, and we ate this as the auto pilot took us the 17 miles across Lake Oneida. We both eyeballed Mike as he finger swiped his phone at noon with a frustrated look on his face.

 “2pm for sure now,” he said, looking at his weather app, then up into the thick grey ceiling of rain clouds. We’d stopped believing him but didn’t say anything.

 

As we approached the eastern terminus the water got shallow and we slowed the boat to a crawl but made it through without scraping bottom. We passed through the resort town of Sylvan Beach then proceeded into a long, straight, narrow part of the canal that was very pretty, covered in by trees with rapidly autumnizing leaves, taking on colour. We stayed on this track for a long time, being careful to avoid the shallow spots, but also the deadfall at the edges and log branches sticking up out of the water, sometimes right in the middle of the channel. At times, it seemed impossible a sailboat with a six foot draft should be able to pass.

By about 3 we reached the town of Rome, our planned destination. I pointed the boat towards the docks and was easing in when I felt a stubbornness in the keel and noticed the depth sounder read “0”.

 

“No water here guys, hold on,” I said as I gave it full throttle to push out through the sticky mud and back out into the channel. By the looks of it, Rome didn’t live up to its glorious name, judging by the homeless encampment in the bushes near the public dock, not to mention the majority of this dock had completely rotted away. We continued on.

 

Mike had stopped giving his two hourly bad weather reports because they were met with sneers and ridicule from the other crew, so instead he sang us some of his favourite childhood lullabys to bring a sense of peace and tranquility back to the boat. That worked, and by the time we reached lock 20 near the town of Utica at 5pm and tied up for the night, we would have smiled through any nasty weather that came our way. Of course, the rain finally stopped, about five minutes after we arrived.

We moved below deck and sat round the table for a happy hour drink then enjoyed an amazing meal of pork tenderloin, broccoli, corn, and toasted bread that warmed us up and set me on track to be sound asleep by 9pm.