Fife and Drum Salute

Cobb's Island, Lake Champlain, N44 08 W73 25

(08/14/05) It was raining this morning so we got a slow start. The delay was fortuitous because at about 1000 we heard Fife and Drum music coming down from Fort Ticonderoga. I'm not exactly sure what a fife is except that it is related to a flute. Anyhow, the sound of the fife carried well more than half a mile to where we were. That makes sense, because the fife and drum music was for battlefield use. Sounds that carry a long distance would be a must.

We motored up the lake because there was no wind. We had no goal in mind. Starting around 1500 the wind came up, albeit dead against us. We decided that the lake was wide enough to beat upwind anyhow so we hoisted main and staysail, and stopped the motor. Passing the Champlain Bridge the lake widens to about 3 miles and the wind had increased to 25 miles an hour. Tarwathie loved it. We barely heeled 15 degrees. Soon we were the only boat in sight, all the others must have been scared off by the "rough" weather.

The anchorage here at Cobb Island is beautiful. We are about 6 miles north of Port Henry and 4 miles south of Westport, NY. Wee had to learn to deal with a new problem. Lake Champlain has lots of weeds on the bottom in shallow waters. So many weeds that it makes it nearly impossible to anchor. The anchor can't reach the bottom. We wound up anchoring in 16 feet of water whereas my preference would normally be 8 feet. Some of our favorite anchorages on Valcour Island could be problematical for anchoring today. We'll see.