You're a motorboat now

The Hudson River
42 20.20 N 073 51.00 W

Motor Vessel Tarwathie

Well, no more freedom of choice. As of one hour ago we are a motorboat. We're committed to life as a motorboat for the summer.

So, what is our plan? Talking to Jenny, Lake Champlain sounds really bad. Reluctantly, we gave up the idea of going there; at least for now.

I had an email exchange with David on the W32 Neverland. I wrote to espress angst that we were so close to Georgian Bay but that the fees and fuel for a round trip there would be too expensive. He wrote back with a suggestion I hadn't thought of. Make a one way trip up there, then use the prevailing westerlies to sail from there back to Buffalo via Lakes Huron and Erie. From Buffalo return to Albany on the Erie Canal. Wow! What a great idea.

I researched it more. Unfortunately, it's still too much. The circle trip is over 1600 miles long. It would still cost a whole lot of money in fees, mast up/down, fuel and some lodging. I'm afraid it would be too much.

Instead, we're taking the chicken choice. We're going to go to Buffalo and back on the Erie Canal. To be clear, that's not a bad choice. I think we'll have lots of fun. It's just not the most adventurous choice.
In favor of our choice are two main things. People say that the western half of the Erie is the nicest, and we've never seen it. Also, I like to expand our envelope every year going someplace we've never been before. Well, we've never been to the western half of the Erie.

It will be a long, liesurely trip. I still hold hope for getting up to Champlain in August if the lake recovers. We'll see.

Cruising Life Crushed
By the way, this morning we waited in line for another sailboat to have his mast lowered. That poor sailor really had bad luck. During the process, his capstay became fouled on the crane head. He had rod rigging, not wire but rod. The rod got kinked. Worse, the rod was brand new. You see, last fall this couple headed south for their first cruising experience. South of Norfolk, they were victims of an errant bridge operator. The operator of the RR bridge lowered it on top of his mast. It ruined the mast and the rigging. He spend the whole winter getting things repaired and replaced. That was just recently finished, and the couple abandoned the plans to go south and decided to return to Lake Champlain. Now, on their first time ever to lower the mast, their brand new rigging was damaged by the crane.

Poor guy, I feel so sorry for his string of bad luck. His last word to me was, "We'll never ever do this again. We'll sail at home on Lake Champlain forever and never leave."   Oh well, the lesson for the rest of us is to be thankful that we've had better luck than this man.