Sea Level!!!

Troy, NY
42 40.63 N 073 43.21 W

We have achieved sea level!  No more locks, dams, or collapsed bridges stand between us and the sea.   Hooray!   Actually I wanted to entitle this post "Escape From New York" but that wouldn't be accurate.  Not yet.   We have to get our mast up and get past the debris fields in the Hudson first.

We really got into the heart of the flood area when we passed Waterford.  Surprisingly, most things looked normal.  To be sure, there was damage visible, but not as bad as we expected.   The visitor's center in Waterford didn't appear destroyed as we heard; it appeared normal except that there were no boats there.

The worst damage seemed to be around Troy.  Approaching the lock at the upstream side we could see the bent and twisted railings at the top of the wall.   It appeared that boats tied up there were washed over the wall and over the dam when the water got too high. Below the dam we saw the hulls of two sunken boats.  The Troy City Docks were also badly beaten up.

There is not much debris in the Hudson here and now.  It must be downstream between us and NYC.  I wonder if we'll catch up to it or not.

Progress downriver is faster than normal, we have a 1.5 knot current with us superimposed on the tidal flood and ebb.

Tides! It's good to be back at sea level once again.

Have a look at the youtube video below.  It shows Cohoes Falls on the Mohawk River, just upstream of Waterford.  (The canal runs parallel to this out of sight.)   All that water coming over the 1/2 mile wide  falls.  Then think of what happens next.  All that water must find its way to the Hudson.  There are only two paths.  One goes past the docks at Waterford.  It is about 200 feet wide.  The other is a bit south, but only 30 feet wide.  Imagine the force of the current having funneled that much water into such narrow outlets.



For perspective. here is a shot of the outlet at Waterford. My friend Pete is in the foreground. You can see the river and the docks below.  Now imagine almost all the water from the video above passing through the narrow passage below.