Estrela

Waterford, NY

NoLL

Tuesday, we stopped at Waterford only a few hours when, surprise, a second Westsail 32 pulled up behind us. We soon got another surprise, the W32 Estrella had just completed a 6.5 year circumnavigation.

We invited the crew, Doug, Kyle, Eliza and Abigail on board Tarwathie for a cup of tea. All W32 owners enjoy inspecting other W32s to see what is the same or different. Anyhow, the 6 of us had a great time swapping stories about globe stops like New Zealand and Brazil and canal stops like Canajoharie and Marcy. We yapped and yapped until almost midnight.

We so admire this family. Eliza and Abigail, today a teen and pre-teen, are extremely personable and confident young ladies. Their life experiences should serve them well for the rest of their lives.

Tarwathie and Estrela in Waterford

Kyle, Abagail, Eliza on Tarwathie

Paul

Waterford, NY
NoLL

We managed another great reunion while in Amsterdam. Paul was my boss at my first engineering job at G.E. in Schenecatdy. Paul was a wonderful mentor. He guided andj educated me throughout my early career. I dearly love Paul. He's a wonderful person.

My best friend John is also my contemporary. John worked for Paul at G.E. the same time I did.

Neither John nor I have seen Paul for quite a while. Monday, we fixed that. John and his wife Mary Ann picked up Paul and his wife Marge and brought them to Lock 20 for a mini reunion. Mary Ann took the picture below of the whole group except herself.

Dick, Libby, Marge, Paul and John

Paul is sharp as ever. Indeed his memory of things past are better than mine. It was a great pleasure to see him again.

By the way, both Paul and John are recipients of the IEEE Concordia Award, the most prestigious available for power engineering, making me very proud to be in such distinguished company.

By the way,

The Five Bridges

Waterford, NY
42 47.26 N 073 49.80 W

I must admit to a touch of nostalgia as we pass through this region. Today we passed under five consecutive bridges; each of which was my primary work commute path over the years. The 890 Bridge, the Scotia Bridge, Freeman's Bridge, Rexford Bridge and The Twin Bridges on I87. Four of the five bridges are in Schenectady County. Both Libby and I have crossed each of those bridges countless times.

There are many places where a river cuts through an urban area. The few bridges that exist tend to become big traffic bottlenecks, and thus figure prominently in the memory of commuters who pass that way. It also has the effect of causing a split in culture between those who live on one side of the river compared to those on the other. Think of the famous bridges and tunnels connecting Manhattan Island and those in San Francisco Bay. They loom so important that they become part of the culture of the entire nation, not just the locals.

I think of the Jordan Bridge between Norfolk and Portsmouth Virginia. Libby and I knew that bridge only from the boater's point of view. It was old and clunky and a major obstacle for us to pass. No doubt it was an even bigger pain to the far larger number of motorists. Last year the Jordan Bridge was razed. We boaters cheered hooray. I'll bet that many more Norfolk area residents groaned in agony.

p.s. We locked through Lock 7 together with The Grand Erie. See the picture below. She is certainly grand.

We have been meeting the Grand Erie up and down the canal for the past month. She is a floating hotel for canal workers. She has a galley, a cook, a lounge, and a private room with TV and AC for each employee on board. She moves up and down the canal to the sites of working projects. In Amserdam last weekend we saw her getting what must be the 5,000th coat of paint.

Today, she passed us doing about 8 knots. That means she must pack a lot of horsepower under the hood.

From Drop Box

Missions Accomplished

Amsterdam, NY

NoLL

Yesterday I drove to Rome to see my grandson Nick as he reported for induction in the US Army. John, Nick's dad, and I drove down to the recruitment office in Rome where he was to report. We got there a few minutes early. John thought of the perfect going away present; a Whopper at Burger King. See the picture.

From Drop Box

John is also a professional soldier, so he, as well as me and the rest of the family are very proud of Nick. We're confident that he'll serve well.

This morning, driving back to Amsterdam I was able to stop along the way to pick up our two anchors freshly galvanized. See the picture. They'll never look as shiny and respectable as they do now.

From Drop Box

Before galvanizing, I spent a day with paint stripper tools to remove rust, and at the yard, they had to let them soak in acid for two weeks to remove surface salt that wouldn't chip off. Hubbell Galvanizing in New York Mills, NY is a great company. They charged only $75 each to do the anchors.

The Oil Spill

Amsterdam, NY

NoLL

People keep asking us if we have been affected by the oil spill. The obvious answer is, "not yet." We did however meet some people who are affected.

During June in the NY Canals, one meets a lot of loopers. Looper is the self-given name of those who are doing the Great-Loop. That means traveling in a complete circle through the great lakes, the Mississippi, the Ohio, down to Mobile, Alabama. From there, they continue down to the Florida keys and up the east coast to complete the loop. They are easy to spot because of the Americas Great Loop Cruising Association flags that they fly.

We see loopers in NY in June because they are on schedule to pass Chicago before the cold fall and winter weather begins. The couple we met this year seemed to be moving very slowly. I wondered if they would meet the schedule. I asked them about it. They said that they were afraid of the Calumet River in Chicago being closed to traffic because of the Asian Carp problem. They were also unsure if they would be allowed to boat in the Gulf when they reached Mobile because of the oil spill. In short, they had changed their minds about doing the loop.

p.s. We had fun in Potsdam. My lectures went well and Libby was able to do some genealogical research at the Massena Library and the Potsdam Museum about her ancestors.