R.I.P. Rollie

Vergennes, VT
44 10.17 N 073 15.48 W


In 2005, our friends Rollie and Rosemary met us at the dock in Vergennes to go for a day sail. We had a great day.  The blog about it is here.   Today,we are back in the same spot, Vergennes and we received sad news.  Our lifetime friend Rollie Faulkner passed away.   We'll miss you Rollie.

Yesterday, we got to (a) Sail on the lake under full sail.  (b) See Mount Abrams, Camels Hump and Mount Mansfield, (c) anchor in Porter Bay.  Today we motored up Otter Creek, and now we're at the public dock in Vergennes.  What a rush, all those high points in one day.  Still remaining, Burlington, the main part of the lake, Valcour Island, and Willsboro to visit the deMellos.

Unfortunately, once again we are the only English speaking people here on the creek.  Eight other boats are tied up here, and all eight of them speak French.   Quebecers can be lovely people singly, but in a big group they are reluctant to break the ice and speak English.  When we try, the awkwardness of inadequate language skills usually makes it flop.

By the way, we encountered a flotilla of darling little steam boats coming down Otter Creek as we came up.  There must have been a steamboat festival that we missed.  Unfortunately, I only got a good picture of one of them.  Shades of The Arfican Queen.

Sailboat Once Again

Chipman Point, VT
43 47.97 N 073 22.55 W

Libby is smiling.  Tarwathie is a sailboat once again.  See the picture.  I'm smiling too, but my wallet isn't.

We got the job done just in time.  A front passed, and NOAA was warning about severe thunderstorms (don't they always?)   Anyhow, it made me nervous.   Strong winds coming along at the delicate moments as we raised the mast would be very dangerous.

This time we completed the process almost without mishap.  Almost?  I lost a clevis pin overboard.  First time ever for that mistake.  I do have spares on board.    Also, something broke and fell in the water from the top end of the mast.  I heard the splash.  However, as far as I can see, nothing is missing.  The Windex, anemometer, VHF antenna, static dissipator and anchor light are all there.  (It's crowded up there.)

By the way, the final vote on the mast up poll was 30 for Libby and only 2 for me.  Thank you the 2.  I note though that even those 2 votes didn't appear until after I whined that the captain gets no respect.  Thanks again the 2.   For the 30, what is the emoticon for sticking one's tongue out?

There is a sailboat named Grace here.  The locals say that Grace spent several weeks in Boot Key Harbor, Marathon last winter.   I recall hearing a Vermont boat check in on the Cruisers Net.  I meant to seek out those people and to introduce myself, but I never did.  Too bad.

By the way, re my thinner wallet.  Chip is the guy at Chipman point who runs the place.  I learned from Chip that Point Bay Marina charges 3 times as much to raise the mast and that Shelburne Shipyard charges 5 times as much.    Ouch!

The above sign was seen in Whitehall, NY.  Considering the recent flooding, it should be revised to say No Snowmobiles or Sailboats ...

Lenticular Clouds

Whitehall NY

See those clouds in the picture?  They are a sign that we yearn for all winter.   

You see, although we love the winter weather in Florida or the Bahamas, we really miss mountains.  When we lived near Burlington in the 1980s, I used to get an emotional high every morning when I saw the mountains while driving to work.   The best part was as I drove over the peak of the hill on Main Street.  From there I could see the lake below me, the Adirondack Mountains far to the West, and the Green Mountains back over my shoulder.

When we head south, as soon as we pass the George Washington Bridge the terrain becomes flat.  It stays monotonously flat all the way down to and including Key West.   The Calvert Cliffs in Virginia are the only sight resembling a hill that we we see from the water.

The clouds?   They are called lenticular clouds.  They are easy to spot because of their distinctive shape resembling a ground glass lens spherical on top and flat on the bottom. They form where the prevailing winds moves in up/down waves.  At the crest of the wave, air pressure gradients cause moisture to condense into a cloud that exactly marks the crest, and nothing around it.   Directly under or slightly upwind of every lenticular cloud is a mountain peak.  The mountains make the wind move up and down just like rocks on the bottom of shallow swift rivers can be spotted by standing waves.

When I learned to fly a glider in Vermont, I was warned to never go near a lenticular cloud.  It could be fatal.  A few years later I learned from an Argentinian friend that glider pilots in the Andes seek out lenticular clouds and head for them.  He said it was like being catapulted by a slingshot, and that he had reached altitudes of up to 30,000 feet that way.  I felt cheated.

Thus, lenticular clouds are markers of mountains that can be observed from several hundred miles away.  The picture above I took last June from down near Poughkeepsie, New York.  The clouds unmistakably mark the Berkshire or Green Mountains in northern Massachusetts or southern Vermont.

Depression then Elation

Saratoga, NY
42 57.97 N 073 37.86

A follow up to yesterday's story How Slow Can You Go?  Libby told me that while I was away from the boat snapping pictures for my slide show, a Google car came by and snapped our picture tied up against the wall.  How appalling!   I hate the idea of a proud cruising vessel like Tarwathie having a fixed association with any point on this planet.  It depresses me.  Anyhow, if and when they put that picture on Google Maps and/or Google Earth, look for us at 42 48.369 N 073 42.878 W  (Flightlock Road, Waterford, NY)

That was yesterday.  This morning is glorious.  The weather after passage of a cold front is often delightful.  There is no wind.  Therefore the Hudson River is like a huge reflecting pool.  Mist is rising from the water in the cool morning air.  It's all very beautiful.

Approaching Champlain Canal Lock 3 This Morning

Libby got glimpses of mountains to the east.  Those mountains are in Vermont and a sure sign that we are approaching Champlain.  I could almost see Libby's chest expand with elation.   Our friend Carolyn recently said, :"You LOVE that lake."   She's right.   We do love that lake and it raises our spirits just to approach it.

By the way.  It's about time for me to throw in the towel about raising the mast.  The poll came it at 30-2 against me.  Worse, until I whined on this blog about the captain getting no respect it was 26-0.   Oh well.  We'll do it.  I would like to do it this Friday at Chipman Point.

How Slow Can You Go?

Waterford, NY
42 47.20 N 073 40.73 W

Last night when Roger and Carolyn brought us back to Lock 7, there was a big blue tug boat going through the lock.   As the opened the lock on the far end I could see a barge sitting waiting for the tug.  I didn't think much about it but I should have.

This morning the tug and barge left about 30 minutes before we did.  We still didn't think much about it.

Around 0900 we arrived at Lock 6, the top of the flight of 5 consecutive locks that let you down the hill the last 2 miles to Waterford.  The tug and barge were just entering.  Uh oh.  It finally dawned on me.  We would have to follow that rig all the way down and it might be slow.

I had no idea how slow it could be.  It took us 8.5 hours to move that last 2 miles.  That's about the slowest we've ever moved.

The problem was that the barge was so big that it barely fit in the locks.  The tug would push the barge into the lock, then disconnect and back the tug out.  The barge would descend in the lock on its own.  At the bottom they had to use the locks' built-in motorized capstans to pull the barge out.  Then the lock had to be refilled, and the tug lowered.  Then the tug would reattach to the barge and push it to the next lock.  This whole procedure took 90-100 minutes per lock and we were stuck behind them the whole way.  If only we got up earlier this morning!

Anyhow, I got a great set of pictures of the locking procedure for this mamouth rig.  See the slide show here.

Also neat, the tug Cheyenne has a pilot house that can raise or lower itselt.  It lowers to pass under low bridges and raises to allow the helmsman to see over the top of of the barge they're pushing.  They used compressed air to raise it.  It's quite a sight and it's visible in my slide show.