Erie Canal – Part 1

(Originally published in 2012)

The Erie Canal – Part 1

Getting started

One of the most pleasant cruises we ever undertook was our trip on the Erie Canal. It was one of those “steps” we took in the long series of steps toward getting down to our Caribbean destination. At the time, we viewed it like a stepping-stone in getting from point A to point B. You don’t really look at the stone while you are crossing the creek; you’re too busy concentrating on getting to the other side. When you look back, you might wonder why you didn’t notice any of the details along the way. Fortunately we realized once we got started that this was truly an unexpected adventure and we enjoyed all of it – the people that we encountered walking the tow paths along the canal, the lockmasters and bridgetenders we met, the towns we explored and the people we met, cruisers and locals alike. We also learned to enjoy the actual process of locking – that is working our way through the locks – entering, tying up and holding on as the lock water was allowed in or out of the lock, and releasing and moving along on our way. When heading west to east, from the Great Lakes toward the coast, most of the locks step you down – from the higher elevation of the lakes toward the Hudson River and sea level.

The Erie Canal is a ditch connecting a number of bodies of water across the state of New York. It comprises rivers and their tributaries, lakes, and manmade stretches interconnecting them, with locks and floodgates placed at various locations along its length. The controlling depth is supposed to be kept at about 12 feet but in many areas we found it to be as shallow as 8 feet. The manmade stretches appeared to be about 75 feet wide, give or take, with the banks being fairly steep-to. Portions that pass through rivers and lakes are fairly well marked but, to avoid grounding, you must be careful to stay within the marked channel. You can stop virtually anywhere along the length of the canal, if necessary, but overnighting, which is almost always free of charge, is encouraged only at the towns and, if necessary, along the walls at the lock approaches. There are also some commercial marinas available at some of the more popular vacation areas. Do not plan on traveling at night. There is no lighting anywhere on the canal at night except at locks, bridges, and towns and the locks and bridges are not operated after dark. The speed limit is about 10 MPH and is fairly strictly enforced. The bridgetenders and lockmasters along the route KNOW how long it takes to travel to their lock or bridge from the previous one – arrive too soon and supposedly you will be penalized. Things to keep in mind when traveling on the canal: Don’t be embarrassed about protecting your boat. Carry plenty of large fenders, fender boards, etc. Some people even use old car tires. If you have a sailboat, remember you’re already pretty ugly with all of the hardware and junk lying around on deck, and it’s not a beauty contest. You really can’t have too much protection when locking through. We did all of our tying up on the starboard side (You are encouraged to tie up starboard side to the wall.), and carried a number of large fenders on that side, and also two sizable fender boards. We kept about three fenders on the port side, just in case we needed them when we tied up at night or for emergency reasons. Bring along at least two pair of rubber gloves for grabbing lock cables, lines, and pipes while locking. Fuel availability on the canal is limited. Remember, you’re motoring the entire time, 300+ miles, and you don’t want to run out. We made it from Buffalo to Newark (NY) with fuel to spare on our 50-gallon diesel tank. There we dumped in 3 or 4 6-gallon jugs and took them and refilled them. We filled our tanks again at the Schenectady Yacht Club, not far from the end of the canal. We were quite surprised at the lack of speeders on the canal. For the local population, apparently the speed limit and the restrictions on the canal are a normal way of life and they willingly accept it. New York’s canals are as much a part of their summer water recreation system as are the lakes and rivers anywhere else and weekend traffic can be considerable. But since everything moves so slowly, it’s easy to take it all in stride.

The westernmost stretch of the canal from Tonawanda to Three Rivers (near Syracuse), where the Oswego Canal joins in, is characterized by a number of low, lift bridges. These curious bridges are only 2 feet or so above the surface of the water when in the down position and are run by operators known as bridgetenders. When elevated by the bridge operator these bridges still provide a clearance of only about 15 feet, which makes for a serious limitation on vessel clearance above the water surface. Since we were a sailboat with our mast unstepped we had no VHF antenna and therefore could not use our onboard VHF radio. Thankfully we carried a handheld VHF which was sufficient to allow us to contact bridgetenders and lockmasters along the way (always on channel 13). Some of the bridgetenders would operate multiple bridges which were anywhere from a few blocks to a few miles apart along the canal. They would lift the bridge and let us through and then lower it again. Then they would get into a car and drive to the next bridge and repeat the procedure there (Amazingly they are doing this for boaters going in BOTH directions).  Later in the day, when we would pass through a lock or a bridge, the tender would often inquire as to how far we were intending to go before stopping for the night and would radio or call that information on to the next tender.  So long as you are not in a great hurry, we found the system to work quite well and the trip is most enjoyable! From Three Rivers onward, the bridges are fixed and the controlling clearance is higher, more like 20 feet. Lockmasters and bridgetenders, almost without exception, were extremely cooperative, friendly, and helpful. If we were concerned about anything they were quick to respond and tried to help whenever possible.

We always carried a road atlas aboard our boat while we were cruising in the U.S and we found it very useful while doing the canal for keeping track of our location – sort of a “big picture” aid to navigation. Although we did have a canal chartbook for

the easternmost 2/3 of the canal, we found it to be unnecessary and never used it. We did find a really good canal map along the way that was easily as good as the chartbook and it was free. We found the most important part of navigating to be watching our daymarkers.

On our way up the Tonawanda River and the entrance to the Erie Canal we stopped at Wardell Brothers Boat Yard in Tonawanda where we planned to unrig the boat and have the mast unstepped. This was a completely new adventure for us. I had very little idea what to expect when we got there. One of the Wardell boys pointed us at a stack of jumbled up wooden assemblies that had obviously been collecting in a heap for probably years and told us to take what we needed (for free!) and we were on our own, creating our own, homemade mast supports. While we were unrigging we measured all of the shrouds and stays so that we could order new replacement wire along the way. Wardell’s Boat Yard did not look like much (Actually, it looked like a dump. We were hopeful that it wouldn’t cave in while we were there!), but Dennis Wardell, the owner, knew his stuff and when we were ready to take down the mast he pulled it off without a hitch. He climbed around high above the deck like a monkey in a tree on our unsupported mast while setting his crane cables. He does good work. Look for the mast crane on the east (port) side of the Tonawanda River. It was here that we picked up a copy of the Skipper Bob guide to the New York State Canal System.

When we were there, Tonawanda was having its annual “Canal Days” festival, and Wardell’s was the only tie-up spot available in the entire town. We were glad we had called well in advance. What a bargain when we spent a total of about $120 for the entire procedure, including dockage – a veritable steal. The supports we built were sturdy and did a fine job of holding the mast, one in the bow pulpit, a large X on the stern pulpit, and two smaller supports amidship. We slung our two booms on lines suspended beneath the mast to help clear some of the clutter on deck. We put our sails in bags on the foredeck along with our 6 jerry jugs of fuel. Then, as a finishing touch, we suspended our awning, beneath the mast, above the cockpit. We had one day after another of 90+ degree weather, clear skies, and the sun beating down. Moving along slowly and sheltered from the relief of any breezes, we would have baked without that awning. We used our amidship mainsheet to secure the mast to the deck, and also tied it down securely fore and aft. We were ready to go for it. That very afternoon we headed off for the canal entrance.