Waterford, NY wall, October 1, 2011

A blustery, freezing cold miserable day. By the way, we have been cold since we started. We actually missed our weather window about 4 days before we left, and now it feels like winter. The morning started out drizzly and 45 degrees.

The wind picked up and with the current we were doing 9 knots. The water is muddy and about 2 feet higher than normal. We'd get into the locks and the wind would hit the boat since we were at the top of the lock going down, Lock 8 being the highest point. I was at the helm and Ken would grab a line midship and wrestle control until I could take that line, then he'd grab a bowline and we'd exchange lines, he, literally having to sit down and brace his feet against the cockpit side to hold it, finally able to cleat the line until the lock was closed and the water was released. Once going down, we were more sheltered and okay.

We could have taken a break and waited for better weather, which would have been the smart thing to do, but we opted to continue and fought the next few locks until Waterford.

In Waterford, which is usually a rip roaring place full of boats from the Erie Canal, boats rafting off each other, people milling around, etc, we were shocked to see only 1 other boat and the place looked dead. It was dead. Aug 31st the whole place flooded and we could see damage to houses 2 streets up from the water. The office was closed because it had been flooded; there was no clean water or electricity. However, there were docks to tie to and a bathroom open. And we walked up to Hannafords for some groceries and a few other boats came in, one a 42' Catalina (their 2nd trip to the Bahamas...the first one in a 32' sailboat. The wife said she wouldn't go again unless they had a bigger boat! Hmmm....), another a trawler from Vermont on their way to the Caribbean, and another trawler that hit an obstacle in the Hudson that bent their propeller and they were having it hauled out.

It was so cold we dressed in long underware (thanks, girls, wonderful stuff they're made of!) and foulies. We cooked on the stove which brought the temperature up to 50 degrees inside the boat, and it dropped down to 45 by morning. Lots of condensation on all the ports and hatches.