July 10th 2016
Fort Edward, NY
After a night of heavy rain, I awoke in Fort Ann, NY to just a light drizzle. My Friend Kristin would be joining me for breakfast, or rather, taking me out to breakfast in town so there was no rush to pack up just yet and the weather report called for clearing skies.
We enjoyed a wonderful breakfast in the town of Fort Ann and then headed back to the Lock where I was camped and the sun broke out. Instantly it was hot, really hot! I took this opportunity to dry everything off and do a little repacking as I was looking for a missing charger cable for my back up battery supply. We managed to get everything dried off under full sun and packed up. Kristin even dried my gloves and boots, though I tried to tell her it was in vain as they would soon be wet again. I spend all day in wet gloves and boots…and pants, shirt; yes, everything is wet all the time. Either from sweating, in the sun or under rain gear, splashing from waves or getting in and out of the boat along shore. I’m in a constant state of wetness.
Kristin thought it was funny hearing me complain about the rain. Here I am in the water all day, camping and I hate rain. Don’t get me wrong, I love watching it rain from inside, but when camping in the rain, it just sucks. At least that is how I feel about it. I am a Sun person. Rain is a necessary evil. My favorite saying when I am about to get wet due to rain is: I’m going to melt. So if you see me and it’s raining, remember that. I’m melting (said with the voice of the witch from Wizard of Oz)
As we were packing up I got to see my first Tug Boat come through Lock 9 Southbound. It wasn’t pushing anything, but still made a huge wake. I thought to myself, I am sure glad I wasn’t out there with him passing me. Not that I couldn’t handle it though. Perhaps I could have surfed it. Soon after, two boats headed Northbound arrived; a Tug style houseboat, (which are very popular on the Canals) and a sailboat. We chatted a bit while they waited for the lock to fill. They thought I was crazy. It seems to be the general consensus. They wished me luck and headed into the lock.
I said Good Bye to Kristin and launched back into the water. The paddle south was pleasant and a nice stiff Southerly wind was pushing me along, along with the southerly current. My only concern was the strong storms all around me. Watching my Radar on the phone, I saw big storm cells, but they all kept breaking up before hitting the Canal section I was in. A little while later, under full sun, I got a video from Kristin who was now driving in one of those storm cells and it was bad. My luck…good.
Nearing the end of the day, I also arrived at the Hudson River. I still have some locks to pass through, but I am officially in the Hudson now. As I approached Lock 7 I heard a horn toot, a very loud horn. I looked up ahead at the lock and there was a giant barge sitting in it getting lifted. I radioed the Lockmaster. Lock 7 Do you copy? Lock 7 he replied. Let me know when it’s clear to enter. The Lockmaster told me that as soon as the barge passed me, it would be clear. I replied that I was tied up to the old NYS Canal Tug on the bank and he said that is a good spot to stay. The gates opened and the barge was pushed out. It was huge and its massive size made it look like it was inches from me. Truth is, there were feet. Not many feet, but feet. I looked at the size of it and wondered how any boat, other than a kayak, could get past that monster if they met him on the canal.
Passing through the lock and into the Hudson River, I contemplated heading north to a marina for the night or south along the Hudson. I began going south and changed my mind, as it was windy and getting late. I had no idea what lay ahead so I turned around and headed up to the Marina. Paddling north I came across the City Docks for Fort Edward and saw a couple of boats tied up there. There was no low dock or kayak dock so I tied up to the ladder and climbed 8’ up and onto the land.
Up ahead of me was a dog on the bow of a nice sailboat and a couple of people onboard so I went up and introduced myself and asked about camping. They weren’t sure and we didn’t see any signs against so I figured this was a good place to stay for the night. The family, Daniel, Patry their daughter Zoe and dog Lola were headed back to Montreal after a year cruising the islands. They will be putting this 38’ boat up for sale. I asked to see it and they brought me aboard. I could not believe how much headroom was down below. Had to be 7’ at least. What a difference in headroom between a Costal Cruiser and the Offshore boats I had been looking at prior to this trip.
Daniel offered to help me unload so I climbed back down to my kayak and passed up my gear to him. I set up camp and then they invited me over for a drink. We all ended up having dinner together and talking till bedtime. It was wonderful getting to know them and hear their stories from living aboard for a year. Daniel also gave me some files from Sailor Bob’s guide to the ICW which I now have downloaded on my computer. I’m going to have to do some research with this new info now. It will be quite helpful for sure.
Day 9 Done.
Enjoy the pictures and videos and remember, there are lots of videos on the left side (or bottom on smart phones)
