Aisling goes Looping

It’s hard to imagine that climate change is not a thing given the heat this summer. Our experience from Montreal to our new slip in Warwick RI has been nothing short of exhausting given the heat and humidity. Our preferred routine is to boat early, have lunch and then do a bit of sightseeing/provisioning. This year we have found that by the time we have secured the boat in a new location, it’s just too hot to be walking around in the sun. So we close the curtains, turn on the AC and fans, and limit exertion to a minimum just to remain comfortable. Not really what we had in mind… Thus we have chosen to spend August in the comfort of our air conditioned home and cooling pool in Woodstock.

There have been a few moments when I thought we might not survive the heat. Docked at a slip in Port Henry, NY on Lake Champlain, Google Maps showed the route to groceries to be .3 miles. Being at water level, you know that every town is a walk up hill…. So we started walking and before too long realized that mileage calculation was very wrong. But we trudged up the hill and discovered that the ‘groceries’ were at a Stewarts Shop Super Store. For those unfamiliar with that store, think 7/11, WaWa or Cumberland Farms. The closest ‘real’ supermarket is 30 miles away and that is a Walmart!!! A true food desert.

Round trip, and yes the way back was mostly downhill, turned out to be 1.75 miles. We arrived back at the marina , sweaty and tired, lacking any food, to the question of amazement from the locals ‘you walked to town!!!!’, we could have driven you…… 😉 The following day after an enjoyable afternoon and evening with friends Flasch and Ed, we headed to the Champlain Canal and the Hudson River south to NYC.

The Hudson is a beautiful river. Rural settings, The Palisades, West Point, the bridges, recreational and commercial activity, wildly rolling sometimes and smooth as a lake in other locations, miles wide in places and few hundred yards in others. Hopefully these pic’s help provide an impression;

Ours has not been a traditional Great Loop though we have experienced what many refer to as the most beautiful parts of the Great Loop. It’s hard to imagine that we will retrace our steps and return to the loop. Our short term plan is a Block Island/Rhode Island Sound loop (Block Island, Nantucket, Marthas Vineyard, Cuttyhunk….) in September. Next year we intend to do either the Maine Coast or the Chesapeake Bay for another 2 month voyage.

It has been a wonderful voyage this year, but we are both happy to be home before the next heat wave. Which just happens to be today!

I have to get this off my chest. I found modern residential architecture in Canada to be a refreshingly unique typology. These photographs from the river represent various ages of modern architecture that captures the river views through modern design from single family homes to tree houses and boat houses. Fun stuff!

Once we left Montreal, we traveled northeast on the mighty Saint Lawrence River to an “off the beaten path” local marina outside of Sorel, Quebec, our next turning point. Lovely lowland country and happy folk who enjoyed disco music. Turning south past the iron and titanium production plant in Sorel, we entered the Richelieu River passing under historic bridges and fields of wildflowers. We had envisioned this part of the journey through French settled Quebec as being a cruise through the rivers of France. It truly felt that way. The dominant feature in every village is the prominently placed stone church with tin coated copper spires of designs unique to each local. The winding and wide Richelieu River shallowed in Chambly, QC requiring the construction of a flight of locks to serve military purposes related to the defense of the French occupation, including the beautifully restored Fort Chambly. The restoration is remarkable and the exhibits are engagingly presented.

We enjoyed a weather day on the wall at the top of the Chambly flight of three, inviting the newlyweds in their 24 foot skiff aboard for Sunday brunch. From Maine, the young couple had all types of sea stories having graduated from Maine Maritime Academy, and were completing the Triangle Loop in two weeks (it has taken us 2 years!)

The cruise through the Chambly Canal into Lake Champlain took us through many picturesque towns, locks and vistas. This leg was most memorable for not only the scenery, but for Marty and my attempts to speak French!

For Loopers, ‘Crossing your wake’ is the mark of having completed THE Great Loop. Had we completed the Loop this year, that place would have been NY Harbor at Lady Liberty. But crossing your wake does complete other loops as well and today we reached a milestone. The Great Loop is not a single well defined path. In fact it includes a number of tangential and alternate opportunities. Given our situation this year, we were able to add to our adventure last year and complete what is referred to as The Triangle Loop. That triangle is The Erie Canal from Waterford, NY to the Oswego Canal, north across Lake Ontario to Kingston, ON, up the Rideau Canal to Ottawa, down the Ottawa River to Montreal, further east on the St Lawrence to Sorel, QC and south on the Richelieu river to the Chambly Canal, into Lake Champlain and south to the Champlain Canal to……. well Waterford, NY !!!!! OK, thats probably hard to visualize so here is the a graphic depiction;

This evening/Happy Hour, we toast our G and T’s to this mini loop accomplishment and look back at what has been an amazing journey. We do this with 97 degree sweltering sun beating down on our trying to keep up air conditioners. With 20 or so other boats on the Waterford wall, all avoiding the normal and customary interaction between boaters ( know as docktails) given the heat.

For those considering this loop, the Rideau Canal is not to be missed. Gorgeous, steeped in history, kept in historically appropriate condition. Just a delight. You can do this canal via a boat service named Le Boat which is basically no mariner knowledge bumper boats for hire. Ottawa, with government buildings and museums is a great destination by boat or car. Montreal is a first class European city just a half a day drive from NY or Boston and well worth the time. The entire loop is loaded with history I did not know and forts/battles I never understood. All very interesting in understanding how we as a nation came to be.

Whats next is a bit of a mini sprint back home down the Hudson to the East River, across Long Island Sound to… well as of right now, I don’t know where we will end up. You see in the age of Covid, many have bought boats to be able to recreate with their families in some isolation and they all need a place to dock their boat. Thus as I have been searching for a slip for Aisling, at this point I have no dock secured. I am confident something will emerge and we will remain flexible about our needs and location.

Whats next you ask? Our plan is to get the gardens in Woodstock back under control in August as well as attend to some Aisling repairs. Once the kiddies go back to school in September, we plan a Block Island, Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, Cuttyhunk…. mini loop, close to home and in the cool (hopefully) of an early Fall. October brings some excellent fishing and I suspect Macks and I will be actively pursuing some Striper and Tautog.

Marty and I are extremely safety conscious, at least we think we are. We have all kinds of live saving equipment on board and perform safety checks every year. Even so, every step you take can make a difference, hence a broken toe and multiple bruises from walking into immovable boat objects like deck cleats.

Anyway, two interesting things happened yesterday that made us feel good about our vigilance.

Upon our entrance to Burlington Harbor Marina, a small Coast Guard patrol boat came storming out of the Burlington Coast Guard Station headed directly at us. The craft slowed, the blue lights flashed, and they approached us from the stern. Nice (cute) young gentlemen. “Have you ever been boarded by the Coast Guard?” “No!” “Routine safety check.” “OK!” It didn’t take long. The nice young man asked for our documentation and Marty’s drivers license (?). He was from Connecticut too! They did not board the vessel, but reviewed the documentation and the safety gear that was visually accessible, and gave us a new Coast Guard safety signoff certificate. Funny thing is that last year when we were in Burlington at the same marina, the CG approached us from the dock, came aboard and did their safety check. All good! These are training exercises and we are happy to participate.

Later in the afternoon, long after we were settled, a 34′ Searay boat was docking on an adjacent finger dock. Seemed as if they were under control. I noticed that the gentleman from the boat behind them came out to assist the lady with the lines so we did not rush over. Next time I turn around, she is in the water, having reached too far for the bow line. I ran to get her out of the water (electrical shock in marinas), Marty grabbed the life ring to keep her buoyant; I released the stern line of the boat that had been tied to let the boat free so that it would not crush her; the man from the boat behind ran for a ladder and we assisted her out of the water. Meanwhile, the bow and stern lines were dangling in the water in proximity of tangling in the props (bad thing). Crisis averted! Quick thinking of multiple heads. No one hurt.

Lesson learned again. Take every step carefully.

Several people have noted from our tracks that we are heading south in Lake Champlain. This has led to the question, ‘where the hell are you guys going?’… While The Great Loop remains a goal, we have come to the conclusion that, among other reasons, Caty is only having her first child this November, in Connecticut, and Gram and Gramps (not official names) want to be there (versus Alabama….;-)) So assuming we can find a place to dock in Narragansett Bay, we expect to be home early August at which point we will rest, maintain Aisling, and plan a smaller loop in September of Block Island, Nantucket, Marthas Vineyard, Cuttyhunk and back to Warwick.

Given all we have posted about our trip this year, mostly in confined waterways, at slow speeds, with minimal wind or current, you might get the impression that Aisling is a Canal Queen. Well, Lake Champlain is much more her natural environment and this morning she got to play while we held on for two hours of pitching and rolling. Better today as tomorrow brings 5 ft waves and T-storms. No thank you, we will be snug in a marina in Burlington VT where restaurants and brew pubs line the streets of downtown.

Back in the USA and located at a marina with great internet access, I’ll take this opportunity to upload some hopefully interesting pic’s from roughly Ottawa to Montreal…

(click on the pic’s to see full screen)

We arrived in Montreal on Monday afternoon and immediately realized that our planned 3 night stay would not be enough to fully enjoy this European style city. In our extended five day stay we have walked until we couldn’t take another step and have not scratched the surface of the various neighborhoods and events. Loopers Doug and Dana on Tumbleweed invited us to join them on a private walking tour of Old Town which not only gave us insight into the history and architecture of the city, but also came with French lessons! Provisioning at the Jean Talon Market was a sensory delight. We have taken the opportunity to dine in many fine restaurants including our favorite from a past trip to Montreal, L’orignal. Since Cirque du Soleil originated in Montreal, we felt that we would be remiss if we did not attend the performance of Kooza, which was delightful. The 20 story, La Grande Roue (ferris wheel) beckons, but Lyn has yet to overcome her fear of heights. Perhaps today will be the day!

Today, July 1, is Canada Day which was originally known as Dominion Day, to celebrate the confederation of three separate British colonies (United Canadas, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick) into one British dominion. Upon gaining complete sovereignty from Britain in 1982, the name of the national holiday was changed to Canada Day. We have front row seats to the fireworks to be held on the river this evening! Congratulations Canada!

Our last two locks before Montreal were created for sea going ships up to 800′. We arrived 30 minutes before the posted time for us to pass through the first lock and as advertised on the website found no one to checkin with or confirm timing….. Meanwhile, the electronic sign was telling us the next passage would be at 5:30pm. 7 hours later…. We settled in knowing we were at their mercy and secured at the floating dock with major wind and current directly on our bow. Around noon the loudspeaker told us to get ready…. it was a bit like Big Brother speaking to us. But dutifully we started all systems and when the light turned green we proceeded into this huge lock all by ourselves. Midway through we were greeted by two lock operators who handed us 70 ft lines for the trip down the 60 ft lock.

The same scenario developed for the next lock, St. Lamberts, which is the time lapse above. This lock was a piece of cake at only 16 ft. To our surprise the same two lock operators handed us the lines though we were now 1 hour away from the first lock (by boat not sure how long by car and they did mention they had time for lunch….).

It’s a bit hard to see in this video, but once we got out into the current of the St. Lawrence and turned upbound (river speak for up river), we knew we would encounter a stiff current. Among a few other locations, this was the reason we decided to get a twin engine boat with plenty of horsepower. The current has been known to be 10 knots and was recently reported as 6 knots. Typically we go 8 knot which means you are only making 2 knots of progress. We recorded 5.2 knot current. Given that and a 25 mph gusting wind in our face (seems that is always the case….), we were pleased with our choice and Aisling was more than up to the challenge. The odd thing is as soon as you get close to the yacht club, the current drops to zero requiring the boat to go from flat out to idle speed in a heartbeat.