Well that was a busy day! We left the free wall in Waterford to enter Lock E2 – the start of the Erie Canal – around 9:00 am. The 5 locks at Waterford (E2-E6) are known as the ‘Waterford Flight’ and they lift vessels over 165 feet in 1.5 miles (do the math – that’s about 33 feet per lock.) That’s a long way up! We got a bit of a break from “locking” when we exited lock E6, but still had one more lock to go (lock E7) in Niskayuna, NY before stopping at a marina in Schenectady. We arrived there around 2:00 pm having covered just 17 miles.
We were the first boat to enter the lock and took our position on the starboard side at the front. 5 other boats fit in the lock with us; 3 of us were on the starboard and 4 on the port. There was about 10’ between us (both on the side and front to back). The walls are filthy and you hold onto a grungy line or cable as the lock fills and the boat goes up. The tricky part is keeping the boat in place but off the wall (yes we had out lots of fenders), but we were surprised how much we got pushed around by the flow of the water (it comes in from below the boat and pushed us up against the wall). Gary manned the thrusters from the helm station in the cockpit while holding a line and I held us in place on the bow. After feeling like we were in hand to hand combat with the lines, cables and water flow in E2, we settled in to a far better rhythm in E3-E7.
We were happy to settle into a brand new marina in Schenectady, and celebrate a “safe arrival” with manhattans onboard ‘Coda’ with our 3 other looper boats! Needing to do some work to prepare for a meeting tomorrow, we only had one! Not sure if we’ll hang out here after the meeting or try to press on to Amsterdam (and 3 more locks.) Challenge is the locks close at 5:00 pm. We’ll see! Either way, we are hoping for a different and less turbulent position in the locks tomorrow!
Fun Fact: built in the early 1900’s, the “Waterford Flight” was the greatest lift in the shortest distance on any canal system in the world ….and it still is today! Also – the opening of the Erie Canal was a pivot point in the power shift of America’s greatest cities from Philadelphia to NYC. Why? The Erie Canal/Mohawk/Hudson River combination opened commerce between the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Lakes/interior of North America, right through NYC.
Special thanks to my friend and former Bechtel colleague Jim Henschel for help with some amazing fun facts!
Nancy Hebel
That looks sooo scary but you two seem to be handling it with such grace.