The
first 5 locks of the Erie Canal are called “the Flight of Five” as they are
very close together. As you exit one,
you can see then next one in front of you.
The lift was 30 feet each so they have lines hanging over the side for
you to grab and hang on to. I went up on
the bow and caught the first line and Dad was stationed at the stern, grabbing
the second. Captain Randy used the bow
thruster to keep us off the wall or from drifting towards the opposite wall. These locks are narrower than we are used
to - only 44 feet wide. Lock 2 went smoothly, but we had
more trouble at Lock 3. The lock takes
the boat up above the side wall and the Captain wanted me to lower the fender
at the bow to better protect it at the top.
We had more turbulence in Lock 3 and it was pushing the rub rail into
the wall. I snatched up the boat hook
and used one hand to keep us off the wall and one to hold the line. Captain Randy had to work the thruster more
and my Dad was also trying to keep us off.
This was a lot more work and nerve-wracking as well. We kept the large fender low at the bow, but
stacked another smaller one above it, covering the rub rail. We did the same at mid-ship. Between this and Captain Randy being more
aware of the turbulence, we handled the other 4 locks that day without a hitch! We were through “the Flight of Five” by 12:50
pm and were about 175 feet above the Hudson.
We
were now in the Mohawk River, which forms part of the modern day canal
system. We next passed under two “guard
gates,” flood gates that can be opened
or closed to control the flow of water.
These were open for us. There is
some housing both at the water’s edge and up on the cliffs. At Cohoes, NY, we pass Blaine’s Bay Marina
and a red arching bridge. At this point
we entered the Vischer’s Ferry Nature Preserve.
We passed a sailboat with it's mast down. All sailboats entering the Erie Canal have to take their masts down due to low bridges. At 2:15 pm we were at Lock 7 and out by 2:30 pm. Just as we finished removing all the fenders,
it started to rain, but the rain only lasted a short time.
We
had 3.5 miles to go to the Schenectady Yacht Club, our stopping place for the
night. Captain Randy had called them
earlier and the dockmaster told us that there was a search and rescue operation
underway. He called them on the radio as
we got close and we were told the operation was still going on and the only place
he had for us was on the fuel dock where the Saratoga County Sheriff’s Police
had their dive boats. Apparently the
dockmaster cleared it with the Sheriff for us to dock near their boats, so we
tied up at 3:15pm. We eyed the county boats circling the area by
the bridge in front of us and the squad cars in the parking lot, wondering what
was going on. The rain had stopped by
now and we questioned the dockmaster when we checked in. He told us that a man had jumped off the
bridge and was presumed drowned, so there were divers searching for his body. His wife was on the outside deck, watching
and waiting. By about 5:30 pm, the boats
were in and the team had left without finding anything.
The
sun was back out and we took a walk around the marina and boatyard. The yacht club had a covered outdoor facility
they called the Pole Barn, complete with a commercial stove, refrigerator, coolers
and picnic tables. Clearly they had some
fun parties out here. The club also had
an indoor facility with a bar, dining area and galley. The door was open so we went in to look
around. A member and his wife came in behind us and
gave us some history and information. The
building had been there since the original canal was operating and housed the
M. Travis General Store. It carried feed
for the mules and general merchandise. An aqueduct ran right in front of the
building. (When the Erie Canal was built
in 1825, aqueducts were built over the Mohawk River to carry the barges. The river was not used as part of the canal
because it was too wide.) Pictures of
the building and grounds are on the club’s walls. We walked to a back water channel to see the club's boat lift that uses part of one of the original locks on the canal to haul boats out of the water.
The
yacht club has no liquor license so the bottles behind the bar all belong to
members. There are about 67 boats in the
marina and most of the owners are members.
There is no regular food service.
The member also told us that the onsite pool was not licensed and so
closed, but we later saw a few people using it.
We walked the dock back to our boat and took a few pictures of it. The fuel dock was now empty and we had a
clear shot.
Town
was too far to walk to, so we ordered Chinese food for delivery. We were just finishing up when I saw a Sheriff’s
deputy and the dockmaster behind the boat.
I went out to the back deck and was told that we might need to move our
boat. I noticed that a number of squad
cars were back in the parking lot behind him.
He said, “depending on what happens, you might need to move”. I told
him that we would be on the boat and to let us know. It was now about 7:30 pm and all 3 of us sat
in the upper helm area to see what was going on.
A
small dinghy was tied to the dock several yards away from us – about where we
had taken our pictures earlier. A man
wearing a white shirt, tie, and rubber gloves climbed into the boat and was
pulling on some lines at the stern. We
could see something floating at the end of the lines: yes, the body! Over the next couple hours, we watched the coroner
and EMS truck arrive. The EMS workers
pulled the body out of the water on a stretcher and then placed it into a body
bag. The body was then lifted to a gurney
and taken away. Evidently a boater saw
the body, tied it to his dinghy, and brought it to the fuel dock. WOW – I felt like I was backstage of a TV cop
show! It was a very sad occurrence but still
fascinating for us to watch the drama unfold.
After the EMS truck left, the parking lot emptied again and we went
below. It was a very unusual ending to
the day.
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