2008 Joanne retired from school teaching, Pete’s retired but doesn’t know it yet -(residential building industry).
2009 Pete’s daughter Erika and husband Charles gave us a beautiful granddaughter Lucienne (Lucie)- (they live on a 44’ sloop in Stamford Harbor- more boat people)
Joanne’s father, Tony Mistretta, passed away March 4-hence the Tony-M named in his memory. Our kids are all grown up and doing well, life- long friends are moving out of town and the economy’s in the toilet but we have our health. It just so happens Pete was having one of the best fresh water fishing seasons ever and Joanne has the quilting thing down pat and is just loving it. What more do we need, right? Well, like I said, we have our health; we are a little bored; we have to do something!
Let’s take a look at the Bucket List. Americas Great Loop trip is near the top- Perfect!
The boat we own now is a Mako, 19 ½’, dual consol, bow rider, 130 Honda 4-stroke, trolling motor with most of the bells. Without a doubt it’s the best lake & bay boat we have ever owned but not worthy for us on this trip. Remember we are a little older these days and the comfort thingy is a little higher on the list. So we needed to buy a boat. God, we just love the boat buying stuff- another hole in the water to throw money into. What could be better than that, right?
We did a lot of reading from people who were doing and have done the loop (more information than is needed if you look long enough) and decided a trawler was the best fit and began our search for “The Boat”.
We had a budget, looked at the .com’s and started to rattle all the brokers for a look at the different manufactures and models. Finally we came across these Mainship boats- not a big price tag, queen island berth, stall shower, guest cabin, refrigerator & propane stove, aft cockpit, transom door, huge swim platform, nice wide decks with plenty of holds so the first mate or the dog doesn’t wind up in the drink, stairs to the upper bridge. This type is the one. What more do we need, right?
The economy being what it was we had plenty to look at from Maryland to Maine in any year and color. Let me tell you there are some tragedies out there – we left no stone unturned. Did some more reading and found this couple’s blog, “ M/V Tom-Kat Trawler” that completed the loop in 08 in a Mainship Trawler and it was for sale. Holy smokes! They have boats in Rochester, NY? We never thought to look in that direction- Yachtworld.com, here we come and there it is- a 1999, 300 hp Caterpillar, with a very nice inventory, fresh water boat, looks ok in the pictures, 5+ hours away, what the hell- the Prius gets 46+ mpg.
9/09 We drove to Rochester and found the M/V Tom-Kat, a 1999 Mainship trawler 350, absolutely minted in the best condition of any boat we had looked at. We spent about 3 hours with flashlight and mirror to discover it was impeccably clean with every bell and whistle we wanted and a couple more thrown in. It was close to the top with recent electronics, a complete ship’s log, with so much inventory it was too much to comprehend at the time. We had been on many copies of this boat and all the rest were scows compared to Tom-Kat, even under the shrink wrap.
Along came Bob & Sue, owners of Tom-Kat for the past 8 years. They left us a copy of the professional quality CD they made of their loop and we viewed at it a couple of times. We are over budget but it appears that the boat really needs nothing so we can shift a little from the outfitting column to the purchase column. We have a deal. The survey was perfect. We were beginning to think the surveyor was working for the broker but we inspected side by side with him and came up with the same results. The sea trial went off better than expected with everything performed flawlessly.
Little did we know we were buying a whole lot more boat than we thought we were getting. We are more than pleased- we are ecstatic over the overall quality and performance of Tom-Kat. Over the years Bob & Sue owned the boat they constantly upgraded and improved on the boat to perfection. Bob was some kind of automotive engineer so when I say this boat is impeccable, I mean you will not find one abandon wire- everything is logical, labeled, harnessed, tied and wrapped, metered and gauged- absolutely perfect. When we first met Bob & Sue we really liked these people; now we love them. Thanks, Bob & Sue, your efforts will make for a safe and enjoyable voyage. It’s going to be near impossible to keep Tony-M in the kind of shape you delivered her in. Thank you.
We kept the name Tom-Kat(after Bob’s and Sue’s son and daughter) for the trip home since we didn’t have any paperwork for Tony-M and Tom-Kat was still on the transom and cabin plaques.
The trip from Rochester, NY to Stratford CT was not without its highs and lows. Our good friend Walter delivered us, our gear, provisions and the dog up to Rochester. We gave him a short ride on L. Ontario under small craft advisory. Pete has been on the lakes many times before and as a seasoned Great Laker, he knows they follow their own rules for seas and wind conditions. The wind blew hard and the waves were coming from all directions. Walter got a short ride on a lumpy lake and then we sent him home with a van load of spares and equipment not needed for this leg. Thanks, Walt. Good friends like him are hard to come by…
The next day is more of the same- the wind was blowing 10-14, gusting 20s with small craft advisory, just a wee bit snotty out but we came here to deliver a boat so we got started. Rochester Harbor has a one of a kind railway swing bridge, permanently in the open position, right in the middle of the harbor. There haven’t been any rails for some time now. Seems like some wealthy smartass should make this thing into a bar, nightclub or music hall banquet joint- bring in a couple of slot machines and you have a winner.
Our first day’s journey was 20+ miles to Sodus Bay. With a following sea, Joanne was getting green, Tony-M is just loving it, the auto pilot is up to the test, the dog is thinking about abandoning us all together and Pete’s whooping it up saying something to the nature of, “Good test”, “Check it out”, “We will be coming up on your turn shortly”. Not soon enough for two of the three on board.
Finally we are in the calm of Sodus Bay- a good size body of water with lots of waterfront homes and lots and lots of weeds. Sodus Bay was the home port for Tom-Kat so Bob & Sue gave us a tip on where to drop the hook. Found a nice quiet cove tucked behind some island in the north east corner where the bass fishermen were working the area but all for practice as nothing was biting today.
Quiet first night on a strange anchor as the wind piped down-great for a good night’s rest.
NOAA weather radio must be in a skip-it’s the same forecast as yesterday and the day before. We are headed for Port Oswego.
“Hey, Pete, how come we are the only ones out here both yesterday and today?’
“Well, Josey, all the other people in the world just don’t know how to adjust the fun-dial. Aren’t we having fun yet?”
With Sodus Bay and Little Sodus behind us, Port Oswego has a stack on the power plant that we finally eyeball and, thank you, Jesus, we are finally in the calm of Port Oswego.
Needing Terra Firma for a while, Pete was voted off the boat to explore Fort Oswego. Fort Oswego is defiantly worth a visit. We killed a couple of hours there trying to envision what it must have been like for the Colonials to occupy these digs. Buddy was welcome and we made the best of it for the remainder of the afternoon.
We tied up to the south wall and for a $10 donation we got power for the night. Tony-M can probably go hours, days, maybe even weeks before either running out of battery power but we will have to find that out another day.
Tomorrow we begin the locking and river running on calm waters, what more could we ask for? Good weather maybe, would be nice, how about a chart book? We have electronics up the kazoo but we need paper to touch and turn so it’s off to the marine shop for our new “bible”.
Good morning Lock 8 Lockmaster, M/V Tom-Kat requesting south bound passage.
We entered lock 8 and dug out the boat hooks Bob had fabricated for conquering in the locks. They are about 5’ long x 1” diameter with an 8” black nylon cleat bolted to one end. They were perfect, long enough to reach, had a way to hook stuff, stout enough for a good fend-off, light weight easy to handle and disposable if need be. Again, thank you, Bob!
Pete has been at the helm of many boats. It’s always the same. When you are in open water everybody can be a pro (almost everybody). When you enter harbors and restricted waters is where you begin to realize the different handling characteristics of what you are attempting to control. Tom-Kat was predictable- the rudder is small by trawler standards but responded well when power was on. When coasting she had no steerage response; when you drop her in reverse she has a deliberate and dependable walk to starboard. Nothing wrong with an educated boat- use it to your advantage.
At idle Tom-Kat does about 4 to 5 knots, a little high for coming into a lock’s steel and concrete 350’long x 44’ wide walls. The closer you get to immovable objects, the more acute the handling characteristics appear. Pete lined up Tom-Kat up with the lock (a Hail Mary is good just about now), got her cores steadied up, glided inside about 3’ to 4’ away from the wall, held his breath, gave little blasts against the rudder to correct, and10’ before where he wanted to land up against the wall, he dropped her into reverse and bingo, she glided to a halt and slides to starboard. Grab your lock line and you’re done. We looked like pros- remember, we have been here, done that before but the first time is a rush!
Locking up is tougher that locking down due to the turbulence of the flooding water coming into the bottom of the lock. If you are not ready for it, it can be unpleasant. We are ready and we slithered our way up. The sides or lock walls are concrete, some quite old, and most are covered with slime. If you don’t have to have contact with the wall, then don’t. It’s gooey and messy and rubber gloves become your best friends.
Bob’s poles work well and we are fairly clean when we arrive on top. It seems like the last foot of water takes the longest to equalize. Finally we can hear the doors opening. As we bid the lockmaster farewell and thank him for the ride up, he radios ahead to lock 7. They are expecting us and will be ready. We don’t dare arrive early since they know the exact minutes from lock 8 to 7, lock 7 to 6 and so on. There are speed limits and no wake areas in most of the canal system so we need to take our time.
We cleared lock 7, clear lock 6,- we are getting good at this-, a short distance to lock 5, and finally the sun came out. It’s getting nice for a change with calm waters and sun on our faces. Is there any way we can do this for the rest of our lives??
We make it to the end of the Oswego canal, just past lock 1 in Phoenix late in the afternoon and tied up to their town wall with power, water and free pump-out ( the pump-out was free but didn’t work, but it was free just the same). Phoenix is a nice place with a quiet, beautiful park for us to enjoy. We went ashore for a leg stretch( Buddy was definitely happy about that), chatted with some locals and returned for a toddy before dinner. Sitting on your boat, in a park, surrounded by nature. What could possibly be wrong with this??
Our next day was relatively simple, 2 miles left on the Oswego canal to the intersection at Three Rivers, bear east on the Erie canal for 6+ miles to lock E-23, through lock 23 and hold up in Brewerton. Pete wanted to visit a boat yard in Brewerton called Ess-Kay Yards to look at their library. It turns out this is an outstanding marina with an extensive book/chart selection and a friendly, helpful staff.
Hanging back at the Brewerton wall, conversing with the locals, we find out fishing is what they do here-(Drowning bait, and polishing that cigar the wife won’t let them smoke within shouting distance from the house). Along came this sloop with their masts tied to the deck, vulnerable at both ends. One end has all these wind instruments and antennas hanging and the other has all the wiring to support the stuff up top- very sensitive equipment hanging way out past the deck on both ends. They circled around a few times, threw a hairy eyeball on our wall, approach it admirably as we dropped their lines on some cleats.
Welcome, Jon and Arlene and their little dogs, Sarah and Blue, hailing from Little Sodus Bay aboard S/V Kasidah, an Ericson 36-C, headed south to parts unknown. Jon and Pete have the same story- he is an electrical contractor in a non existing housing industry, sold their house, moved onto the boat and are not looking back. Good for you Jon & Arlene. They have a blog we have been following, http://www.ericson-36c-kasidah.blogspot.com/. Apparently they will be back in Little Sodus next summer to enrich their cruising kitty. Maybe someday our paths will cross again. They are an inspiration for the rest of us dreamers. By the way, Arlene does a great job on their blog, check it out.
That night after we had met Jon and Arlene, Joanne was reading “Living Aboard” magazine when she came across a feature article, featuring Jon and Arlene! We were talking to celebrities and didn’t even know it! Jon autographed our copy the next day.
The last time we were on Lake Oneida it was really snotty. We were headed west on the SeaPro out of Sylvan Beach in to 20 + 30 winds, 3 to 4’+ chop, really close together. Hey, didn’t we read somewhere that this was only a lake? Well, the scene goes like this. We are having a couple of toddies at the water side as a lot of boaters are hanging around for the conditions to moderate for a dash across the lake, good old Pete says, “Ain’t no such thing on a little lake like this as big seas”. He was right- it helps a lot if you have the right kind of boat; it helps a lot with liquid courage or stupidity and it helps a lot if you are good at the boat handling part. It takes at least two of the three to make it.
When we started out there were about 15 maybe 20 power boats ranging from 18 to 28+ feet. Within 100 yards half of them turned and in less than ¼ mile we were alone- only one person made it all the way, yup it was Pete- he had all three qualifications necessary and he did them well…we are here to prove it.
This time in 2009 Lake Oneida was like glass. We had a little more boat traffic now with a 5 – 8 miles visibility each way. Sylvan Beach was deserted so we watered Buddy, grabbed a takeaway for lunch and humped it back to the boat. The last time we were here it was hopping. Today, a root canal was more fun- timing is everything.
Every one of the locks and lock areas are state parks, most have walls to tie-up on, most have picnic areas, some have camping. Every single lock area we visited was park- like with accommodating lock masters, providing us with safe haven.
Every town and village has an old terminal or town park with a dock. Always not far away is a general store, bar/restaurant, maybe even a Picky-Icky or super something, a laundromat and maybe even a library. There is a lot of history in and around these hills and valleys for the taking. One day when we have more time we will have to return and dig in a little more.
We were having a ball, weather’s great, dry clear air out of the Northwest. We agreed to stop at the wall west of lock 11, Amsterdam NY so we can water Buddy, stretch our muscles
and at the same time put in one of our sightseeing tours, visiting an old canal site before we stir up some lunch and then leave. Good plan, yes??
By the time we finished with all that, the wind had picked up a bit. It was now blowing at maybe 15-20mph, strong enough to make white caps on the river and have us a little pinned on the wall. We freed our lines and the lock master gave us the light green. Pete told Joanne to make sure to make a turn around the cleat- the wind was piping up and the purchase power of one turn was needed.
“Aye, aye, Captain.” We had this locking stuff nailed, right?
We were now finally locking down (We enter the lock with the water high and are lowered down) so when we pulled into the lock we were exposed above the concrete walls. We were also catching a little tunnel effect between the lock house and the superstructure of the dam. (This one looked like it would be hairy). Pete nailed the corner of the transom at the lock line; Joanne had no problem picking up the line and made a turn on the cleat. Pete thrusted the bow over and captures a lock line at the bow. The lines became tight and Joanne began to lose her advantage. Pete watched the whole maneuver unfold before his eyes, not knowing if he should drop his line and hopefully rescue hers or stay on his station and wait for Tom-Kat to make a 180 inside the lock and come up into the wind on his line. Yup, that’s the one, stand pat and bring her under control on the port side when she come into the wind and arrest her before she reaches the lock doors. Easy right??
Well, there was another choice we hadn’t thought of- at the end of all the lock lines there is either a big greasy knot, block of wood or block of hard rubber, this one was the rubber variety. Joanne literally came to the end of her rope- the rubber block came up and married into the cleat, pinching her hand between the cleat and lock line, oh sh.., that hurt. Sure enough, she let out a scream, Tom-Kat bounced off the stern line enough for Joanne to recover her hand from under the line. Tom-Kat came up on the block and is now held fast there. The bow swung in and kissed the lock wall but we held safe for the moment. Pete scrambled to the stern, took a snapshot triage,(pretty far from any vitals), recovered a couple feet of line and made us fast on the cleat, returned to Joanne for a little better survey and discovered we are losing altitude in the lock. Oh sh.., the lock master had no clue we were having trouble here.
On the bright side, when descending in a lock you have rather calm conditions, no water turbulence and the lower you get the less wind effect you have. We were down and the lock doors opened. We cast off and put out into the middle of the river to drift and take a better look at Joanne’s wing. We got her glove off and found no blood but decent blunt trauma. We knew we were going to need an x-ray as she began to feel uncomfortable.
About a mile down stream we found a dock, Riverlink Park,- a new dock, bright red and full of cleats just waiting for us to land. Pete was having his hands full with the wind and Joanne’s was forbidden to leave the cabin. After a couple of tries, the chef/owner from the Riverlink restaurant came to the rescue and dropped our line on a cleat for us. We were fast to the dock and breathed a sigh of relief, or at least one of us did.
One would think with all those powerful navitronics on board, there would be a data base for emergencies and transportation. No such luck. Pete brought along our little Garmin Nuvi 255 that we had been using to find stores, restaurants, local attractions and the like. He broke it out, heated it up and hit the hospital file to find Amsterdam’s ER 3.6 miles away- too far to walk with an unhappy hand. He hit the Transportations file and found a taxi .5 miles with phone #,(“We will be there in 10- more like 30). It was a short ride to the ER where an x-ray confirmed the deformity is legit-a broken long bone in hand. We went through the whole regiment of information, yup, we have an orthopedic guy in CT that Pete has been personally responsible for putting his kids through college single handed. We were now guarded, stabilized, medicated just in case and back on board.
Just our luck- this place Riverlink is one of those riverfront revitalization projects- beautiful park, class A restaurant with outdoor dining all focused on the riverfront which now had nice clean white boat tied up for ambiance. This was their last weekend serving meals and the place was filled with the mayor and other local dignitaries. The staff rolled out the red carpet for us- these guys really cared. They told us we could stay as long as we needed at no charge. Pete walked up to the restaurant, put in an order for 2 steaks, and came back with all the silver and linen, two wonderful salads and gorgeous NY strips. After settling up with the chef, adding some heavy praise, he jumped on the cell looking for crew for the rest of our journey..
Joanne is up and swinging, fed and ship shape- a good sign. There was nobody at Riverlink to bid farewell so we replaced the shower key in its secrete hiding place and we were off to try three locks using three hands instead of four. We had about 3 miles to our next lock E-10 but our M/O would be different now. Joanne had the bow and Pete’s station was the stern. Pete now had to be in two places at once- piece of cake.
We nailed it and meet up with Tom & Cheryl. They have never been through a lock before and with this many hands the process went like clockwork. They also had not been in river/canal system and was kind of like being in an easy chair compared to L I Sound waters. The sun was shining… What more could we ask for?
Waterford is an interesting place. It is a major intersection for the Mohawk and Hudson Rivers and offers 5 locks, E-6 / E-2 in less that ½ mile (the Fleet of Five they call it), causing a major elevation change with a major port (Waterford) at the bottom. The free floating dock was full but there was space on the wall for us to tie up for the night. The top of the wall is 7’ off the water and our bridge deck is 7’ off the water. Mint.
Before we left for Rochester, Pete built a ramp/gangplank for Buddy to go between the docks and walls to the boat. Buddy had a natural instinct for it and being 7’ in the air did not bother him one bit. He ran up and down it as if he was flat on the ground! There were lots of yachters here, all heading south and we rendezvoused with S/V Kasidah again. Just around the corner on the Hudson they were able to step their mast again and have their decks clear.
The last lock we had was the Troy Lock. We believe this lock is not part of the Erie system but is called the Government Lock. It is considerably larger than the other locks on the Erie. It is the first one you arrive at going north and the last going south. For the first time in our voyage we shared the lock with six other boats for the ride down. Everything after the Government Lock is tidal with a little brine. The further south we traveled the more salt we picked up.
The middle-upper, middle and middle-lower Hudson are beautiful with sweeping estates with granite cliffs that plunge straight into the water-it’s no wonder the Vanderbilt’s and Rockefellers’ pitched their camps here.
We reach the Wicks’ car A, had dinner at the Raccoon Saloon, and Pete & Tom blast off to retrieve car B. After five hours of arduous driving, Cheryl and Tom are off to home in New Jersey. We can’t thank them enough for helping us continue our trip. They are surely great friends-we hope they can join us under better conditions when we do the BIG Loop.
We had made prior arrangements with our N. Carolina pal Buddy, the two- legged Buddy. He has the yachting disease bad and is willing to drive over 10 hours to hitch a ride on the water- yup, he has it bad. There’s nothing worse than a newbie yachtsman in heat for anything afloat. He reaches us at about 23:00 hrs with a bag of cloths and ½ case of wine- this guy is going to get lots of invites.
We had been hearing constant warnings and notices on the VHF. Our president is rattling sabers at the UN building with all the chiefs of the free world. Home Land Security and the Coast Guard are taking no prisoners so the East River is closed, as is Battery Park to Hells Gate from 08:00 hrs to whenever they feel like lifting the restriction.
The original plan was to put us around NY Harbor and drop the hook behind Liberty Island for the night. One good day will put us in Stamford Harbor for dinner with my daughter Erika, Charles and our new granddaughter Lucie. S/V Ambition, Kalik - 44 http://www.svambition.com/ With the East River closed, this means that if we do NY harbor and Liberty Park we will have to button hook back up the Hudson to the Harlem River, down the Harlem to Hell’s Gate on the East River and east into the reaches western LI Sound. City Island would a real stretch in a day. I don’t want to have to explain to the Coast Guard or Home Land why the paperwork doesn’t match-up.
Plan B – Get an early start, take the tide down to the Harlem R., traverse the Harlem and the tide will change and carry us up the remainder of the East R. into the Sound and Stamford. It’s a good haul but doable.
We broke Joanne’s hand in Amsterdam; we lamed Buddy in Tappan Zee when he stepped off the dock onto a floating island of seaweed. Pete and Bud fished Buddy out of the drink and he had a definite limp thereafter and the crew was wondering, who would be next. Yup, plan B was looking better and better.
Harlem River is the pits for yachting with about a thousand bridges, 24’ maximum air draft, cardboard condominiums along the banks, submerged pilings the entire length, and construction on every other span gagging the waterway down to less than 50’. We have been here before but believe it or not the water was cleaner now; it doesn’t appear you can walk on it.
Harlem River terminates on the East River at Hells Gate. When we get there, the Coasties are waiting, two 30’ ribs with 50’s mounted of the foredeck, triple outboards, one guardsman on the trigger, two flankers with full auto just itching to spray some lead. Two more 44’s were down the brook about ¼ mile at the ready.
“East River command, this is M/V Tom-Kat, Mainship 350 exiting east end Harlem River. Over.”
“M/V Tom-Kat, this is East River command. We have been waiting for you all day. What are your intentions? Over.”
“East River command, we request entrance into the East River at Hell’s Gate, turning easterly into Long Island Sound. Final destination today is Stamford Harbor. Over.
Long wait. “M/V Tom-Kat, you have permission to make way into the river. Put island dead ahead on your starboard, make way for center channel. Make hast existing area, over.”
“East River command, this is M/V Tom-Kat. We read you loud and clear. We will pass behind the island, make for center channel and exit area, M/V Tom-Kat standing by command channel, over & out.”
Our next stop was Stamford Harbor where we anchored for the night. Erika, Charles and eight- month old Lucienne dinghied out to have dinner with us. It was so good to see them and spend time with them.
