Great Lakes to Buffalo

 

Cruising on a sailboat requires tolerating tons of uncertainties and flexibility in planning. As most of you know, we had hoped to sail east via the St Lawrence Seaway, but Canadian COVID restrictions forced us to modify plans to use the Erie Canal route to reach the east coast from the Great Lakes. 

Since our last report we left Grosse Pointe, had an uneventful cruise through the Detroit River, went past the Motor City, and entered the last Great Lake in our plans, Lake Erie. However, we continue to be faced with surprises and the requirement of modifying our plans.

Lake Erie

We had fabulous sails between ports on the south shore of Lake Erie. The wind was constant, favorable, and strong. Most of the time we were sailing in less than 50 feet of water, often moving at 8 knots, keeping an eye out to avoid the hundreds of small fishing boats, with sunshine and lovely sailing weather.

Lake Erie Stops included  Put-In-Bay, Ohio, Lorraine, Ohio, Fairport, Ohio, Erie, Pennsylvania, Dunkirk, New York, and  Buffalo, New York.

In Pit-In-Bay we picked up a mooring and used the launch to get into town which had a loud party vibe and streets overrun with golf carts. We hiked the historical sites, tried a local winery, and couldn’t pass up an outdoor sand floor mojito bar, complete with rope swing seating at the bar.

In Lorraine we anchored at the end of abandoned industrial piers right near the harbor entry busy with small fishing boats. We kayaked a good distance to a public landing, hiked through the quiet downtown where there was very little happening, but there were beautiful old churches, stone main street buildings, and a few signs of renewal. We walked the waterfront and got “bridged” waiting for the bascule bridge to open-and found a “Bascule Bridge Brewery” on the other side! Lorraine has a lovely entry lighthouse, lit at night beautifully!

In Fairport we anchored just inside the entry and kayaked to a lovely beach. Sadly, we didn’t see the e-Coli warning signs until after a refreshing dip in Lake Erie. That evening we were blasted by jet ski noise as they surrounded us in the tiny harbor. We were reminded of how lucky we are where we sail in the Apostle Islands: clean deep cold water and no jet skis allowed.

Erie Pennsylvania was a favorite stop! It was a long tedious way into the tight anchorage within Presque Isle State Park – but we stayed two nights and did lots of biking and exploring in Erie and in this lovely park.

As we entered our first New York harbor, Dunkirk, a small town with a waterfront that is both degrading and being rejuvenated, the depth sounder started reading very strangely shallow depths. We tried repeatedly to find a spot to anchor, and then heard Khira being hailed on the VHF. Some nice people from the Dunkirk Yacht Club invited us to come in and use their (first night free) guest slip and five of friendly folks met us at the dock! Most likely the frightening depths we had seen in the entry  were false readings from murky water or sea grass: things we don't deal with in Lake Superior!

Once docked we felt pretty good! The boat next to us at the dock was a lovely navy-hulled Saber similar in size and weight as Khira, and it looked to be a cruising boat. The Saber owner was aboard, and as he heard our intended sail plan beyond Dunkirk, he looked at us seriously and said, “I’m sorry, but I am going to burst your bubble.” And he did.

Bad News

The Army Corps of Engineers issues notices to mariners, and we had heard some cryptic notices about a breach in the Erie Canal, but until we got to Dunkirk, we did not get specific local knowledge that the breach had caused very shallow water between two locks. There are 33 locks on the Erie Canal, and it is typically dredged to keep it at least12 feet deep. Khira drwas 6.5 feet. We were told that between locks 29 and 30 an engineering failure caused silting making it impassable to boats that draw over five feet. The Saber draws five feet and had just come through (headed east to west), but the captain said he had  barely made it and would not advise us to try it. 

We spent the night in Dunkirk pretty troubled by the decision we faced. David talked to many people including a Tow-Boat US operator who works near the breached section of the Canal, and he warned us against attempting the Canal. We decided to continue to Buffalo where we would consider all options.

An alternative route east is via the Welland Canal which connects Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. The Welland is 50 miles long and includes seven locks. Using this route to get east requires transiting Lake Ontario as far as Oswego, motoring south on the Oswego River, crossing Oneida Lake, and from there using the eastern Erie Canal to get to the Hudson.

The big catch is that currently US citizens cannot transit the Welland Canal as it is 100% in Canadian territory. A Canadian commercial captain can be hired to take your boat through (you cannot be aboard), and you then must meet the boat in US waters on the southwestern end of Lake Ontario. We considered this option, but captains are very much in demand and waiting for one would likely cause a significant delay, putting our boat in someone else’s hands did not thrill us, but most of all this route would still require us to transit the eastern half of the Erie Canal. 

Cruising any part of the Erie Canal in a sailboat requires the mast pulled out and placed horizontal on sawhorses across the length of the boat. Khira’s mast is 65 feet long. We met several cruisers who had done the Erie with shallower boats, including the Dunkirk Saber, and who had been waked by larger power boats and had their mast fall over and cause major damage to the boat. So even if we chose the Welland Canal route, we would have to pull the mast, travel with it laying horizontal, and restep it at the eastern end.

An alternative we considered, but not for very long, was to turn around and head back to lovely Lake Superior. But we really want to get east to salt water and to wrestle with tides and currents, so we made the terribly difficult decision to truck Khira between Buffalo and Albany, New York. 

These arrangements are far more complicated than it might sound; David spent hours on the phone, finding a reputable marina with availability to pull the mast and the boat, finding a seasoned trucking company with availability, and for a marina in Albany to put the boat and mast back in the water in a reasonable time. In this process we continued to hear more and more reports of additional canal breaches and various issues with flooding and silting in the Canal, reinforcing our decision.

Even with short notice the logistics came together without much delay. We ended up with 10 days in Buffalo and three nights when we could not be aboard Khira while she was on the truck.

We made the most of our time in Buffalo. Without exception, every local person we met was fantastic. People offered to help us and everyone was interested in our travel plans. Several people with knowledge of the Erie Canal and its current issues encouraged us, telling us we were making the right decision. 

Buffalo, New York

In Buffalo, we stayed in four different marinas, all with very industrial backgrounds, we went to an awesome local  farmer’s market, rode bikes to play pickleball at the lovely city park (Delaware Park), rode bikes all over town, including to the airport to pick up a rental car, took a day trip to Niagara Falls, used Buffalo’s charming bike ferry to get to Outer Island where we did an outside Yoga class, we walked around and admired the fabulous downtown architecture, ran along the waterfront, visited a brewery or two,  and most of all we spent a lot of time getting Khira ready for haul-out.

Honestly, I had no idea what is involved with preparing Khira to go on a truck. Because of road height restrictions, lots of things had to be taken apart. Lifelines, pedestals, pulpits, life raft, bimini, dodger, dinghy, outboard motor, etc., all had to be cleared, collapsed, clearly marked for reinstall, wrapped, and then cushioned and stowed somewhere else on the boat. Sails had to be removed, folded, bagged, stowed. The mast was pulled, then we removed, coiled, and identified stanchions, removed lights, antennae, etc., from the mast top, wrapped the mast in foam and wrapped it. Kayaks and bikes went with us in the rental car. This all took several days and many trips to hardware stores!

Buffalo Skyline

                                                                             The Falls

Prepping Khira for transport (Scooter is helping)

Khira in Buffalo-almost ready to head to Albany

Khira was hauled out on Friday 09 July so we took the cat and headed to the New York Finger Lakes where we swam, visited wineries, and hiked/biked to beautiful waterfalls. Last night we had our first lobster rolls in Albany where we met the truck hauling Khira and she splashed into the Hudson River. It will take several days to get her reassembled, but soon we will be on our way again-as we very ready to get this phase of the trip behind us!

Please let us know if you are reading this. We miss you all and love hearing from you!