15 Miles on the Erie Canal.

After giving up a significant value in tools to the Oswego Harbor it was time to embark on the next leg of the journey. My sister and I set out through the locks making good time (to my thinking) and made it through locks 8-3 of the Oswego Canal. By the way, there is no lock 4. We were lucky at lock 3. They close up for the night at 9:45 and they were just starting to close the gates when we arrived, at 9:42. We were able to lock through and pull into a small marina for the night that located between locks 2 and 3. Overnight tie up was free with power and water, but we didn't have a long enough extension cord. The next day we locked through locks 2 and 1, meeting Mom and Dad at the tie-ups upstream of lock 1 for lunch. Christine was tired of the sun and the heat and Dad wanted to go through at least one lock, so they traded out for the last lock, Lock 24 in Baldwinsville, my home town. We locked through, which Dad enjoyed more than I would have thought someone could enjoy a lock. From there we tied Cassandra up along the upstream wall where she is sitting patiently while I enjoy the comforts of home, friends and family. I'm not sure where I'm going to put her after the two days allowed at the wall are over, but I have to find someplace while I wait for my new winch handle and some cruising guides to come in the mail.
Oh yeah, still not sure where we're bound next.

Bloop...... is a Bad Sound.

Sunday dawned bright and early as it always does. I was up and about around 8 AM and started prepping Cassandra to drop the mast. As I was loosening the forward turnbuckle my tired hands slipped and a moment later, Bloop. It was gone. Well, That was enough damage for now... The sails and boom were away, and the mast was ready to come down as soon as Mom and Christine got there to help. Since it was the Fourth of July and I was parched and bored. I decided to see what the down had to offer for drinks and entertainment. I grabbed a strawberry milkshake at the Subway/Hershey Ice Cream place I bought a mouthwatering sub at for dinner the night before. And then I went to peruse the books at the local bookstore.
I spent the rest of the day wandering looking for open stores and finding none because of the holiday, and when I returned to the bookstore it too was closed.
Finally Christine and Mom arrived. They brought a large magnet on a handle to attempt to fish my screw driver out of the harbor. I tied a rope to the handle and threw it in, repeatedly combing the bottom, but with no more results than small, rusted chunks of harbor wall. We decided that to drop the mast we should move the boat back closer to the floating dock nearby, and that leaving the magnet on the bottom while doing so would allow us one last chance to retrieve my screwdriver. We were wrong. As we pulled the boat, the magnet caught on something and pulled the magnet right out of it's handle, leaving just a forlorn piece of plastic hanging from the rope... Another victim claimed by the water.
As we let the mast down I heard a sickening crunch as the boom vang attachment I'd forgotten to remove ground into the deck. Not much harm done, marred gelcoat and a bent snatch hook. Fixable. We carried the mast up, and as I set the foot on the bow pulpit, Bloop. The handle I'd absentmindedly left in the halyard winch fell in. Bother.
So, one day three tools claimed. Bought a new screwdriver and I have a handle on order.

Homeward Bound

So, after spending days away from... anyone... at the park I decided I could use a laundromat and some civilization, and since the weather was being less that cooperative, I decided I would return to Sackets Harbor. It was a wet and wild ride fighting the waves on the way down. Into the wind on the way out, and unable to sail straight south because the waves were trying to roll Cassandra on her beam ends. Anyways, I got in and got Cassie tied up to the town dock. There's a Laundromat out by Madison Barracks but it works on a card system so through odd circumstances, it basically would have cost $10 to do a load of laundry. Not worth it.
I then went and celebrated my first successful heavy weather trip with a burger and cheesecake at The Boathouse. I was also able to pick up a wireless signal at the dock, where I posted the last two updates.
The plan at this point was to sail from Sackets Harbor to Oswego so I could drop the mast and swing over to Lake Erie for a bit.
Well, the first day out I overslept a bit and wanted to see a museum before I headed out which meant it was noon by the time I got on the water. The waves were still high, and I couldn't get my jib to cooperate. I hadn't been able to get a full hoist on it, and the sheets were too short, so I'd have to chase them on every tack. I only made it to Stony Island that night and was so frustrated by then I was ready to run the boat aground and be done. Luckily, cooler heads prevailed and I drifted off to sleep riding uncomfortably at anchor in a cove.
The next day I was up earlier and rigged my genoa sheet to the jib so I wouldn't have to chase it every tack, and I made sure to use the winch when hoisting the jib so it would be better behaved today. I departed the anchorage at 10AM and was just motoring up to the dock in Oswego at 9:30 PM after a long day at the tiller.