A New Dawn on a New Season

Well, as this sailing season begins with a cold rainy start, my second summer out of college is heading in an interesting new direction I had not expected. I spent this winter working part time at Syracuse Stage, but when the new year started, they didn't need my help and I was forced to look for more work. This search led me to apply at West Marine. I'd applied before last spring, but never heard anything about it again. I pretty much expected the same this time, and as weeks went by I had all but forgotten about it. Then I got a call, they wanted an interview.
Fast forward a month or two, now I'm working 10 hours a week at west marine. They hired me because of the experience I have with sailing... specifically building Adra, and everything this blog has covered. One day my manager comes up to me and says, "Do you want the Assistant Manager position, I don't have one yet, and you're qualified." So now, not even two months working there and I have a management position. I'm still trying to figure out how it happened. The Lord is good.
Anyway.. that is loosely connected to what is happening with Cassandra. At West Marine one of my fellow co-workers is a licensed USCG captain, and owns a marina up on the Little Salmon River. He writes articles and needed a boat to take pictures of, I'd told him I wasn't sure how I'd afford to get Cassandra on the water this year, eventually he proposed a trade, Cassandra gets a slip in his marina, and he takes his pictures of me and my boat.
Yesterday we both had the day off and were going to launch Cassandra, step the mast, and take pictures of the stepping process. Well, the day dawned, cold and pouring. Still we both showed up and waited for a clearing. None came. So, we launched Cassandra in the pouring rain. We were both soaked to the bone by the time she was in the water. On a side note, Jackson has a fever and isn't cooling properly. I need to replace a gasket, but in the meantime I was allowed to use the marina's 15hp outboard to get Cassandra to her slip. So, the Lord has provided me with a well paying job, a slip for Cassandra, and a friendly coworkers. I'm looking forward to see how this year continues. Mast stepping should hopefully happen next week, updates will follow as more happens.

See the World in a Small Boat, Says Hilaire Belloc

"There is a simple and and easy way to find what the men who made us found, and to see the world as they saw it, and to take a bath, as it were, in the freshness of beginnings; and that is to go to work as cheaply and as hardly as you can, and only as much away from men as they were away from men, and not to read or to write or to think, but to eat and drink and use the body in many immediate ways which are at the feet of every man. Every man who will walk for some days carelessly, sleeping, rough when he must, or in poor inns, and making for some one place direct because he desires to see it, will know the thing I mean. And there is a better way still of which I shall now speak: I mean, to try the seas in a little boat not more than twenty-five feet long, preferably decked, of shallow draught, such as can enter into all creeks and havens, and so simply rigged that by oneself, or with a friend at most, one can wander all over the world."

I endeavor to do just that. This summer, I will set out by myself direct for Cape Vincent in my twenty-five foot sailboat, because I desire to see it. And I will enter into creeks and havens for shelter and wander all over that world... and if my friends wish to join me, I will be more than happy to oblige.
-Brian

This is it.

For the last few weeks (months?) Cassandra has been sitting at anchor in Oswego harbor, too hard to get to for day trips and the weather not pleasant enough for longer trips. So there she sat, getting dirtier and lonelier. Finally, with Dad's help I was able to get the last of the trailer modifications finished. With the rollers lowered 6" and a 10' tongue extension retrieving Cassandra at the boat ramp was supposed to be simple. And, except for having to sail to the ramp when Jackson's fuel pump spewed everywhere, it was. We were able to pull two anchors and sail up to the ramp, despite the fact that I knocked Dad's glasses into the harbor... another bloop... Luckily mom was coming up anyway, and brought his spare pair. I was rather upset and impressed to see than my dad can sail better blind than I can with 20/20 vision. Anyway, we sailed to within a few hundred feet of the ramp, and let the North wind push us in the last little bit. Then we tied up, drove the trailer in, and floated Cassandra right on. Pulled her out, dropped the mast at took her home. All in all it was a day's job, and the only big problems were a motor that didn't start and a gutter on the garage that my mast got more closely acquainted with than it should have.
So, that's it for the adventures this year. I've got a job until January as deck crew for Syracuse Stage. Hopefully I can set aside enough money for the tweaks Cassandra needs over the winter. With everything else to do though, we will have to see.
Until then, my your life be full of stories.
-Brian McB.

Well, Cassandra and I have been idle a lot longer than I had expected. Inertia set in I guess. Cassandra was able to stay on the wall by the lock almost the entire time. One of our neighbors on the river was kind enough to let me tie here up to his dock while they were away on vacation. A week or so ago my friend Brian helped me move Cassandra to the wall downstream of the lock.
This week was Vacation Bible School at church and I had to run sound for it in the morning, but every afternoon I took Cassandra a little further up the canal towards Oswego again in an attempt to get her to Fairhaven for this weekend. For those who don't know, my friends and I always attend the Sterling Renaissance Festival and afterward go to a beach to swim. This year I hope to have Cassie join us at the beach. Yesterday Dad helped me through locks 2 and 3 in Fulton, and then my friend Dustin joined me at lock 5 to go the rest of the way to Oswego. Today is Friday the 13th and I'm hoping to step my mast and sail to Little Sodus Bay this afternoon. I'm just waiting for my help to arrive.
As a side note I saw a neat little tugboat docked in Minetto (Lock 5) The pilot house was mounted on stilts, and the stilts had hydraulic rams in them so that the pilot house could be lifted to attain a better view over the tow. I thought it was pretty cool, but I didn't have my camera with me. There are pictures from the rest of the trip that should be uploaded in the next few days.

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.