Let us tell you about our adventures on the Welland Canal. Monday morning we called Rodger St Amand, who Sharon had contacted about being our crew for the canal. The canal requires that there be a minimum of three crew with boats that are going up stream. He told us he would come to the marina that evening to look over our boat and equipment. We decided to walk to lock 1 to watch a boat lock through. We spent about an hour watching first a freighter down bound and then a freighter upbound lock through. The size of the lock was incredible and so were the size of the freighters. We returned to the boat and did some laundry and light cleaning to occupy the time until Rodger arrived. He arrived in the early evening and said our fenders would work. He had checked the schedule for boats arriving to lock through and said that at this point there were no boats scheduled in the morning, but he warned us that freighters from Toronto and Hamilton could be there in two hours so they could leave early in the morning and be locked through ahead of us. Rodger asked us to be a the Pleasure Boat Dock by 6:45am the next morning. Sharon had a hard time falling asleep and slept poorly all night. We were up at 5:30 so we could meet Rodger and Bob, our crew, at the transient dock before Lock 1. We arrived and tied up by 6:45. Rodger called Seaway Welland and was informed that it would be about two hours before we could get started, because they were sending the lock attendants to lock 3 to lock the freighter through before they would return to lock 1 to lock us through. Time to make another pot of coffee. Rodger and Bob went home. At about 9:30 Rodger returned with bad news. We would have to wait for a schooner that was coming in from the lake. Their ETA was 11:00. He informed us that the Welland cut back on staff due to the decrease in commercial traffic resulting in some lock tenders having to travel between the locks. Here is a little background information on the Welland. The purpose of the canal and lock system is to take ships and pleasure craft up Niagara Falls, a lift of 326 feet. The canal is 23 miles long and there are eight locks. You must traverse the Welland in one day. You are not allowed to anchor or tie up for the night. Once you enter Lock 1 your vessel is constantly on camera. In its heyday more than 4,000 ships went through the canal every season at an average of $23,000 a pop. The schooner finally arrived at 12:30. The lock gates opened and we proceeded into Lock 1. It was massive. The locks have to accommodate lake freighters as well as ocean going vessels. Rodger and Bob picked up the lines as the gates were closing. There was a great amount of turbulence as the lock lifted us 46 feet. By 2:30 we had gone through the first three locks. The wind started to pick up and pushed Summer Recess away from the side of the lock. Tony would use the bow thruster to push the bow toward the inside of the lock then put the engine in reverse to push the stern in against to water pushing it out. Bob would call out when the stern was getting to close to the bow of the schooner and the process would start again. Locks 4, 5, and 6 are called a flight because they are attached. You literally go from lock to lock to lock. We successfully completed the flight by 3:40. It was a lot of hard work for Rodger, Bob, and Tony. Rodger and Bob kept Summer Recess off the wall while Tony maneuvered the boat left and right and forward and back. Our stern flagstaff broke in Lock 3 due to the pressure from the stern line. We made it through Lock 7 by 4:30. We paid, said a great big thank you, and good by to Rodger and Bob as they stepped off the boat after Lock 7. We then had a 14 mile run to Lock 8. When we informed Seaway Welland that we were about a mile from Lock 8, the lock master said we would need to tie up to the wall because a freighter was already down bound in the lock. Tying up to the wall was no easy task. The bollards are made for ships. They are about 20 feet from the wall. Sharon cannot throw a line 20 feet. As we got closer to the wall, Sharon noticed large bolts sticking up from the wood attached to the side of the wall. She was successful in wrapping a spring line around the bolt to hold Summer Recess to the wall while the captain stepped off and got a line around the big bollard. He then secured the stern to another bolt.We waited for the ship to come through the lock and for the green lights to signal we could enter. The lock gates opened and the bridge raised, but as soon as the freighter cleared the bridge, to our disappointment the bridge went down and the lock gates closed, but we got no green light. Sharon radioed the lock tender and he claimed he tried eight times to hail us. Well, even though Sharon was on the fly bridge right by the radio, we did not hear him. We then had to wait another 45 minutes for another freighter to lock through. It is now just before 8:00pm. and it was getting dark We finally got into Lock 8. It only raises vessels two feet. We did not have to tie up. Summer Recess floated through and by 8:10 we left Lock 8. The winds are howling at this point. We radioed Sugarloaf Marina and were told a dock attendant would be there ready to help us dock.We made our way to Sugarloaf Marina in Port Colborne. The winds were out of the west and the dock ran north and south. We had been on the canal for over fourteen hours and we were tired and just wanted to dock the boat and get something to eat. We had no control over the 25-30 mile wind gust that caught the boat was we turned into the slip and the first line was thrown. We heard a crunch. The gust had thrown Summer Recess into the corner of the dock. After, tying up the lines we surveyed the damage. Summer Recess had a big booboo. There was about a 12 inch gash in the hull on the starboard side about a foot above the waterline. The gash would need to be looked at to determine if it had to be repaired or we could continue with the gash until we got home. We knew we would be in Port Colborne for at least one more day. Needless to say before we turned in for the night, several beverages were consumed. It had been a very long and brutal transit.
We called Port Colborne Marine on Wednesday morning. They sent a man, who did fiberglass repair. He assessed the gash and told us it would have to be repaired because if water got in the fiberglass and core would soak up the water and cause a lot more damage. He said he could start working on it that afternoon and have the repair done by Friday afternoon. One of his crew came to the dock after lunch and spent several hours filling and sanding the gash. The process was liked filling a tooth. By 6:00pm the spot resembled a bruise. Painting would be done on Thursday. In the meantime the marina staff could not more helpful, a dock attendant drove us to downtown for shopping and banking. Normally, the marina staff would drive people downtown and leave you to do your shopping, they would then either walk or take a taxi back to the marina. Not us, Brad the dock attendant told us they weren't busy so he would wait for us to do our shopping and then take us back to the marina. Tony mentioned that we needed to buy a propane bottle on the drive back to the marina. He dropped Sharon and the groceries off and then took Tony to the Canadian Tire which was in a mall on the other side of Port Colborne. Tony kept asking if he was going to get in trouble for all the time he was spending driving him around and he kept saying not to worry about it. Tony thinks the dockmaster told the staff to make sure we were happy after our dock accident. We had dinner at Don Cherry's Sports Grill, which is a restaurant chain in Ontario, located at the marina. The next morning was sunny but breezy and Tony wasn't sure if they would be able to paint the bruise. Not to worry, after lunch, two men came out and prepped both the boat and the dock for painting and by approximately 3:00pm on Thursday Summer Recess was good as new. We stayed in Port Colborne on Friday, because we had already paid for dockage through Saturday morning. It was the first day of the annual walleye tournament. A fleet of fishing boats left around 7:00 am. We walked into Port Colborne. It is a small town. We had a delicious antipasto plate at "Eataly" for lunch. Just before 2:00pm the fishing boats returned and we watched them drop off their coolers with their fish entries right in front of our boat. Today's prize was $1,000.00. We had hoped to get some fresh fish, but that did not pan out. Saturday, June 21st started out with overcast skies. Again, at around 7:00, an even bigger fleet left seeking the prize walleye. The stakes were higher, $10,000 was the top prize. We left Port Colborne at 9:00am and entered Lake Erie. We had a short 25 mile run to Buffalo, NY. The skies cleared and by 11:30, we were docked at the Buffalo Yacht Club. We called homeland security and gave them our customs information and were told we could not leave the boat until either we got a phone call or an official would come by and give us our clearance number. Three hours later we were still waiting. Tony called again and found out the first number we called connected us to the wrong agency. After making another phone call to the right number, it only took five minutes to clear customs. We registered at the club house and decided we would go to their restaurant for dinner. The boat owners and yacht club staff were very friendly and loved to hear our looper stories. In the evening we had a great dinner. Today, June 22nd, is our 40th Wedding Anniversary. Forty years ago we would never have believed this adventure was in our future.
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