07/13/2001

Life on the Hudson at Six Miles an Hour

Chuck and Shane are spending a lazy summer on the water, tooling up the Hudson in their 40-foot boat, its top speed about six miles-per-hour, just fast enough to buck the current, so they don't stand still. They've been planning this adventure for months, a trip that will take them up into the Thousand Islands to poke around and explore. Wasn't it nice of them to bring us along via their ship's log? There's nothing slow-going about their electronic equipment!

July 2, 2001 -- Chuck was up early to work on the Racor fuel filters. Yesterday a pause in the RPMs had caused him to switch over to the back-up filter. He changed the filters, bled the air out of the system and the engine started. We ran it for 20 minutes and cast off from the mooring.

Weather was sunny and dry, temperature about 64 degrees. We made our way down to the Throgs Neck Bridge. By checking the buoys we found our way. Two barges came through; we moved over. It all looked so strange. Channels going south appeared this way and that. The current was strong. We were making 10 knots. Around Rikers Island, Manhattan was in full view and gorgeous. I took so many pictures, even of trees on top of apartment buildings.

Not much traffic, 3 recreational boats only. Hells Gate comes on you fast. Today, there was no upcoming traffic, our way was clear: The UN, the Empire State Building, the World Trade Centers. We got a unique look at the bridges from the Whitestone to the Brooklyn. Out we scooted at the bottom of Manhattan. The Statue of Liberty gleamed in the sun; her torch looks on fire. People gathered all around the base.

Ellis Island is just as busy. We moved up the Hudson and had yet a different look at Manhattan. This side has New Jersey and lots of Maritime piers. We even saw the Air Craft Carrier Intrepid, the Destroyer Edson and some mine sweepers. It was a long trip up the Hudson. The wind, the current and the tide all slowed us down. But it was such a nice day we just kept going.

We passed Domino Sugar, then later at Yonkers, two cranes were loading the sugar in bulk onto a barge, the "Sugar Express." Yonkers looks like any other northeast city with abandoned factories. The old power plant has lost many windows. One at the top still exists and is quite lovely. The Palisades look over the upper Hudson. As we passed Yonkers we started seeing trains, sometimes 3 at a time. Tonight at Tarrytown we are staying at the Tarrytown Marina. Chuck gingerly came into the slip, and it worked perfectly. We splurged on dinner at the Striped Bass Restaurant. The crab bisque was delicious, but the rest of the dinner was ordinary. As we left, the Tarrytown police arrived with a powerboat, which had been taken into custody and was being returned. Never a dull moment.

July 3, 2001 -- After a leisurely morning, we took off at noon at a faster clip because the tide and slower current were in our favor. As I type this we are at anchor in an idyllic spot below the Bear Mountain Bridge where we can watch families frolic in the state park. They are Hassidic Jews, Indians, Asian, Caucasian and African Americans: a veritable United Nations of recreation -- fishing, boating and walking through the park.

The Hudson is so beautiful and so busy. The palisades are rising to mountains now. Full of trees, few houses, except at the tiny towns. We noticed a lot of trees that are leafless. At first I thought they were hemlocks, but the shape is more of a vase such as an elm.

Haverstraw Bay is bigger than Reeds Lake and still part of the river. There are many sailboats of all types and sizes (10' to 36') today. All day we saw lots of recreational traffic and lots of commercial traffic. Where we are anchored, the west side has the freight trains and the east side has the high-speed passenger trains. The freight trains came fast and furious, probably because of the track work we saw about 2 PM. One of the freight trains screamed by at about 3AM.

Police helicopter, State park police and sheriff were patrolling the area all evening. Wonder what is going on?

July 7, 2001 -- We are at an idyllic spot on the Mohawk River. The a capella voices are singing English Madrigals. The temperature is 82 degrees and the sun is shining through a blue sky with puffs of clouds. On the counter are fresh flowers from the market: delphiniums, zinnia, ageratum, brown-eyed susans.

Last night we spent at the Troy (N.Y.) Town Dock in downtown. Many other boats of various sizes were also tied up there overnight: A Grand Banks 42, two Mallory Canal Boats, a 40' Silverton, a 23' Sea Ray, a 48' Trojan (wood!), a large tug boat, a 45' gorgeous sail boat without a mast (stored at a boat yard down stream), and some smaller boats. We were up early due to a problem that happened last night.

When we returned from a fabulous dinner at the River Street Café, we found that the shore power plug had short-circuited (fried itself to death due to a poor crimp connection during construction). No A/C power to the boat. The boat shore power receptacle and the shore power cord needed to be replaced. Chuck made arrangements with the manager of the fleet of Mallory Canal Boats for a free ride to West Marine (the toy store) near Albany to get what was needed.

While he was doing that I went to the Farmer's Market, where I wandered through the lively setting. This is the happening place on Saturday morning. Fresh veggies from local gardens: broccoli, chard, lettuce, kohlrabi, eggs, raspberries, arugula, herbs and the best tomatoes in the world. Some crafts, pottery, soft goods, art photography, information on downtown and entertainment by "Chest'r" singing 60's songs rounded out the event.

As I wandered around, I started to talk to Lucy at the information booth. She is a past publicist for the City of Troy; raised in the area and recently happily returned home. She guessed the population was about 50,000. Troy once had many iron works. The Arrow Shirt Company was a major corporation. The market is in the shadow of the old corporate offices, now a general office building.

Troy has done a thoughtful job of retaining original architecture and recycling it for today's use. When route 787 came through, "they", the planners, thought so little of Troy that they bypassed it and put everything on the Albany side. This meant that the fine examples of Victorian building (after an 1870's fire) were not torn down. These buildings are coming back with new paint and new uses. The area is little neighborhoods with smaller businesses much like the Near North of Pittsburgh. Floral Expressions where we had Chai Tea yesterday is a good example of the vision that people have for today.

Lucy talked about the community spirit and new urbanization that is going on within Troy. Russell Sage College, still a women's college, is giving $5,000 grants to people wishing to live in and revitalize homes in downtown Troy. Bringing people back into town is a key component to the success that is happening in Troy. The community is very diverse as well. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) is a major force in the community. The President, Shirley Jackson, has just secured 360 million from several anonymous donors in an effort to make RPI equal to MIT.

I saw some important parallels with Meriden, Conn.: the urban setting, the community spirit, the devoted partisans, the original architecture, the small businesses. Troy has a special resource with two colleges to draw on. Their active pursuit to bring new homeowners downtown is also a positive step.

Chris, the chef from Justine's Restaurant in downtown Troy, gave a demonstration on making salads to go with lamb, all items available at the market. Kohlrabi and beets in olive oil, chard chopped up fine with garlic, balsamic vinegar and basil, perfect tomatoes with balsamic vinegar and extra virgin oil, (tomatoes are strong enough to carry the olive taste, and basil if you want it) etc. We will have the chard for dinner.

I keep talking about the perfect tomatoes. I talked to Sandy and Paul who raise them in organic soil. They are "Trust" tomatoes and sweet, with no acid. They sold out by 10:30.

I talked to Jackie about their departure for the Erie Canal. She said they had had a real disagreement. They have never cruised before and she is afraid to go into the locks. She has no idea what to expect and as we spoke was not anxious to learn. They were still at the dock when we left at noon.

Our first lock was the Federal Lock #1. Chuck landed right at the wall so that I could pull our line easily around the metal post. We floated up about 14 feet with the incoming water and exited when the doors opened. The Waterford flight (Locks 2-6) was almost as easy and lifts us 169 feet in less than two miles for an average of 34 feet per lock. This is the highest set of lift locks in the world.

Locks 2 and 6 are still old rough surfaces. Lines hang down which we grabbed and hung on to as the water came in. Locks 3,4,5 had cables to allow us an easy passage. The big round fenders that brother John Logie provided at Christmas were perfect for this significant locking experience. It felt very good to have it go so well. We had not done this before. We read the guides and talked to people who have, and it worked.

The Erie Canal here follows the Mohawk River. Since this is such a glacial area, the shores have rocks much like Connecticut. However it is flat like Georgian Bay. We have pulled into a quiet anchorage. Several boats here with people sunning and swimming. We will stay for the night.

Note from Beth Bruno: What a fascinating way to come to know about people and places!

Please send questions or comments to bbruno@snet.net.