Justice, Locktender style

We were heading south from Oswego NY on the canal. Locks 8,7,and 6 are close together, and we were asked to wait up at lock 6 for another boat. Sure no problem. We heard them talking on the radio, saying they hadn't gone through a canal before, and asking questions. The boat was a 32 foot sailboat, with mast stowed, from Canada, with 2 40ish men aboard. As the lock filled I said hello and asked where they were going. The helmsman put down his beer (10:00) and said "The Islands!" I asked him his cruising speed, and he said 5 kts. I told him I cruised at 7, wished him well, and good luck. From lock 6 to lock 5 is 4 miles, and we quickly left them behind. We hailed lock 5 and got clearance to approach. Immediately the sailboat called and asked to come in as well, which was approved. We sat in the lock holding the ropes for 25 minutes waiting for these guys to finally get there. From lock 5 to lock 3 (no lock 4) is 6 miles, so when the gates opened, I pushed her up to 8kts to avoid any more delays. Sure enough, when we hailed lock 3, the Canadian boat called in as well. When we were in the lock, the lock tender asked us how far behind the sailboat was. I said at least 2 miles. He thanked me, and closed the gates to move us on. As we transited the lock, I heard the Canadians calling repeatedly for opening. Then calling and identifying their location by buoy number, then saying they were 500 feet behind the lock. As we got out of radio range, I did hear the dock master clear them in. I will assume he instructed them on the etiquette of lock transitions, namely, you should at least be in the same county as the lock before you call for opening. The adventure continues.

Damn Canadians! :lol:

I can say that, I are one!

That being said I make no excuses for the poor conduct of my countrymen. Just 'cause you own a boat doesn't mean you know how to handle it or conduct yourself properly. We all have our share of doofus's on the waterways.

Lock masters are the king of their domain. On the Tennessee River system they can make you wait up to 4 hours. They regulate the flow in and out of the locks. They can make your ride as rough or as easy as they want to make it. They have been very good with us, but if crossed they can make it hard.

So Bildgewater what do you think of the trip on the Erie Canal so far? It's something I have wanted to do. Eventually once I get my Gulfstar in shape this trip should be a reality.
Bill

We (First Mate and I) discussed this a few days ago when we reached our half way point. 85% awesome, 10% whathtehellarewedoinghere, 5% not sure. Coming back from Oswego to Brewerton NY was 8 hours and 8 locks, which makes for a very tiring day with only 30 miles to show for it. But overall it has been wonderful. We love stopping at the little towns and try to find the Mom & Pop diner on Main street. Most landings have chairs or benches that fellow cruisers congregate at. Great way to meet like minded people and share tips and experiences. We got to Oswego from Sandusky Ohio in two weeks of kind of hard driving. Now we're going to take 5 weeks to get back home, and take in all the sights we passed by. We're only going to travel through the week, and tie up for week ends to avoid the traffic. I highly recommend it.

Sounds great, I know you had some engine issues when you 1st left this was probably aggravating. It looks like you got past that and so far so good. I appreciate your input on the canal trip.
Thanks,
Bill

I'm curious at night when the canal is shut down where do you generally dock? Is power and water available at many locations along the way? I guess I should look at Active Captain for some of these answers to these questions.
Bill

As I recall, many of the towns and villages have walls that you can tie up at, some with power, some not. There are several marinas as well along the route. More in urban areas, and as expected not-so-much-so in the countryside. If it's a once in a lifetime trip, you want to take time to see as much as you reasonably can, which for some spots is an hour, tops, other places a few days. A good source of info on the canal system is the erie canal corporation (I think it's called).

You basically just tie up to the next lock's dock and wait til morning. Your lock pass in the NY system includes tying up overnight at the lock docks. Usually not a lot of amenities at the lock docks so we tried to plan nights at a park or town dock.
Everyone talks about how nice the Erie locks are kept and they are nice but wait til you get to the Canadian lock systems. Docking is not free at the Canadian locks but they are very nice and usually have water, electric, restrooms, grills ect.... The blue painted docks are for transients locking through and the unpainted docks are for sight-seers. In Ontario you don't call the Canadian locks on the radio - you tie up at the blue docks and go in and see the dockmaster. In Quebec they do listen to the radio.

Billy III
Check out Cruising the New York State Canal System

We were going through the St. Lucie Lock on the OWW. My late wife was on the bow wearing some orange Crocs. The wise cracking lock master walked by, and said, "we only have one rule in the lock".

My wife said, "oh, and what would that be".

The lock master replied, "no ugly shoes allowed".

I guess when you are closed in the lock you take the abuse the lock master dishes out.

A couple of years ago a transient came in late one evening after the marina was closed and took a end tie. They left the next morning before the staff arrived to open up, there is another guy who's a liveaboard and he asked the manager if the boat had made arrangements to stay. The manager knew nothing about them being there, so Loyd gave her a description and name of the boat. She called the lockmaster at the next lock the boat was heading to, when the boat showed up at the lock and called to lock thru the lockmaster told them just as soon as they settled the bill at the marina he be happy to lock them thru.

Moonstruck said:

I guess when you are closed in the lock you take the abuse the lock master dishes out.

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Too true, Don. They can also make you pay anywhere near their domain. One of the very last times we did Riverbend by boat (a huge annual festival on the Chattanooga riverfront . . . many, many boats and drunks racing upstream to get through Chickamauga lock after the fireworks), we arrived at the downstream lock entrance in our sailboat at about 11 p.m.

It was a madhouse. The lock is tall -- about a 50 foot lift -- but narrow; one of the last on the TN River with a 60-ft width. Boats were piled up at the entrance way right up to the gates between the long concrete abutments. The lockmaster refused to open the gates while boats were in the entrance and announced several times that all boats would have to back out before anyone was going to be allowed to lock through. (It's a genuine safety consideration because there's usually a slug of water released when the lower gates open.)

Some boats simply refused to move. People were screaming and yelling at each other as the night wore on. The lock master remained professional but adamant for what seemed like hours. Finally, he apparently had had enough and opened the gates with several boats still near the entrance. You haven't lived until you've seen 60-foot houseboats pinwheeling down river in the rush of current. The lock master made his point and on that particular night, I couldn't really blame him.

angus99 said:

Too true, Don. They can also make you pay anywhere near their domain. One of the very last times we did Riverbend by boat (a huge annual festival on the Chattanooga riverfront . . . many, many boats and drunks racing upstream to get through Chickamauga lock after the fireworks), we arrived at the downstream lock entrance in our sailboat at about 11 p.m.

It was a madhouse. The lock is tall -- about a 50 foot lift -- but narrow; one of the last on the TN River with a 60-ft width. Boats were piled up at the entrance way right up to the gates between the long concrete abutments. The lockmaster refused to open the gates while boats were in the entrance and announced several times that all boats would have to back out before anyone was going to be allowed to lock through. (It's a genuine safety consideration because there's usually a slug of water released when the lower gates open.)

Some boats simply refused to move. People were screaming and yelling at each other as the night wore on. The lock master remained professional but adamant for what seemed like hours. Finally, he apparently had had enough and opened the gates with several boats still near the entrance. You haven't lived until you've seen 60-foot houseboats pinwheeling down river in the rush of current. The lock master made his point and on that particular night, I couldn't really blame him.

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The crowd leaving Riverbend is like the post fireworks crowd leaving Biscayne Bay. Dark, crowd, intoxicated. Not a group I want to join. But then I also don't get out on the roads on New Years Eve. I've found lockmasters to be very professional. Bridge tenders mostly the same. But some of the stuff they have to put up with from boaters is enough to test anyone.