Having survived the fury of the ocean on our trip from the Dominican Republic to New York City, the Hudson River was a welcome reprieve. The trip to Toronto involved navigating the Erie Canal and the thirty locks to bring us to Lake Ontario-a seemingly easy task after our conquering the Nor’ easter that brought us past the Statue of Liberty.

Getting the mast prepared to be taken off the boat in Albany had us pass feeder lines to the halyards under the deck. Sadly, this had momentarily distracted me as we plowed into the mud on the wrong side of a lighthouse while motoring up the Hudson. I put the boat in reverse… and kicked up a lot of mud, but we were firmly stuck. I called Steve at towboatus.com.

“Well, you got yourself stuck at high tide,” said Steve. “I am not optimistic I can get you off.”

My spirits sank. I glanced at the mudflats. No other idiots had sailed on the mud. “I can’t believe I am the only one to have done this,” I said. High tide was at 10:30. It was now 10:35.

“If you had got yourself stuck at low tide, you could have waited for the four-foot tide to lift you up,” he said. “I can come out for $450 an hour and give it a try, but you might be wasting your money.”

“Our mast is to come off tomorrow at Scarano Boatworks in Albany. Chris has organized five ground crew to take off the mast. He has a special crane and everything. I need to get there by 8 a.m. It is another 7 hours of motoring.”

“Okay. Have it your way. See you in about an hour.”

Steve arrived as promised and tried to pull us off. The 33,000-pound towing line snapped in half. As he pulled the bow and tilted the boat at a 45-degree angle.

“That was a $2000 line.,” he said. “You’ll have to wait until the next high tide at 10:15 pm. I’ll come back then if you like. If that fails, we’ll have to get the salvage crew in to float you up on air bags. It’s going to cost a fortune.”

I sighed. One moment of inattention. Typical of most sailing problems. A sailor must remain attentive all the time, I reminded myself.

The Tow Boat breaks a $2000 line trying to pull us off.

As the tide went out, the boat tilted at an alarming angle It was difficult to walk on the boat without slipping off the edge. We tried to be patient, but it wasn’t until 9 p.m. when the boat leveled out again.

Fortunately, we had become friends with Steve and he returned just before dark with his towboat and 500 hp engines. This time he had more success. The entire mistake cost me $2500. I vowed never to get stuck again.

The rest of the trip to Albany was done in the dark of night. I couldn’t help but wonder what our friend Steve was thinking. He gave us his cell number and told us to call if we ran into trouble. I’m sure he was thinking that if these guys can get stuck in broad daylight, there is not a chance in hell they’ll make to Albany in the dark.

We surprised ourselves! We didn’t hit bottom once. We pulled into Scarano’s Boatworks at 3:30 a.m. a tad tired, but full of adrenaline. The ground crew got us up and took our mast off. We were on our way up the Erie Canal before noon.

The hard part was done. We motored up through the locks without scratching the hull. We had a system. Mike would grab a rope hanging down at the bow, and I would grab a rope at the stern. We ascended the waterway with no issues. We would stop at night along the wall in front of the next lock. I would cook a nice dinner and we would get a restful sleep. The first 18 locks had brought us to an elevation of 420 feet. We were approaching the end of the Erie canal. After lock 18, I did an AI search to see if there was a restaurant where we could have dinner. This is the response:
“Yes John. There is a delightful restaurant about three miles from your current position. You can tie up to a concrete wall in 14 feet of water. They serve great Italian food and I am sure you won’t be disappointed.”

Thank goodness for AI. I wouldn’t normally trust any part of the waterway that was close to shore, because of all the silt and mud that might be expected. But 14 feet of water could easily accommodate my six foot six inch keel. I saw the concrete wall where we could tie up. I saw the patrons eating in the restaurant on the deck. The aroma of tomato sauce and roasted garlic made my mouth water. I then plowed the boat into mud and was stuck not ten feet from the restaurant. I glanced at the patrons who had shock on their faces. One guy simply shook his head as if to say “another ill-informed sailor…”

Still in disbelief after getting tricked by the friendly and knowledgeable AI, I made about ten calls before I found Greg, another towboatus.com captain. He waited until morning to pull us off. By this time I had subscribed to towboatus.com for a yearly fee of $215.

Greg had no trouble pulling us off. Just before he motored away, he said, “There is a shallow spot near the green navigation buoy 605. It is only 5 feet deep there. Stay close to the middle and you might get through. I pulled two boats off the mud yesterday. One had a seven foot two inch keel. Call me if you need me.”

Needless to say, we got hopelessly stuck for the second time on the same day. I called Greg. “No problem,” he said. “See you in a few hours.”

The rest of the trip was uneventful. We made it to Oswego the following day. After preparing the mast to be stepped we remained hopeful it would happen on Monday, and we could head back to Toronto in the evening.

One of the great things about sailing is the interesting people you meet along the way. Jonas, a sailor from Sweden, had just bought a Swedish built boat that he bought used from a physician in Chicago. He was planning on sailing it back by going up the Erie Canal and past New York City. He would sail to the Azores, then on to Sweden to spend the summer cruising the fiords and venturing to the Mediterranean. He had his wife Anna, (a novelist working on her first novel), and three other crew.

I am certain Anna will have plenty of material to write about. Their keel is seven feet, six inches, a full foot longer than mine…