Hop-o-Nose, Catskill Creek

We leave the wall at 8:30 am. We are through Locks 1 and 2 on the Champlain Canal in the next two hours and then the final Federal Lock down to the Hudson.

South of Albany, we come up to the assembly yard on the west shore for the New Tappenzee Bridge down stream. This small tug boat shoots out in front of us towing 300 feet of plastic pipe. We have to slow down not knowing where the pipe will swing. We eventually pass him a couple miles down stream. The wind out of the north builds during the day and the river is a little rougher than I care for with a mast on the deck. It was a relief to turn up the calm Catskill Creek. There is a couple sailboats under the mast crane so we tie up on an empty dock across the creek. Many boats that come down the Erie Canal ship their masts ahead to “Hop-o-Nose”. Raising these masts is rather difficult. They have to lower the mast from a travel lift on to a section of floating dock which is then moved under the crane to lift the mast up. Then the sailboat is moved under the crane for installation. Much quicker to lift the mast directly from the sailboat.

"Second Wind" our sister ship third from the left.

Once the workers replace the dock finger they “borrowed” to float the mast, we move over and tied up to that finger dock. We met some fellow transients, Dave & Laura from Minnesota on a Catalina 36, “Second Wind” same year as ours. We quickly tour each other's boats to see the different enhancements we have each made. Laura even has a potted tomato plant on one of the stern rail seats. Being an avid gardener this was a compromise to giving up her garden this summer.

We then head to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, “Creekside” at the Marina. The Marina owner, Sean, is the cook and it always has a good crowd. We split the Chicken Marsala, excellent.