10/13-10/17 - Lake Champlain Fall Foliage C-Dory Cruise

R

Rick from Maine

New member
A C-Dory Lake Champlain Foliage Cruise

When: Weds, Oct 13 thru Sun, Oct 17, 2004

Where : The Gathering will be at Whitehall NY, at the Lock 12 Marina restaurant ( the Finch & Chubb Inn) at 6:00 PM, on Weds, Oct 13th. Lock 12 Marina Ph # 518-499-2049. Lake Champlain provides a 110 mile long lake between 2 mountain ranges, with gorgeous fall foliage, and historic sites, with canals providing access to the Hudson or St. Lawrence Rivers.

Launch Ramps: Lock 12 Marina has ramp at $15 & $5 parking per nite. Other area ramps at Whitehall Marina, and South Bay.

Possible Cruise destinations: If weather is stinky, we can do the Champlain Canal or the first 37 miles of Lake Champlain, which is sheltered. This includes Fort Ticonderoga.
If weather allows Lake cruising then there are great anchorages and sites to visit, including Partridge Harbor & Smugglers Cove. We can visit Vergennes, Shelburne & Essex. Foliage should be peak.

Who: Any C-Brats. So far 4 C-Dorys have signed up.

Tyboo Mike or Da Nag Bill, could you please set up a Cruise sign up?

I can provide additional details for facilities and sites.

Rick from Maine

Edited by Da Nag
Added to Calendar
Signup Sheet
 
Sounds great Rick! Wish I could join you. I lived in Colchester, VT years ago at a place on the water but I was boatless at the time. Lake Champlain is beautiful and is on our list of wanna-cruises. Take some pictures!
 
Hi Tom,

Yup, I can't wait to see the lake and foliage on the surrounding Mountain Ranges. With at least 4 C-Dory's we'll have a ball. Worst case scenario is we do the Canal! Ya can't beat that.

Rick from Maine
 
OK - signup sheet is done, and calendar entry has been made. Click the "Event Signups" link above.

Have fun!
 
OK Rick and C-Brats,

I've signed up and am looking forward to leaf Peeking in prime time. However, I may have to buy a new sleeping bag. We should be prepared for sub freezing temps. My Little propane heater will be handy!

Dun (CTYankee)
 
Some equipment suggestions for those attending the Lake Champlain Gathering

For the Canal: some canvas gloves, 2 boat hooks, big fenders, and 4 dock lines.

For dealing with the cold nights: Warm Socks, Cabin Heater, CO alarm, and a 4 - 6” squeegee that can be used on either the inside or outside of the windows. In the Morning, the outside of all glass will have heavy dew. If you use an alcohol stove or heater, you’ll also need it for the inside glass.

For possible Geocaching: Bring your old handheld GPS. There are about 6 Geo Caches in our cruising range, including at least 1 on an island.

I'll bring my inflatabe 4 man dingy.

Foliage looks like we'll hit ripe leaves. Bring Camera & film.

Rick from Maine
 
Wish we could join you with Daydream, but it is a little bit of a drive from Washington State! Sounds like just my kind of cruising weather (best solo cruises we had here were in February, on days that looked like July, only 40 degrees cooler). The Wallas feels so GOOD on these nights! Enjoy, take lots of pics and tell us all about it!


Rick from Maine":3nt70rot said:
Some equipment suggestions for those attending the Lake Champlain Gathering

For the Canal: some canvas gloves, 2 boat hooks, big fenders, and 4 dock lines.

For dealing with the cold nights: Warm Socks, Cabin Heater, CO alarm, and a 4 - 6” squeegee that can be used on either the inside or outside of the windows. In the Morning, the outside of all glass will have heavy dew. If you use an alcohol stove or heater, you’ll also need it for the inside glass.

For possible Geocaching: Bring your old handheld GPS. There are about 6 Geo Caches in our cruising range, including at least 1 on an island.

I'll bring my inflatabe 4 man dingy.

Foliage looks like we'll hit ripe leaves. Bring Camera & film.

Rick from Maine
Click to expand...
 
Thanks Pat,

Foliage is really nice right now. I hope to get good photos for a change. But, I'm a dinosaur using film, still. So, I'll have to get them developed, then scan & post. We're dodging two tropical storms ( who'd believe that ya gotta worry about them at Lake Champlain in October?) so our weather prediction is iffy.

We've got lots of options if the weather isn't cooperative. So, we'll have a good C-Dory time, no matter what.

Rick from Maine
 
The 2004 Lake Champlain C-Dory Fall Foliage Fling was wonderful. In spite of dire weather predictions of clouds, rain, high winds and waves, we had no wind or rain and sun for most of the cruise. Cruising couldn’t be better; Dun logged over 215 miles.

Three boats made it: Crescent Girl ( Dun/CTYankee), Hunky Dory (Rick from Maine), and Mixie’s Delight ( Dave & Pam’s yet to be named C-Dory).

Wednesday, we left Whitehall NY, the birthplace of the US Navy, on the Birthday of the US Navy, October 13. Fall foliage was peak with mountain ranges on both sides of the Lake in spectacular color. (Hopefully, CT Yankee will post some photos soon; it‘ll be a while before I get film developed, scanned and posted.) Cruising at 20 - 22 MPH, we reached Fort Ticonderoga in about an hour. I know that our photos won’t capture the solemn respect we felt drifting in the shadow of the fort, which was so important to the revolution.

15 miles later we left the narrows and expected rougher water. To our delight, it was calm. We visited deep water anchorages, and the Champlain Maritime Museum canal schooner, before turning up Otter Creek. This is a 7 mile narrow, winding river with overhanging trees providing a canopy of riotous fall colors, ending at the waterfalls of Vergennes. The town provides a wall with FREE overnight tie up with power within 100 yards of the waterfalls. What a delightful place to spend the night ( except it was only 38 degrees that night; wished I’d had a Wallas.) Again , we were encased in the local history. Benedict Arnold’s fleet was built in this town in 40 days, using the Waterfalls to power mills to cut timber.

Thursday we left Otter Creek and found that the Lake was like a mill pond ( in spite of NOAA predictions). After cruising around Shelburn Bay, we tied up at the Burlington Community Boat House for lunch. This was as far north as we got ( about 73 miles up the 110 mile long river) since we expected the Lake to get rough, based on NOAA. So, we headed south to Whitehall. How about hours at 20 - 22 MPH where you didn’t need to put a hand on the wheel, since the water was so smooth? That’s cruising!

Friday was cloudy with predictions of rain and wind, so we went south on the Lake Champlain Canal. We went about 30 miles south, thru 5 Locks, to Fort Edward before turning around and heading back. We enjoyed talking with the Lock Keepers. Again the predictions were wrong. No rain or wind. Water was a mirror. Just as we tied up at Whitehall, rain showers started.

After spending the night at Whitehall, we hauled on Saturday AM, since it was cloudy and NOAA predictions included snow!.

It was a great cruise. In Whitehall, the Lock 12 Marina has a decent ramp, good docks, and a great restaurant ( Finch & Chubb).

We had a fun gathering, sharing meals and getting to know each other through out the 3 days. I can’t wait for our gathering next spring.

Rick from Maine
 
Sounds wonderful! I'm betting that even your pictures without boats in them will be great, so we made you an album and moved it right to the top of the Cruises and Events photo listing. You can find it right here, and please use it for all of us!

Thanks!
 
Thanks Guys,

Here's The rest of the Story

As in all C-Dory Gatherings, there were a few anomalies, like:

A 38 Degree night - that’s COLD
Cruising with a NY Yankee fan when the Red Sox are loosing
Dave getting sea sick on Otter Creek
Did I mention the COLD night?
Boathook Jousting - Pam claims she lost cuz her’s is shorter than mine.
Backseat Driving via VHF
Now I know why they recommend having 2 people when transiting the canals. Ya gotta have someone to talk to during 10 MPH stretches or ya fall asleep.

Rick from Maine
 
Hi All,

I second Rick's observations about our Lake Champlain Cruise. We had wonderful weather, company, food, scenery, and NO TRAFFIC. Imagine cruising at 22 mph straight for two+ hours with no lobster bouys, or wakes, or thin water or TRAFFIC. What a blast. Thanks to Rick, Pam, Dave, and Mixie for helping to make this the best New England gathering yet. We hope to do many more next year.

I've posted some pictures in the cruise album. They don't really do the scenery and colors justice, but the may give a flavor!

Dun (CTYankee)
 
Good write-up, Rick. We too had a great time, and much enjoyed our cruising company. I look forward to more cruises with these guys.

After the high standard set at the gathering at Blakely Island the first day I owned my boat this summer, it was nice to join a New England get together. I realized after we reached the Hudson River that my boat has now been in Pacific waters (Puget Sound), the Mississippi River, the Atlantic, Lake Champlain and the Hudson River in its first three months!

It was indeed also a first for someone to get seasick on Otter Creek, I'm sure! The water was mirror smooth. Surely it didn't have anything to do with those poisonous pork ribs the night before... I spent a pretty unpleasant morning, but Pam handily drove the boat while I groaned. I recovered for the ride downt the canal the next morning.

On the pictures, I referred to our generic boat as Live Free or Die, because of the contrary appearances. That is a reference to our coming from NH. No one has ever really figured out what this motto means, whether it is a personal preference or a threat. In any case, we shall find another name.

I might never have found my way to Champlain without Rick and Dun's guidance, and it was quite a treat, especially with the bright foliage. Thanks guys!

Dave
 
Dave,
You could do worse with a name. The words "Live Free or Die" were part of a volunteer toast that N.H. Revolutionary War hero General John Stark sent to wartime comrades, in which he declined, due to poor health, an invitation to head up a 32nd anniversary reunion of the 1777 Battle of Bennington in Vermont. The toast said in full: "Live Free Or Die; Death Is Not The Worst of Evils." The following year, a similar invitation from the group (also declined by General Stark) said: "The toast, sir, which you sent us in 1809 will continue to vibrate with unceasing pleasure in our ears, "Live Free Or Die; Death Is Not The Worst Of Evils." Much later (around 1945, I think) the words were adopted as the state motto of New Hampshire.

Maybe the C-Brat adaptation would be, "C-Dory or Swim; Being Boatless is Not the Worst of Evils."
 
Hi Tom,

Thanks for the history lesson. We needed you on our cruise to keep us aware of the historical signicance of what we were cruising past.

Luckily, our guidebooks did have quite a bit of history in them which we read each night. But, sounds like you really could have added to our fun.

Hope you make it if we do it again next year.

Rick from Maine
 
Hi Dave,

Your photos are really nice and help complete the cruise. I've added a couple that you can relate to. Otter Creek! and Mixie navigating. What with Pam driving and Mixie navigating, what did you do?

Rick from Maine
 
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