1 - Greetings from Oswego!

The Oswego Yacht Club
A big neighbor
The Oswego Lighthouse
Sunset in Oswego





Greetings from Oswego!
Well we cracked several personal bests yesterday; the farthest away from home - 37.5 nautical miles, longest sail - 7 hours 20 minutes, and the biggest waves we have yet sailed in. All in all it was a pretty uneventful sail ? until we were entering Oswego Harbor.

Friday was rainy with thunderstorms predicted, so we took the day to provision and recharge our batteries (both us AND the boats!). I should explain. The weekend previous we had guests on the boat that apparently slept with the lights on and ran the batteries dry.

To get all our ?stuff? into the boat, which has lots in inaccessible storage and virtually no easily accessible storage, we tried to be methodical about putting things away. Best laid plans? We have already torn the boat apart twice looking for something and we still haven?t found the bug screen for the companionway!

Saturday we woke to overcast ominous skies. By 10 it was starting to clear and we left the dock about 11 am. The sailing was straight into the wind, and we needed to fully charge the batteries, so we motor sailed with just the main sail up from Sackets to the pass between Stony Point and Stony Island (west of Henderson Harbor for you map people). As we were entering the channel, the engine suddenly quit. Both Wayne and I looked at each other like ?Did you do that?? I took the tiller and Wayne went below. He had a theory that the air vent for the fuel tank doesn?t let in enough air, so he cracked open the gas tank to let some air in and voila we had our engine back.

We sailed to the southern end of Stony Island where we truly passed into ?THE LAKE?. At that point the wind direction was more favorable, so we put up the Genoa sail (the front sail for you non-sailors- see I am picking up some of the lingo) and she heeled over nicely. It is interesting that as soon as you round Stony; you can see the steam plume from the nuclear reactor at 9 mile point. You can?t see land to the south, so it looks like the nuclear reactor is rising out of the lake ? no land in sight. Next we sailed past the Stony Point Light house and from there on it got windier and wavier. The sail put most of the cockpit in the shade and it was so chilly I had to put on my sweatshirt.

Wayne laughed at me because I sat facing aft (rear of the boat) so I could see the land fall away from us rather than see us heading toward nothing but the steam plume. It is a bit unnerving sailing toward nothing. But we kept land (abet a ways in the distance!!) to our port side (left) as we passed Mexico bay. After a fashion we started seeing land to the south which made me very happy.

About that time the waves started to get pretty big. They were more like swells and our little boat handled them like a champ. I didn?t feel uncomfortable unless I tried to go below. Needless to say I did my business in short order and got myself back up on deck as quickly as possible.

Coming into a harbor you don?t know is always nerve wracking. You don?t know exactly where you are going and where it is shallow etc. We reeled in the Genoa and turned into the wind to drop the main sail in preparation for entering Oswego Bay. As we turned back toward the harbor entrance a sailboat was bearing down on us. Not knowing the entrance to the harbor, Wayne was taking us strait through the middle of the entrance. The other sailboat had his sails up and passed between us and the starboard (right) side of the harbor entrance. We have never been that close to another sailboat out on the water. They passed us as we were between two cement breakwalls, and trust me they are none too far apart!

Once the other sailboat got inside the harbor, they turned into the wind to drop their sails, and we went on ahead into the marina. We had been told to take a specific slip. When we got to the dock there were dock lines on the cleats we needed to tie up to. We thought that was suspicious, so as soon as we were tied up, I went to find someone to see if we were in the right slip. The only people on the docks were transients like us. They suggested going into the Yacht Club. So up I went to the club house and found a bar tender who said we were fine that the boat normally in that slot had left for a race in Canada. Well ? not to be? the jerk that passed us in the sailboat came in and yelled at us to get out of his dock slip ? NOW! Man was he nasty! Thankfully, Wayne had kept the engine running, so we got back in the boat and moved to the other side of the dock. The bar tender saw our problem and came out to help as did another transient.

I can?t believe how unfriendly the people are here. Except for the bar tender who was very nice, and the other transients, people here won?t even make eye contact with you. Getting someone to explain the lock system to the bathrooms and showers was a major deal. Turns out it is a 3 step process to open a box with a key in it. Someone finally took pity on us and showed us how to do it. I think about how we greet transients at Madison Barracks and I am so proud to be from there! No one ever gets to the dock without an assist with dock lines and a hearty welcome unless there is absolutely no one in the marina.

Today is sightseeing and relaxing. We will stay the night here again tonight and tomorrow head out for Canada. There are a couple of museums and a fort within walking distance and there is supposed to be a river walk down the canal. So we are off to explore and get exercise our legs after a day at sea.