Kingston to Castleton- Dodging Logs and a Rant on Wakes

Yeah, I know.  This dodging logs thing is getting old.  Try actually being on the boat!  One must have constant vigilance and watch for what lies ahead.  Luckily, most of the debris is small, chewed up by the commercial traffic with their steel hulls, but there is still plenty of big stuff to contend with when you're in a plastic boat.

We also passed a couple of more sunken boats.

I've seen little recreational traffic on the Hudson on this trip.  In the past, I'd see dozens of boats headed south.  On this trip, I've seen only a handful.  I suppose it's because the Erie is closed due to the severe flood damage it incurred and the only way out for the Great Lakes boats is up the St. Lawrence and down Lake Champlain and the Champlain Canal, a really big detour.  When we got close to Albany we started seeing more southbound boats though, mainly Canadians on sailboats.  They have their masts unstepped to travel through the canals and then step them either here at the Castleton Boat Club, where there is a do-it-yourself crane, or to one of the marinas in Catskill.

I'd like to add a note here about wakes and slow passing.   We've all seen the clueless idiot powerboaters who pass other boats and docks with their bows pointed skyward, tossing the biggest wake possible.   This is a real problem for a sailboat with its mast down and on stands.  With its mast down,  a sailboat will rock violently when waked because of its low ballast and because the damping action of its standing mast isn't there.  Some serious damage and possible injury could occur if the mast were to fall off its stands.  Take a close look at the following boats and you can see the problem.  Imagine these boats rocking violently, snapping side to side like a wet dog.  No matter how well it's tied down, a big heavy mast has a lot of inertia and can come loose, especially on the pointy end where there isn't much side to side room for the legs of the supports.

And here's a note to you sailboaters.   You're not blameless here either.  If you're motoring along at five or six knots and being overtaken by a powerboat,  he will have to pass you at seven or eight knots to get by, hitting you with a large wake.   You should  slow down to a crawl so the powerboat can also slow and pass you at a no wake speed.  

Even Drift Away, a 50,000 pound 46 foot trawler, has been waked pretty good by passing boats.   I actually turned on my Naiad stabilizers (fins on each side of the boat hooked up to a gyroscope that kick when the boat starts to rock to keep it level) on the Hudson because of boat wakes.

There, I've said my piece.   I feel much better now.  Thanks.

We'll be here at the very nice Castleton Boat Club until Sunday when Pam and I will beat feet for Annapolis and the boat shows.