We left Waterford on a day that threatened rain any minute and approached the Waterford Flight series of locks. These series of 5 locks are the world's greatest series of high lift locks: boats are raised 169 feet in about 1 mile. This lift is twice as much as the total lift from sea level to the top of the Panama Canal.
Approaching Lock 2 of the Waterford Flight
Boats entering behind us at Lock 2
A nervous looking locking lady?
Once a boat enters a lock, you have to secure your boat to the lock wall. Some locks have cables or pipes that you secure a line to in order to hold your boat in place. Once all the boats are in, the lock master closes the gates and floods the lock. The crew have to hold the boat in place while the lock fills and elevates all the boats. The lock walls are rather slimy, hence the gloves. Fender poles are also necessary to keep the boat from backing up against the lock walls as the influx of water creates significant turbulence. And everyone thought we were just relaxing, reading books and drinking wine!!
To keep the boat from banging into the lock walls, we need several fenders. This is what one of our fenders looks like after 6 locks!! We bought some cheap extra large tee shirts at Walmart to prevent the fenders from getting totally destroyed.
The Duddon Pilot and crew resting at the Schenectady Yacht Club after surviving the Waterford Flight Locks.
Our neighbors in Schenectady.
Onward up the Mohawk River to our next stop in Amsterdam, NY. The trip there included another series of locks. This set of locks are equipped with long, slimy ropes that one person has to hold on the bow and another on the stern to hold the boat in place as the lock is flooded. This required mastering another set of locking skills which fortunately we managed without bodily injury to ourselves or the boat!
Downtown Amsterdam. Amsterdam is the poster child for Riverside towns that were once vibrant but have fallen on the downside of the economic cycle. Once a manufacturing center for carpet weaving, the town has many shuttered stores now.
When the Erie Canal which was completed in 1825 it became a major factor in stimulating commercial trade in New York and opening the in-land region to Commerce. It became the most important artery for trade and economic development, allowing New York City to surpass Philadelphia as the largest seaport. Then came the railroad and the significance of the Erie Canal diminished. Most traffic on the Erie Canal today are tourists like us. So go the economic cycles...now we have the Internet so perhaps towns like Amsterdam can reinvent themselves.
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