The best laid plans……

I love it when a plan comes together! 37 days and 1500 nautical miles after we departed Fort Myers Beach, having dodged all the weather bullets Mother Nature shot at us, we arrived at Castleton-on-the-Hudson May 4th, exactly as planned. This would give us enough time to unstep the masts and enter the Erie Canal to rendezvous with Kevin and Carol on Saturday. Eight days after that, we would conclude our journey at Put-in-Bay, in time for Captain Gary to report to West Marine for duty on May 15.
Thanks to the competent help of fellow boaters, the masts came down in record time. In less than a day, everything was secured in place and we were ready to go!

Except Mother Nature saved her biggest insurmountable bullet for us. The Erie Canal did not open May 1st as planned due to flooding and high waters.

OK, let’s stay positive and hope for the best. Perhaps it will only be delayed a few days and we can still continue according to plan.

The long awaited update from the NY Canal System dashed all hopes. The earliest

expected opening is May 23rd. We gathered with other stranded boaters at the Castleton

Boat Club to vent our frustration and drown our sorrows in draft beer. Two wasted

weeks at best!

As Gary reached for his pile of crossword puzzles, I cautioned him. “Don’t get too comfortable there, Captain. I have a plan to get plenty of productive things accomplished.”

A few phone calls later, we were scheduled to have Tessa hauled out Monday morning at nearby Coeyman’s Marina. Here we can complete all of the regular spring maintenance that we usually do after arriving back at Brands’ Marina in Port Clinton.

After my boyfriend Don from Castleton Boat Club ran us all over town provisioning, we were ready to head for Coeymans Marina Sunday night. Gary promised me a Step-

Mothers Day martini at the adjacent restaurant. While enjoying a cold crisp Bombay

martini with blue cheese stuffed olives, we began chatting with the other local bar
patrons. One particularly friendly and charming guy named Eric entertained us while waiting for his friend from Ohio to show up. Maybe we might know him, being from Ohio ourselves, he suggested. Ohio isn’t that big of a state, right?

So here we sit, hundreds of miles away from home in Update New York, and Eric’s
friend turns out to be a fellow West Carrollton High School graduate. Eric’s jaw dropped
to the floor when I said “Hello Tom Barker. I know you!” We took a trip down high

school memory lane until Captain and I decided it was time to get some shut eye.

The haul out went according to plan on Monday morning, then we went to work

preparing the hull for bottom paint. Yesterday, Gary completed that task, and today I

begin cleaning the hull before we begin to wax on wax off. We hope to have everything

done by Saturday so that we can launch Tessa just in case the canal situation improves

and opens earlier than anticipated.

That is the plan for now!