Скачать или смотреть Piloting a Houseboat on the Erie Canal, Part One

🔊🔛 After a 4-hr video and hands-on crash course to get a temporary boating license, I was soon the Captain and Primary Pilot of the Cayuga, the fastest in @ErieCanalAdventures‘ fleet of modernized 41-ft Lockmasters (flat-bottom canal #houseboats)—faster than the others in that it goes 7-8 mph instead of the usual 6 mph. It took a little while to get used to steering, but practice makes perfect.

With me were friends and fellow travel writers-turned-boat crew: @FrisbieRichard, Secondary Pilot and Deckhand, and @Anna_Staropoli, First Mate. We set sail westbound from the @ErieCanalAdventures HQ in Macedon to Pittsford, NY, along a 15-mile stretch of the historic #ErieCanal, once the greatest, seemingly impossible engineering marvel of the world, that has connected the Atlantic Ocean and Hudson River with the Great Lakes for 200 years. (September 2025 is the bicentennial celebration.) Our first leg wouldn’t involve passing through any of its many locks just yet (although we were prepared for it from our training course), but we still had to navigate under the historic Fairport Lift Bridge with radio coordination with the bridgemaster.

Eventually we made it to Pittsford, beyond the waterfront houses, waterfowl, and passing cyclists, where sliding into a docking spot was surprisingly easy—that is, until we realized our power cord wouldn’t reach the closest electrical hook-up. With an audience of happy hour patrons from a nearby canal-side bar, I nervously managed to maneuver the boat 360° and back into the same spot without crashing into the dock or other boats, so that our electrical input in the stern was closer to the power source—much needed to turn the AC on. A little celebration ensued 🥂 🧀. — Cheers from the Erie Canal in Pittsford, NY, USA!

#theglobaltriperiecanal #theglobaltripwesternnewyork #visitrochester