Vita is a Sailboat

But I am getting ahead of myself. Two days ago we left Waterford NY, heading for Castleton on the Hudson, to step the mast. We got an early start. Our new friends left shortly after we did, and we held the lock at Troy for them, as they showed up in the rear view mirror while we were entering. Then the three of us traveled down the river, "the Canadian Navy". Vita in the lead. Turns out that we run about the same speed, different rpms, but the same speed. We honestly though they would blow by us, and there is still some belief by the crew of Vita that the other boats were just being nice.

Cs'ta Time, Jorge and Kim above.
Serenada, Gil and Diana below.

On the Hudson, the traffic gets a little bigger.

Okay, a lot bigger.

And apparently so do the birds. This nest was perched on top of a bridge support, we didn't see the bird, and its a good thing too. With a nest that big, I am thinking that people might be just the right size for a light snack. lol

The restaurant/bars look a little different to. Can you think of a better use for an old barge? I can't,,

We all managed to step our masts after a long afternoon in the hot sun, then beer and pizza were in order. Showers, mooring balls, and the finish to a great day. Some had to work a little harder than others. This is Jorge, a long way up.

Net effect, sailboat....

Castleton on the Hudson

This place is great. $5 per night for a mooring ball, and that includes showers, a bar with $1.25 draft, bathrooms, and all the services. They gave us free pump outs when we got gas; even though we only took 7 gallons. $50 for the mast crane, and the reason none of the club members will help, is because they are not allowed to. The insurance company for the club will not cover it, they have tried over and over, but the liability is too great. It was fine for us, between 3 boats, we had a ton of help. I highly recommend this place to anyone, but try and find a friend to come with you. Serena and I had figured out how we could step the mast, safely with just the two of us, but for other larger, or more complicated boats, this would be tough.

The dinghy

I have been fighting with this thing all season. I have tore apart the carburetor, cleaned it, the tank, the lines, everything, and it still hasn't run well. Today it ran out of fuel, and I gave myself blisters trying to get it started. Finally, I decided to take out the spark plug and clean it. It was dirty, but not overly. It started first pull. I was talking to a fellow boater, and he told me that after a while oil will get into the plug and fowl it. Well, the previous owner poured oil into the cylinders to preserve it over winter. I am thinking that may have caused part of the problem. So top of the shopping list, new spark plug.

Here is what happens when the dinghy motor doesn't work. In her defense, Serena did offer to row. Shivery is not completely dead.

Tomorrow we continue down the road. If we had more time we would stay here a few days and relax. We did manage to get some cleaning done, and Vita is looking a little better.

Oh yeah, almost forgot, the local Stewarts convenience store has beer for $13.19 for a 24. If we were taking back the empties, that's 50 cents a beer, and its 5.9% alcohol. This alone would be cause to stay here longer. I bought two cases, but only because Vita already had 84 beer on board. That brings us up to 132, just enough to get to New York, 130 miles away. Okay, maybe a little further.

And; I need to start making these entries sober. Its really hard to get spelling and grammar right after a few sundowners.....