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Ithaca Yacht Club

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We left Clyde pretty early because we had a pretty long way and wanted to stop for lunch along the way. We wanted to get to IYC to be picked up by our wives. We were surprised to find the boat grounded as we tried to leave. The water level must have dropped overnight. Since it's a sandy/silty bottom, we were able to push off the dock add to a lot of throttle and get dislodged. It was a warm day with plenty of nature on this part of the canal. We went through Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge. We saw many herons, eagles, hawks, ducks and geese. We had two locks left, the last one on the Erie Canal, number 25 and one bringing us up to Cayuga Lake. All of the locks on this trip were down except the last one into the lake. Entering lock 25, the last one for us on the Erie Canal. The junction between the channel to Cayuga Lake and the Erie Canal. We came from lock 35 to lock 25 coming from the west. Going eastward, the next lock is 24, 30 miles away. When we left last summer, we took a
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Clyde

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Today was another cruise on the Erie Canal. We went through five locks today. We ended pretty early as there was no other place to stop between Clyde and Cayuga Lake.   Bridge in Fairport. This is notable in that the slowest boat with a 15 HP motor and tiny prop got chastised for too much wake. The speed limit is 5 MPH, we were probably doing 5 Knots. This boat can't make a wake. Downstream side of Lock 27. The lock is on the right and the water bypass is on the left. We saw many types of birds. One of the more distinct ones is the heron. We saw a few eagles, a zillion geese and ducks among others. Docked in Clyde. This is a small dock, about enough for four boats, by a park called Lauraville Landing. Another view showing how high the dock wall was. A view from the overpass bringing up to the town center of Clyde. We ate at a locals bar in Clyde. There weren't many choices. It was a friendly place that did not include any craft beers. The park had a rest room and shore power bu
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Bushnell's Basin / Pittsford

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It was a comfortable cruise down the Erie Canal. We went through two more locks, 33 and 32, and several lift bridges. You have to call ahead for the locks and bridges, which can slow you down if the operator isn't ready. Some see you coming and when you call they just say to maintain speed and they'll have it open. We saw several of the rental canal boats that you can sleep on, a tour boat or two and a rowing team practicing. It was a little dicey getting through the rowing team as there were at least a half dozen boats. With the oars, they are as wide is our sailboat. When they stopped to get instruction from the coach, we'd pass them, then when they started rowing, they'd pass us back. It was a little annoying but was short lived. A tour boat was behind us and we wondered if it wanted to pass but it stayed behind and eventually turned around. It was probably out of Pittsford and took the customers through a lock then back through, then a little downstream and then bac
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Medina

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Today was much less adventurous as yesterday. We got to the demasting facility at Wardell's early and waited for him to open the shop. Masting went well as the bad weather held off. Our original mast cradle was too low to  allow for the dodger, the blue canopy, because we had lower bridges last year when we went to Oswego on Lake Ontario. This part of the Erie Canal allowed us to put the mast higher so we made some cradle mods while at the masting dock and put the dodge back up. It also allowed the mast to clear my head without ducking when passing underneath. We had a leisurely cruise down the Erie Canal. We tried to stop for lunch but when trying to dock at the side of the canal had difficulty because the points that we could tie off were too far apart so we missed out on visiting Lockport and we ate lunch on the boat. Otherwise it was uneventful on our way to Medina. There were several farms, mostly corn but other crops as well, on the way. There were also several residences. Th
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