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64 J A N U A R Y / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 6 65R E P R I N T E D W I T H P E R M I S S I O N w w w . p o w e r c r u i s i n g m a g . c o m
LENQUARTETTI
Lockingthrough HistoryLockingthrough History
A New Powercat Owner Joins a Flotilla Cruise
from Canada to Annapolis
By Jim Stalnaker
A New Powercat Owner Joins a Flotilla Cruise
from Canada to Annapolis
By Jim Stalnaker
F
or five months each year, ice blan-
kets the harbor of Whitby, Ontario.
The long Canadian winter doesn’t
slow production at nearby PDQ Yachts.
But it does prevent the builder from deliv-
ering its 34-foot powercats on their own
bottoms during the colder months, which
in turn creates a substantial inventory of
boats awaiting commissioning come
spring. Instead of seeing it as a problem,
PDQ has turned this seasonal backlog
into a unique learning opportunity and
F
or five months each year, ice blan-
kets the harbor of Whitby, Ontario.
The long Canadian winter doesn’t
slow production at nearby PDQ Yachts.
But it does prevent the builder from deliv-
ering its 34-foot powercats on their own
bottoms during the colder months, which
in turn creates a substantial inventory of
boats awaiting commissioning come
spring. Instead of seeing it as a problem,
PDQ has turned this seasonal backlog
into a unique learning opportunity and
cruising adventure for its customers.
The spring of 2005 saw a record 14 new
hulls waiting to be splashed when the har-
bor ice melted. One of them was mine.
After 40 years of sailing on the Chesa-
peake, Long Island Sound, New England
and the Caribbean, I was finally ready to
make the transition to power. Elixer would
be my third boat to bear the name, and it
would be based on the Chesapeake.
cruising adventure for its customers.
The spring of 2005 saw a record 14 new
hulls waiting to be splashed when the har-
bor ice melted. One of them was mine.
After 40 years of sailing on the Chesa-
peake, Long Island Sound, New England
and the Caribbean, I was finally ready to
make the transition to power. Elixer would
be my third boat to bear the name, and it
would be based on the Chesapeake.

67R E P R I N T E D W I T H P E R M I S S I O N w w w . p o w e r c r u i s i n g m a g . c o m
Crossing the Line
After five days of Canadian
“spring,” with overcast, chilly
weather, the sun appeared as
the fleet got underway for a
short shakedown run east along
the northern Lake Ontario
coast to the picturesque harbor
at Cobourg. There, PDQ host-
ed a dinner party at the local
yacht club.
The next day one flotilla of
four boats departed north,
headed up the St. Lawrence to
Montreal before turning south
down Lake Champlain and
into the Hudson River. Our
larger flotilla of eight boats was
to head across Lake Ontario for
a landfall at Oswego, New
York, then east via the Erie
Canal to the Hudson River.
Dick and Carol Tuschick of RumbLine Yachts, PDQ’s
Stuart, Florida, dealer, led our group. Also along were two
wunderkinds in James and Jackie Power, PDQ’s commission-
ing crew there to address any problems that might arise. Their
presence gave us all peace of mind, but problems proved
minor. It was a testament to the quality of the product that
all these brand-new engines, gensets and eight boats’ worth
of various systems ran smoothly, with only minor glitches.
Lake Ontario weather is known for its sudden and intense
changes. The first year PDQ organized a flotilla, the depar-
ture was delayed when the wind blew at 50 knots, with waves
breaking over the docks in the inner Whitby harbor. By con-
trast, our passage was blessed with smooth seas as the eight
boats ran abreast at 14 to 15 knots across the lake. Midway,
one boat owner called out over the VHF, “Did you feel that
bump? We just crossed over the yellow line on the chart mark-
ing the international border.”
The fleet arrived at Oswego, New York, on Lake Ontario’s
southern shore, by early afternoon, only to spend the next two
hours awaiting clearance. The videophone link to customs
and immigration was out of order, so they had to come to us.
A rather brisk customs/immigration officer came aboard
and demanded, “Did you bring any citrus fruit in from
Canada?” I couldn’t help but wonder that any oranges
acquired in Canada had probably first come from Florida,
but I responded negatively, and the apples and bananas on
our table also passed scrutiny.
Next a courteous but armed Coast Guard crew made
random boat inspections. The receipt issued after such an
inspection usually buys you a pass on future inspections for
the next six months.
With government formalities ended, we passed into
the first lock of the canal system. The newly hired lock
tender proved the exception to our subsequent experi-
ences of quick lock passages, and it required two hours
to issue simple lock passes to the eight boats.
It had taken us six hours to transit 100 miles across the lake
and four more to travel the last 100 yards before we could
finally tie up to the town bulkhead south of the lock. On the
eastern half of the canal system there were plenty of free bulk-
heads both at locks and in the towns along the way, though
few offered power and water. We heard that along other sec-
tions of the system, increasing numbers of towns charged
boaters for the privilege of tying up.
Cruising through History
The New York canal system comprises more than 500 miles
of interconnected rivers, lakes and canals, joining Lake Erie
and Lake Ontario in the west, Lake Champlain in the north,
the Finger Lakes in the south and the Hudson River in the
east. The waterway began with the construction of the 365-
mile Erie Canal, dug by pick and shovel between 1817 and
1825. Originally just 4 feet deep and 40 feet wide with 89
locks, it ran from Buffalo to Waterford on the Hudson.
The canal rises from sea level at Troy, New York, to an alti-
tude of more 500 feet at Buffalo. From an engineering stand-
point, it was one of the greatest achievements of its age. It was
10 times longer and far more complex than the Panama
Canal. At the time it was considered a marvel of engineering
and a testament to American determination.
Gov. Dewitt Clinton, by sheer force of will, prevailed on
the New York Legislature to undertake the project, and what
began as “Clinton’s Folly” soon proved to be the gateway to
the West, opening the Great Lakes and western lands to set-
tlers and commerce. Canons fired the length of New York,
marking Clinton’s passage from Buffalo to New York City.
There the governor who had carried two barrels of Lake Erie
water aboard the packet boat Seneca Chief ceremoniously
poured the lake water into the New York City harbor for a
“marriage of waters.”
66 J A N U A R Y / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 6
In addition to the usual anticipation a new boat brings, I
was looking forward to joining the other new PDQ owners on
an 800-mile cruise through the New York canal system and
on to Annapolis, Maryland. I had earlier shipped 35 boxes of
gear, ranging from tools to tableware and linens, to Whitby,
where it was held in storage awaiting my arrival.
I fully expected to spend the better part of a day unload-
ing the rented storage unit and driving the boxes to the
Whitby Town Marina to load onto my new boat. Imagine my
delight to learn on arrival that Debbie Slater, the wife of PDQ
President Simon Slater, had engaged a crew of local high
school kids and a couple of trucks to retrieve owners’ gear from
storage and deliver it aboard. What would have taken me the
better part of an afternoon happened in less than an hour.
Besides readying our boats for the trip south, our group
of new owners attended a two-day training seminar that
has become known as PDQ U. No degrees are awarded from
this university, which is comprised of classroom sessions,
onboard orientations and hands-on handling practice. But
many benefits are to be gleaned from one-on-one time
spent with the builder and representatives from companies
such as Yanmar, Northern Lights and Raymarine.
Some 75 people attended the 2005 event, including a
number of buyers whose boats would be delivered later in the
year, as well as current owners who had missed the 2004 event.
It was a diverse group, with owners ranging in age from their
mid-40s to 86, with an even wider range of experience levels.
I couldn’t help but admire the spunk of the octogenarian buy-
ing a new boat at an age when many are content to sit about
in their retirement.
Commissioning a new boat is never an easy process, and
attempting to finish out more than a dozen at one time is an
incredible feat — though it didn’t seem to rattle the PDQ staff.
Throughout the preparation phase, their crews were on the
dock to provide last-minute adjustments and modifications.
I remarked in passing to one busy workman that the tank
watch sender unit in my lazarette was immediately below the
ladder and subject to not only falling items, but also impacts
from my size-13 feet, which would undoubtedly reduce the
unit to pieces in short order. Later the same day, I discovered
that a raised step, smoothly sanded and painted, now pro-
tected the otherwise vulnerable unit.
Ithadtakenussixhourstotransit100milesacrossthelakeandfourmore
to travel the last 100 yards before we could finally tie up to the town bulkhead.
After crossing Lake Ontario, a flotilla of new owners ends the day in Oswego, New York, before beginning the canal portion
of the trip (above). The flotilla drifts (opposite) while waiting for an opening to an Oswego lock.
JIMSTALNAKER
LENQUARTETTI

staff the center not only assisted in tie-up, but also drove folks
to the market and restaurants. We couldn’t have asked for
more. If you have time to lay over in this charming commu-
nity, by all means do so. Alas, our group was pressing south,
and regrettably we left the following morning.
While we began our trip in the sunshine, the cold, wet
weather soon returned. Our flotilla seemed to have the capac-
ity to induce rain just at the moment we entered a lock, with
the crews standing on deck to handle lines. At least our boat’s
dual helm stations let us escape belowdecks to dry off and
warm up between locks.
The wet eventually began to take its toll on my crew,
Charlie and Stella Jones, good friends from North Caroli-
na. They labeled themselves the “lock lizards” and threat-
ened to form a union with the other crews, striking for dryer
working conditions and more grog.
Our flotilla subsequently became
know as the Lock Lizards, in con-
trast to the northern PDQ flotilla
members who had named them-
selves the River Rats.
After a long final day on the canal
system in which we covered 17 rainy
locks, at dusk we finally reached the
famous “flight of five,” a series of five
simultaneous locks dropping a total
of 167 feet. The Lock Lizards let out
a tired cheer as the final lock’s gates
opened, and in the dark we entered the town of Waterford,
where the Erie Canal, the Lake Champlain Canal and the
Hudson River join.
Although Waterford has a 1,000-foot town bulkhead, it
seemed completely filled when we arrived. A few boats kind-
ly closed up, and rafting up we somehow managed to squeeze
in. It had been a long, cold and wet day, and after hot show-
ers and dinner everyone was ready for bed. Waterford is anoth-
er town whose charms called for a layover visit, but for our
flotilla, with many of its members bound for Florida, we once
again had to push on.
Rewards on the Hudson
Once we were on the Hudson River, our perseverance in the
rain was rewarded by warmth and clear blue skies. We had but
one more lock at Troy, this one oper-
ated by the Army Corps of Engineers.
By now, we had the routine down and
silently slipped into place in perfect
order, effortlessly slipping lines over
bollards. Our smooth performance
brought kudos from the lockmaster,
who regaled us with tales of boats
colliding while racing to be first out.
Here began the most picturesque
part of the trip. At Albany we passed
the replica of Henry Hudson’s vessel
Half Moon, in which he had explored
Thecanalcuttraveltimeandcargocoststoafractionofover-
land rates, as horse-drawn barges could carry up to 30 tons of
freight, and for the first time canal travelers could avoid the
rough corduroy log or mud-mired roads. Instead, as one English
traveler said, “We could literally fly along at 4 miles an hour!”
The canal soon turned New York City from the nation’s
fifth-largest port into the largest, exceeding the tonnage of
the next four largest ports combined. In just nine years, tolls
paid for the canal’s construction, and the waterway was
enlarged twice in the late 1800s, with additional canals added
to the north and south.
It took another governor, Teddy Roosevelt, to press New
York state in the early-20th century to convert the old canals
into the more modern system that continues to serve the state
today. The present portion of the New York canal system still
referred to as the Erie Canal is 123 feet wide and at least 12
feet deep, with 34 locks that are four times larger than the
originals. Seven of New York’s nine major cities are on the
system, and 73 percent of the state’s population lives within
a few miles of its waters.
The newer waterway deviates from the old Erie Canal ditch
in many places, as more modern technology allowed the
dredging of channels into existing rivers and lakes and in the
process bypassed many of the original locks. Amazingly,
though the “new” locks’ operating equipment was built more
than 100 years ago, it remains fully operational today. As one
lock tender put it, “You are literally passing through history.”
On our passage, we found the lock buildings freshly paint-
ed, with tidy grounds and shiny equipment. The electrical sys-
tem still uses the original DC circuitry from the early 1900s,
which at the time was thought to be the prevalent and supe-
rior system to alternating current.
Most of the locks we traversed raised or lowered boats 25
feet, though the greatest elevation change was 40 feet. A typ-
ical lock requires as much as 3 million gallons of water per
cycle — approximately 100,000
gallons per foot of change in water
level. Most locks are fitted with
swing-gate doors, but a few have
guillotine gates. These raise a
massive 200,000-pound concrete
door overhead, beneath which
one must pass. I couldn’t help but
duck as we passed under one such
weight, which dripped a steady
stream of water onto our deck.
The Lock Lizards
From Oswego, we began to canal
it in earnest, traversing 37 more
locks during the next three days.
On our first full day, we fueled
and pumped out at one of the
numerous marinas in Brewerton
before crossing 10-mile-long Lake
Oneida to overnight at Sylvan
Beach on the lake’s eastern shore.
Again we had a free tie-up but no water or power.
The boat’s deck had become dirty and at first it had not
dawned on me as a saltwater boater that my deck washdown
pump provided unlimited access to the relatively clean lake
and canal water to hose off the boat. Sylvan Beach is a place
where one could readily imagine life 100 years earlier, with
men in straw boaters and ladies with parasols walking about
the town’s new amusement park, which today still has its
roller coaster and Ferris wheel from that bygone era.
The following day brought wet, cold weather as we passed
through another seven locks and into the Mohawk River Val-
ley. Here, the land rose into rolling hills with neat farms and
well-kept homesteads. Beside most of the locks now were high
metal dams with gates across the river to control water level.
Arriving at Little Falls, we found hospitality, power, water,
shops, good restaurants and free transportation. The town has
done a splendid job of restoring and converting a 19th-cen-
tury canal warehouse into a visitors center with a lounge,
Internet access, newspapers and showers. The volunteers who
The Saugerties Lighthouse (above),built in 1869,marks the entrance to the village of Saugerties,New York,just off the Hudson,and is
now available as a B&B.A northbound ocean freighter dwarfs a PDQ PC34 on the upper Hudson River (top).The flotilla passes through
the final lock of the “flight of five” (opposite top) before Watertown, New York — some 37 locks after entering the New York canal
system. A charter canal boat (opposite bottom), reminiscent of those that traveled the canals 150 years ago, is seen along the way.
JIMSTALNAKER
JIMSTALNAKER
LENQUARTETTI
JIMSTALNAKER

and returned them with supplies for our depleted larders.
The mayor later told me of plans to spend $1.7 million over
the next year on waterfront improvements. This was a town
that clearly values its waterborne visitors.
As we pushed on under leaden skies the following day,
I vowed to one day return and truly explore the charming
town of Kingston. Ahead, the Hudson snaked through the
sheer rock-walled passes of the Catskills. Names like Storm
King, Bear and Tall Man aptly described the mountains ris-
ing a thousand feet above us.
The imposing stone walls of West Point Military Acade-
my came into view. Here during the Revolutionary War the
“Great Chain” was stretched across the river to block the
British advance, each of the massive chain’s 2-foot-long links
weighing as much as 180 pounds. Washington and his army
headquartered at nearby Newburgh for most of the war, and
it was here that Benedict Arnold turned traitor by passing the
plans to the West Point fort to the British.
The Hudson is tidal for half its length, and sailing vessels
once struggled with tides and currents when passing through
areas of the river dubbed World’s End and Devils Horse Race.
We passed without difficulty, sharing the waterway with one
lone ocean freighter quietly steaming north to Albany, a few
tugs and barges, and numerous pleasure craft.
There was a time when river traffic was much heavier. In
the mid-1800s, more than 150 steamboats plied the Hudson,
carrying over a million passengers a year.
The steamboats may be long gone, but the river is still
replete with historic homes of the likes of Washington
Irving, James Fennimore Cooper, Frederic Church and other
members of the Hudson River school of painting. By the
mid-1800s, New York City folk began to retreat to the river
valley in summer to escape various contagious diseases that
plagued the city. Soon, great estates began to spring up. The
Vanderbilts, the Roosevelts, J.P. Morgan, Hamilton Fish and
others built magnificent homes on the river bluffs, which are
still best viewed from the water.
By afternoon, we were out of the mountains. The flotilla
glided passed the Palisades and slid under the George Wash-
ington Bridge. Manhattan’s skyline now dominated the view
as we passed from towering mountains to towering buildings.
Our eight boats cruised in formation. We had been using
VHF channel 71 for our interboat chatter, but now found it
used by the numerous New York water taxis. Suddenly over
the radio we heard, “Hey, Louie, wouja luk at dat! Some kinda
convoy comin’ down da riva.” The distinctive accent con-
firmed our arrival at this great city.
The Big Apple and Beyond
We laid over at Liberty Landing Marina on the Jersey shore.
An offshore storm kept us in port and provided two enforced
lay days, which we used to putter about and visit the city. Our
arrival coincided with Fleet Week, which brought a parade of
warships and aircraft.
Our stopping point also afforded an ideal chance for crew
changes, with the Newark Airport close by. My crew left for
commitments at home, but I was rejoined by my good friend
Peggy Stillman, who had attended PDQ U before flying out
for her son’s college graduation.
In addition to affording a great view of Manhattan, our
marina proved to be one of the few on this section of the Hud-
son without significant wakes. During previous visits to other
marinas upstream, I recall being all but thrown from my bunk
by the constant wakes of passing vessels. Liberty Landing oper-
ates its own water taxi to the site of the former Twin Towers
and an easy walk into Tribeca. Be prepared for sticker shock,
however, as the slip rates can vary from $3 to $15 a foot as a
function of the slip size. But that’s New York City.
the river 350 years before. There were oceangoing freighters on
the quays and some rather dramatic architecture ashore, but it
was father downstream where the river really appealed to me.
Small yacht clubs and marinas occasionally dotted the
shores, offering a multitude of attractive layover options.
Villages climbed the surrounding hills with only their church
steeples showing above tall treetops, while 19th-century
lighthouses rose from midchannel. Though the oldest river
lighthouse was built in 1826 and all are now deactivated,
these charming structures are preserved and maintained by
private groups.
We overnighted in Kingston, about halfway to New York
City. The town had its origin as the terminus of a canal from
the mines of Pennsylvania on which coal was barged to the
Hudson and New York City. The area also had many bluestone
quarries whose stone was once shipped throughout New York.
To enter Kingston, one turns at the 19th-century Round-
out Lighthouse into a creek that soon splits. The eastern
branch takes you to several full-service marinas, but the west-
ern branch puts you right in the heart of this charming town.
Its municipal floating docks had both power and water, though
the water pressure was so strong it split several of our hoses.
The loss of a few hoses was a small price to pay for staying
adjacent to a postcard-perfect town square with a fountain
and a backdrop of well-maintained 19th-century buildings,
which now house restaurants and shops. Strolling the first
three blocks, I encountered restaurants featuring everything
from seafood to three kinds of oriental cuisine and even
Puerto Rican fare. The town boasts both a local history and
a nautical museum within easy walking distance.
Several ladies in our group headed ashore hoping to
locate a supermarket. At the dockmaster’s office they
encountered the town mayor, who quickly commandeered
a bus to take them the 5 miles to a Hannaford supermarket
The New York canal system offers
an excellent chart book of the
system that can be ordered online,
and both the Richardson and Cap-
tain Bob’s guides are quite good.Pick
up your canal passes at the first lock
you enter, and hold on to them as
occasionally tenders down the canal
will ask to see them. Depending on
boat length, $15 buys you two days
and $35, 10 days, or you can buy a
whole season for $75.
I Depths run 12 to 14 feet. Overhead
fixed bridges were 21-plus feet with
onlyoneliftbridgeontheeasternhalf,
though there are more lift and lower
fixed bridges on the western half.
I Either buy the straw fenders sold
at either end of the canal or come
prepared with two long fender
boards and regular fenders.The slimy lock walls can soon
make the straw fenders smelly companions if one uses
them more than a few days. We also found having large
fenders at either end of the boat eased pivoting off the
lock walls when departing the locks.
I Call ahead to the lock tender on channel 13. If the
light is green, go in slowly as
wakes follow into the locks, bounc-
ing boats about. A red stoplight
means a wait as boats lock from
the opposite direction.
I Our large group filled the locks,
and we each had an assigned side
and order of entrance. If traveling
alone, coordinate with other boats
before entering. Have two boat
hooks and ideally two crew to han-
dle bow and stern lines,with a third
on the helm.It can be done with only
two aboard, but having a third pre-
vents the helmsman from having to
race to catch the second line.
I Do not tie off the boat. The level
changes rapidly, and it would be
more than embarrassing to be left
hanging above the falling water
testing the sufficiency of your cleats’ backing plates.
I The majority of locks had fixed lines hanging down
every 20 feet or so. Many are quite slimy as are the lock
walls,so your crew should wear rubber gloves.These fixed
lines are simply held by crew to keep the boat alongside
the lock wall as the water level alters.In the deeper locks,
the crew may need to move across the deck,away from
the wall,to maintain enough angle on their line to hold
the boats against the lock.
I There is only slight turbulence going down, with a
bit morewhenrising.Somelockshavecablesorladders
in lieu of lines,which require crew to loop a line around
the cables and, in the case of the ladders, to pass it
through rungs, constantly changing the line’s position
as the level changes. Beware of spillways before lock
entrances, which can produce strong crosscurrents.
I On the canals the speed limit is 10 mph, and the
tenders call ahead to the next lock after you pass
through. If you show up early at the next lock, they’ll
know you’ve been speeding. While we found most of
the tenders tobepleasant andprompt inopening tous,
we heard of one who would make speeding boats wait
for an hour or more before opening his lock and then
threaten the speeder with a ticket as well.When out of
the canal proper and into the Mohawk River, which
forms the eastern quarter of the canal system,we were
advised the speed limit increases slightly — to 45 mph!
IUseyourguidetoidentifydiesel-fuelsources,asmany
marinashaveonlygasoline.Wetraveledinmid-Mayand
hadvirtuallynowaitsatanylocksforopenings,butfrom
June to August one can expect much heavier traffic and
some delays as others lock through ahead of you.
LOCK PASSAGE TIPS FOR THE ERIE CANAL
Devastated by fire in 1969, Bannerman’s Island Arsenal —
once the summer home of Francis Bannerman VI — is now the
focus of local preservation efforts.
Commercial traffic is common along the Hudson River.
LENQUARTETTI
JIMSTALNAKER
JIMSTALNAKER

sand. But not knowing what lay beneath the surface, I decid-
ed to save that trick for a beach whose bottom was known.
The storm eventually passed, leaving the surface of the bay
a maelstrom of conflicting waves that initially knocked our
little fleet about before settling enough to allow us to run full
throttle to Annapolis. An interesting feature of my new boat
was that it seemed happier running full out in choppy condi-
tions, skipping over the waves rather than slowly plowing
through them.
PDQ’s local dealer, Annapolis Sailyard, had line handlers
standing by for our late arrival and had somehow, on a
Memorial Day weekend, managed to secure slips together
for us all in Annapolis’ busy harbor. All 22 of us went aboard
a single PDQ for cocktails before repairing ashore to a final
group dinner. E-mail addresses were exchanged and toasts
made as the evening brought an end to our flotilla.
One skipper commented that it hadn’t been a cruise so
much as a delivery, but regardless it was one in which we had
managed to come 800 miles without any major problems or
difficulties. We passed through a lot of pretty country, and
while I wished we had more time to linger in some locations,
I was glad to have shared the experience with all the folks on
the flotilla and to have had the exceptional preparation and
support from PDQ Yachts.
Delivery or cruise it was a good trip, and while the new
Elixer lacked the traditional sleek lines of her sailing prede-
cessors, as I sat topside that final night, I felt I was going to
enjoy my transition to power cruising.
With the passing of the gale, our flotilla headed out for the
Jersey coast, on the way pausing at the Statute of Liberty and
Ellis Island to reflect on the thousands of immigrants who had
passed before us. By the time we were off Atlantic City, the
head winds were up to 20 knots and forecast to strengthen.
A vote was taken, and we elected to go inside via the New
Jersey Intracoastal Waterway to Cape May. This took us past
stretches of vacation homes, then on to the open marsh lands.
I’d always wanted to try this inshore passage in the past, but
the 25-foot fixed-bridge clearances ruled it out for my 47-foot
Bristol sailboat.
And then there was the shoaling. As the 4-foot tide fell,
our boats experienced seven midchannel groundings even
with our 2.5-foot drafts. Fortunately our twin engines pivot-
ed the grounded boats off the soft muddy shoals, and we pro-
ceeded cautiously onward to Cape May.
Due to the circuitous nature of the ICW, we arrived at
Cape May at dusk and missed seeing the famous Victorian
gingerbread of this old vacation town. The following morn-
ing we fueled up and passed through the short canal to
Delaware Bay. Fueling proved less costly with the PDQs,
which even at 14 to 15 knots drank only 4.5 gallons an hour.
We emerged into Delaware Bay to be met by numerous
pods of dolphins and flat seas. Having had some nasty pas-
sages of the Delaware in the past, I certainly didn’t complain.
Our route then led west through the C & D canal and into
Chesapeake Bay. Under a warm sun it looked like it was to be
all downhill to Annapolis, when suddenly the weather serv-
ice warned of a major front rapidly approaching from the west.
Sure enough, it would have been too easy for our trip to
end without one final blast of rain. Dark thunderheads soon
filled the sky, and our flotilla leader suggested we put in to a
small high-banked cove to let the system pass, rather than be
caught in the open unprotected bay.
We milled about, thankful that our shallow drafts let us
tuck up close to the shore. There was a sandy beach, and I was
tempted to try the PDQ’s supposed ability to nose up on the
Ahead, the Hudson snaked through the sheer rock-walled passes of the
Catskills.Theimposingstonewallsof WestPointMilitaryAcademycameintoview.
The lead boat in the flotilla approaches West Point Military Academy (above). A Coast Guard vessel serves as a buoy tender along
the Hudson (top). Elixer powers toward Ellis Island (opposite top), while the famous lady salutes our flotilla (opposite bottom).
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