Transiting a canal with the mast on deck

[Jon Eisberg]

Originally Posted by DefinitelyMe

I've done the great lakes from the Atlantic as far as Toronto in a 3-masted tallship. There's some great sailing in the lakes and i'd be worried about having a mast bouncing around on deck. Also, having stuff sticking out the ends is pretty inconvenient in the locks as there is a lot of current and it's easy to get spun around and whack your mast on the side of the lock. Why do you want to take it down?

To avoid having the first bridge they'd come to in Tonawanda or Oswego take it down for them, perhaps?

:-)

[rhubstuff]

You can easily cross Lake Ontario with the mast on deck. Its only 40 miles from Point Pleasant, Ontario to Oswego, so if you do the Trent Severn, you can unstep the mast at Port Severn and re-step in the Hudson River. If you take the Lake Huron-Lake Erie-Welland Canal route, there are only 32 locks to do from Duluth to the Hudson. Step the mast at Duluth, sail to Oswego, unstep through the Erie Canal, restep in the Hudson River.

[adlib2]

Originally Posted by DefinitelyMe

I've done the great lakes from the Atlantic as far as Toronto in a 3-masted tallship. There's some great sailing in the lakes and i'd be worried about having a mast bouncing around on deck. Also, having stuff sticking out the ends is pretty inconvenient in the locks as there is a lot of current and it's easy to get spun around and whack your mast on the side of the lock. Why do you want to take it down?

Only 16ft clearance under bridges in the Canal and less during floods.

[Tiva]

Thank you all very much. You have provided a treasure of information that we will take into account in planning our trip. For now we are planning on trucking the boat to Duluth stepping the mast and sailing to Oswego.


We chose this plan because its the shortest distance by land to truck the boat and it allows us to see the Great Lakes and the East Coast. It also has the added advantage of letting us start our journey to the Caribbean in the summer.

[Mike OReilly]

You'll have a wonderful time Tiva.

If you are interested in wild and beautiful lands with plenty of remote anchorages, I highly recommend spending time on the north and eastern shores of Lake Superior (Canadian side). It is a wilderness cruiser's paradise. I miss it...