Daily Stats
Start: 6:45 AM - Grand Island, NY
Finish: 4:15 PM - Sturgeon Point, NY (Sturgeon Pt. Marina)
Time: 10:30
Daily dist: 26 miles
Total dist: 4000+
Companions: None
Weather: Clear, high inlow 90's windy
Notes: Entered open water of Lake Erie at about 11:39 AM
For the last month as I paddled across the Erie Canal my mind has been on what I would be in for on Lake Erie. Having never paddled any of the great lakes before, I didn’t know quite what to expect beyond the warnings of the few boaters I’d spoken to who had been on the lake. Being fairly shallow and exposed to the prevailing west winds, Lake Erie is famous for getting rough in a hurry. At the same time however, it can calm down almost as fast. It’s calm that I’ve been hoping for but persistent head winds and slower progress that I’ve been mentally preparing for.
Start: 6:45 AM - Grand Island, NY
Finish: 4:15 PM - Sturgeon Point, NY (Sturgeon Pt. Marina)
Time: 10:30
Daily dist: 26 miles
Total dist: 4000+
Companions: None
Weather: Clear, high inlow 90's windy
Notes: Entered open water of Lake Erie at about 11:39 AM
For the last month as I paddled across the Erie Canal my mind has been on what I would be in for on Lake Erie. Having never paddled any of the great lakes before, I didn’t know quite what to expect beyond the warnings of the few boaters I’d spoken to who had been on the lake. Being fairly shallow and exposed to the prevailing west winds, Lake Erie is famous for getting rough in a hurry. At the same time however, it can calm down almost as fast. It’s calm that I’ve been hoping for but persistent head winds and slower progress that I’ve been mentally preparing for.
After bidding farewell to Jim and Sue this morning I launched back into the Niagara river and paddled upstream about six miles against the fast flowing current and tractor beam pull of the falls downstream. Thankfully, one last lock has been built to help boats around the fastest flowing current in the river. Without that lock raising me the last six feet, it would have been an all day battle fighting my way upstream the last two miles into Lake Erie. The lock had another blessing of depositing me behind the Buffalo breakwater, which gave me another five or six miles of sheltered water to paddle. The sheltered water couldn’t last forever though and at 11:30 I had reached the end of the breakwater and finally headed out into wide open (wind blown and lively… but doable) Lake Erie.
This lighthouse marked the end of sheltered water I'll see on Lake Erie.
Before I committed to the rough water I made a quick phone call to the parents of a gentleman I know (John Jost) through Aqua Adventures out in San Diego. John had told me early last fall that his parents work at a marina about 20 miles SW of Buffalo. If I needed a place to stay in the area he was sure they could help me out. Last night before the fireworks show I had sent a quick e-mail to John asking him if he could alert his parents to me being in their area. Sure enough, by the time I called John’s mom, Phyllis, was pretty much expecting me. We spoke for a moment and laid plans for me to try to reach the marina but if I had to pull off the water early I’d call and let her know.
Lake Erie
It was a rough go in the beginning but after a while the shore line curved enough to allow points of land along the way to block some of the wind and keep the waves down to a tolerable level. After several hours of hugging the shore line and working against the wind I reached the Sturgeon Point Marina. Working the night shift, Phyllis wasn’t due at work until 9:30 PM but after I called her to check in she came right down with a heaping plate of food. After dining on pork chops, corn, and macaroni and cheese, I bid a short term good by to Phyllis when she drove home to catch a nap before she returns later tonight for work.
As though the words didn't say it all.
After spending the balance of the afternoon organizing my maps, I am now sitting on a picnic table watching my first sunset over Lake Erie. What a feeling.
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