August 16

The Port Dover waterfront park has the most modern boat ramp and best-maintained facility we have seen anywhere. It is also at the very same latitude to within a hundredth of a second of arc as the Burlington ramp! So we are continuing our trip northward from the New York side of the lake.

The South winds predicted came up rapidly as we crossed them for about two miles getting out to the end of Trembleau Point where we could turn straight down wind and let them follow us.  This first stretch was probably the most difficult I have done. The height of waves is dependent on the fetch or distance from where they start building up. These waves came from beyond the horizon down in the southern end of Lake Champlain. 

We made the turn off to the North and the waves were close to the maximum we could handle. It was to be another test of the boat’s seaworthiness. I was passing beautifully. The crests of each wave were right at the top of the gunwales as they passed under us.  Heather’s rise and fall with each wave was quite remarkable. But her hands on the pump were not as active as I had anticipated.

We approached about 500 cormorants sitting on the water about 100 yards ahead and as we came closer they all took off together and formed a nearly opaque bird cloud as they flew up and around to settle again on the water behind us. I wondered about their congregation. Was this a fishing party? Convention? Preparation meeting before migration?

After passing Port Kent where we had come in by ferry we were now off the chart we had used from the beginning of the trip and on the Northern Lake Champlain chart. These little changes seem like big milestones going by as we plunged from one wave to another occasionally sending out a froth of white as we sank into a new trough. Sometimes this would feel like a sudden stop in our progress. We reached a maximum speed of 7.3 mph on this rushing course where stopping or turning were not options. The large mass of Valcour Island was becoming clearer in the haze and a small point on it created a small bay protected from the South winds on the North side.  We approached the end of the point and pulled into its shelter with some relief. A beautiful flat calm cove with sandy beach and a picnic table on shore welcomed us. We pulled ashore and got out in soft sand. This was a great place to rest and have lunch. I walked the trail across the point to a similar beach that would have the same role in a North wind. Several Canadian sailboats were anchored in our cove and we met some people from Montpelier, VT who had sailed in from Charlotte.

After the best midday rest of the trip we set out and headed North toward a cluster of masts which had to be the harbor at Plattsburgh. The five or six miles went quickly and we made our arrival just in time to meet with a reporter from WPTZ TV and another from the Plattsburg Press Republican. I felt pretty scruffy talking to these people and answering questions about where we had started and where we were headed.  It occurred to me that they should be asking these questions of the powerboat operators going around circles kicking up big wakes to smash their boats into or the people driving Seadoos.  To me it was obvious that we had an origin and a destination. I spoke about the publicity purpose of the trip in calling attention to TOTO’s contribution of toilets to Habitat for Humanity and the good work that Habitat was doing.  But I think it was clear to them that here was a guy who was having a lot of fun and getting healthier every stroke of the way.

We had not been able to reach anyone from the Champlain Valley Habitat Affiliate so there was no choice than to find a taxi to take one of us back to Port Douglass. We unloaded the boat and pulled it up the beach near the ramp. The bartender at the Naked Turtle, a restaurant next to the ramp called a taxi and Heather took the ride to the car.  A radio reporter who had not been there at 3:00 I thought might show up looking for me but he never did. I waited the hour or so for Heather to return drinking Gatorade to replenish the liquid I had lost on our windy 16.68 mile journey which has resulted in my increased confidence in being able to survive much choppier weather than I had previously believed.

The forecast for a much windier day coming up left me happy that the set of blisters I have accumulated in the last two days might have time to heal. It feels like we are within no more than two days of reaching the Canadian border. We found a room at the Plattsburgh Microtel with WI-FI after a good meal on the deck at the Naked Turtle and settled in to catch up with email and the rest of the world.