August 3, 2011 Rochester NY

We left Sodus Bay at about 7:45, earlier than planned as the forecast called for likely showers and storms starting late morning. We would try to make Rochester but had a back up plan to stop at Pultneyville if conditions worsened. We had a following wind so did not uncover the mainsail, but instead put out the genoa. We zipped along at 7.2 knots in a light rain. Eventually the wind shifted forward and we just had to motor.

The promised thunderstorm never came and the winds did not build, so all in all it was a pleasant trip to Rochester. We arrived at 12:15. The trip covered 31.0 nautical miles. I finished the book I had been reading along the way. I almost missed it because I was reading, but we passed a ketch up on the shore. It appeared that there was no one on it. Another strange thing was a group of large mooring balls we passed that were arranged in a box like pattern. The chart did not indicate anything around there that would cause a large ship to moor.

We entered the harbor as 75 or so little sailboats were coming out, tacking up the river. I anticipated problems with them, but the race committee boats did a great job of herding them away from us. Earlier, I heard a power boat complaining to the Coast Guard that one sailor in a little boat was trying to run into him, and he avoided a collision only by speeding out of the area.

The rain stopped while we were docking. A nice boy named Ben assisted us. It’s a good thing, as the dock had no cleats on it. I commented that I had never seen dock without cleats. He said the seasonal docks have cleats but that they did not put them on the transit docks. (??) I was ignored by the guy who registered us at Shumway Marine when I questioned this. When we entered the channel with the docks, I almost ran into a mast that was horizontal over a sailboat tied on the river. It was over part of the channel and I did not see it. Kerry saved the day by sounding the alarm.

It rained all afternoon, until about 6:00 PM. We just read and napped which turned out to be the perfect agenda for a rainy day. I even took a nap, my first of the trip. This seemed to amaze Kerry, Lew and Gretchen.

We had cocktails on our own boats which were so close we could chat easily. We agreed that we would not like docking in a place like this and really appreciated the facilities at Mentor and Vermilion. We walked to the Rochester Yacht Club for dinner. Their lobster bisque was recommended and was quite good. Tomorrow we rent a car to drive to the Finger Lakes area of NY. Kerry is excited to stop and shop and also hit a real grocery store.

This is an addition to the original blog and was not posted in 2011. While we were in Rochester, Anne and Nate called and told us that Anne was pregnant. We were so excited for them. However, Anne did not want us to share the news of her pregnancy with anyone. It was difficult for her to get pregnant, and she wanted to be sure all was well before the news was announced. So while we were really happy and excited, we had to keep quiet, which was really hard! Aubrey Emma was born April 7, 2012.