Favorite Fall Weekend: Day 2

Waterford's Tugboat Roundup celebrated the 13th annual event after having to cancel last year due to damage from Hurricane Irene. An excellent time was had by everyone and the turnout was impressive.

Dave spent quite a bit of time on board the Wendy B. He learned that it had just been purchased and had been previously sunk in the St. Lawrence River for 15 years. It was Canadian built in 1940, originally steam powered, and has a 5/8" steel, ice breaking hull. It now has a small GMC 6-71 diesl engine in it.

Its bow looked enormous from the low floating dock. The new owner purchased it in Washington, D.C. from a group of hippies that were using it as a liveaboard vessel.

An endless line of tugboats tied nose to the wall.

A Crosby 21 pleasure tug, with the Spirit of Albany behind it.

There were several small private tugs used for recreational purposes at the docks. Thimble is electric powered, and locally owned.

Atlantic Hunter II, was brought to the show on a trailer. It must be quite a sight going down the road. We noticed that its side lights were actually motorcycle directionals.

This is Dragonfly, a recreational replica pushboat. It is powered by twin Honda 8 h.p. high output outboard motors. We were invited on board by its owners, Janet and Stuart, who built it themselves. Even though it is still a work in progress, they worked feverishly to get it done enough so they could show it at the Roundup. Hat's off to both of them and we really enjoyed getting to know them!

The tug Frances (Turecamo) has a brand new coat of paint and looked really regal. These river tugs all have retractable wheelhouses to fit under the bridges of the canal system.

The Evening Star gave tours of the canal, up above the first of the 'Flight of Five' locks.

The "teaching tug" Urger was built in 1901 and has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is powered by a direct reversing Atlas Imperial diesel engine. For more details and information on the Urger, click HERE.

The Onrust was also at the dock with its sailing rig back up, and we went on board for a tour. For more information on the Onrust click HERE for my previous blog post.

 Dave needed two hands to handle its huge tiller. It must be an amazing experience to steer this ship.

There were several of these small cannons on deck, and the crew would fire a salute over the water every hour.

It was a very windy day, with a strong cold front due to blow through sometime during the late afternoon. When the music group that was entertaining us moved to the dock, and they took the awning off the M.V. Grand Erie, we knew it was time to head for home before the thunderstorms arrived.

Another rite of passage completed for this year. Tomorrow is another adventure....Rice-O-Rama!