The bad weather done, we set out for one more proper journey before ending our adventure.
We would leave our strange marina and head south, where the lake narrows to a near canal; not quite to Ticonderoga, but halfway there and then back again. We would shelter again from the wind, enjoy another brief hike, and end with a final tour before tucking in one final night.
Day 7
Awake Early ~0545. Cold but habitable. Put on heater and made cup of tea; read; warmed up in bed. Breakfast – 0800; David ashore to get fresh water. Heading south below C.P. Bridge
Motored south to “yellow house” [on chart]. Anchored in lee for lunch, decided plan for day. Essentially, sail north as far as Basin Harbor […] and keep a short distance home tomorrow in case winds are excessive.
1330 ~ 6nm to waypoint
1944 – We have settled in Basin Harbor for evening. I motored us to the mooring ball. Wind died as we approached. Picked[ed] a ball close to shore. Dinner & conversation. Expecting SW 15-25 mph after midnight. Light rain AM. Practiced Navigation.
It seemed more eventful at the time. As the lake narrows, so does the navigable channel, and we found ourselves taking more care to range our distance from shore and use buoys to gauge our position. In most outdoor activities, the mind can wander alongside the mind across the horizon; in nautical adventures, that which isn’t seen can be more consequential than that which is.
So we went, under the Lake Champlain Bridge, and past the monument to Samuel de Champlain.
Day 8
Pancakes for breakfast. Low on stored water. Weather looks benign but predicted to worsen this afternoon.
Went ashore looking to pay for our mooring; walked through grounds of Lake Champlain museum. Found no one; turned around.
Trying to learn under stay sail.
1530 – we sailed from Basin Harbor to Barn Rock Harbor; north to New York Palisades and into Snake Den Harbor; saw a powered touring vessel. Winds lighter than expected […] picked up tremendously while crossing 60 degrees to Point Bay Marina. In fact, wind grew so great that we gave up and [wound up] motoring in, near where we were last, lunch at 1400.
The wind has grown tremendously gusty since. Lake forecast is 30 mph sustained, 50/60 gusts tonight. Quite thrilling. Low, dark clouds have appeared over the main part of the lake. We swung to and fro on the line.
Hail, wind, and raining; lightning in the distance. Calm before bed.
We had stayed in Basin Harbor, rather the north cove of it. It’s a cove used by the Lake Champlain museum, and we took the dinghy to a long slip where a replica sailing barge was tied up. We also recognized some of the boats we’d seen the young people rowing a few days earlier.
We spent the night on the boat, finishing off our thematically-appropriate wine.
The next day we thought we ought to see about paying for our stay. There were no responses by radio or phone, so we took that as an excuse to head ashore, and wandered a bit through the museum grounds.
The above was essentially an underwater motorcycle, and not a true submarine; the pilot would wear scuba gear and ride along inside. Notably, it had to be licensed both by the Coast Guard and the Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles.
What’s pictured below, in addition to the replica sailing barge, harks back to Lake Champlain’s nautical history. For a long time, sailing barges were how goods were transported from the north to the south, and once the canal was built, the same vessels could trade down the Hudson all the way to New York. However, Lake Champlain’s nautical history also extends to the Revolutionary War period.
Benedict Arnold is remembered in American history as a traitor; an officer in the military who dared betray the United States and join the British. Before that, however, he was a pretty good commander, at one point giving the British the slip following a naval battle on the lake before sailing to Button Bay, where he escaped thereon by foot. The museum has a replica of that ship, and presently it’s being worked on.
In any case, after our stay in Basin Harbor, we sailed some familiar territory again, to Barn Rock Harbor, then north along the western edge of the lake. We planned to take a bit of a detour into Converse Bay, but the winds grew strong and we decided to head to Kingsland Bay for one last sleep. We ended up spending up a ridiculous amount of tacking and, after we had enough data to work out our average speed, decided to motor in rather than spend another two or three hours negotiating with the environment.
Day 9
0800. V blowy outside, feels more than just the 15-20 predicted. Windy all night, the ship rolled to and fro, and we have spun several times on our mooring line. Saw another harbor denizen paddle himself and another to shore on a paddleboard though.
1030. Winds have subsided. Cabin mats cleaned and […]. Preparing to sail.
Our last day was a short one. Unfortunately, it was some of the best weather we had, so we succumbed to temptation for one more sail, and arrived back at home port an hour later than we’d planned. We’d been in touch with the ship’s owners and they were there to meet up; we unloaded at a slip, and then hurriedly finished closing up the ship before saying our final goodbyes and heading back home.
Lake Champlain is a beautiful place. Having camped there via kayak, and now lived and sailed there, I can say it is at once welcoming yet capable of great wrath and surprise. It is not a place to take lightly, but it is greatly rewarding for those who dare to trespass on its ripples.