Searching for Bargains

Many, perhaps most, sailors are workaday folks always looking for new, better, less expensive ways to pursue their passion. This is especially true in the cruising community.

The boating industry operates on the assumption that we are all bottomless pits of cash. So, whenever cruisers collect on the docks to compare notes the subject of ways to economize is a conversation topic.

Among the great bargains in the boating world is the New York State Canal System which charges a mere $37.50 for a 1o day pass through the locks and $75 for the whole season. For sailboat owners, getting the mast down and back up again is a major source of anxiety.

Oswego Marine, adjacent to the Lake Ontario entre to the Canal System charges a mere $2 per mast foot to step and unstep masts. You do most of the work yourself, but an experienced crane operator makes it possible for one person to do the job.

The really great bargain, however, is the Castleton Boat Club in Castleton On Hudson, NY. A mooring costs $5/night and $50 gives you use of the crane, albeit a slow, creaky affair but it works, and the docks for rigging work. This is a cheerful place with friendly, helpful people and hot, clean showers. By coordinating with fellow cruisers, we arrived as a group and helped each other set up their rigs.

Castleton on Hudson is one of those towns time has passed by. The main street is a collection of crumbling architectural gems on the riverfront. Several times each hour, Amtrak trains come roaring through at frightening speed. But a little vision and input of capital could pull this town back from the brink. Do we need another tourist destination? Maybe an artists colony?

Today we motley group of sailors resumes our downriver journey, able to sail when wind and water favor it, all glad to have reclaimed our status as sailboats.