Our weekend(s) at Cayuga Lake in the New York Finger Lakes Region

 

Aug. 27, 2004 Friday

 

The weather reports kept changing. Rain, thunderstorms, then chance of thunderstorms, etc. The weather people could not make up their minds. We decided to chance it and go anyway.

(You may click some images for a larger view)

 

We left late morning. It was about a 3-hour drive. We arrived at around 2 PM at the Allan H. Treman State Marine Park. We were immediately impressed with the size of the place, the facilities and the cleanliness. We went to the marine office and asked about a slip. You can reserve a transient slip at least two days prior to arrival. They had two slips left. The cost was $19 per night including electricity. (I think I paid close to $19 a night for power on the Chesapeake). The slip was very nice. It backed up to a grassy area where other boaters set chairs, grills and such. You park you car right at the boat. What could be more convenient?

 

We first decided to eat, so we unhooked the boat and took the car to a local place a mile away called Kelly’s Dock-Side Cafe. Kelly’s sits on the water and has a varied menu. I had a crab taco salad and Julie had a fish sandwich.

 

We returned and rigged the boat in a huge setup area. It was about 5% full. We launched at one of the 8 or so ramps. There may have been one other boat launching at the time. We then headed out into the channel where we were met with a nice breeze. We spent the evening sailing around the southern end of Cayuga Lake in a 6 to 7 knot breeze. This was great. I believe it was 7 PM or so when we decided to head in. We made our way back to the marina, backed into the slip, made the boat ready and headed into town for dinner. You are only about a mile or so from a number of places. We settled on a Thai place where we split a Sizzling Duck in a Spicy Peanut Sauce along with some unusual appetizers. It was then back to the boat for a nights sleep. However, there seemed to always be a stop on the way back at “Scoops” ice cream parlor. They had a great non-fat coffee, chocolate yogurt that I could not resist.

 

It was still a bit warm at night but I had brought a Honeywell turbo fan knowing we would have power. The breeze created by this kept us cool and even a bit chilly in the early morning temperatures.

 

Aug. 28, 2004 Saturday

 

We got up the next morning fairly early and decided to go to Kelly’s for breakfast. We had noticed the day before that they were “famous” for their omeletts. We did in fact have a good breakfast and returned to get started on the lake.

 

We had hoped that the wind would pick up while we were at breakfast but it did not. It was a beautiful, sunny day but the winds were light. We headed out of the channel, put the sails up and sailed slowly north.

 

 

 

On the way we passed the Cayuga Lake weather reporting station placed by Cornell. You can get detailed information about the lake at http://www.cayugalake.cornell.edu .

 

 

When the wind completely died we started up the motor and continued heading north. We passed the Taughannock Falls State Park area and looked to see if we could dock there for a look at the falls. We saw some docking areas but were not sure of their use. We’ll have to check this out for next time. There were very few boats out on the lake. The lake is some 40 miles long. We went about halfway up the lake. For a time, we traveled at wide-open throttle. We had a full water tank, full ballast, two adults and the best we could do seemed to be 11 knots at 5000 RPM.

 

The weather was warm, the water temperature showed to be about 71. We decided to stop and take a dip. I had not brought my bathing suit (except the one I was born with) but there were no boats even in site so we enjoyed a swim.

 

The weather started looking a little unsettled in the north se we decided to turn back south. As we did, I noticed the wind picking up and the waves as well. Previously, the lake had been smooth as can be. I shut the motor and raised the head sail. We tacked for a bit but the weather looked a little more threatening and the winds were picking up a bit more and becoming more gusty. I thought I had heard thunder. I had the radio set on weather alert. Sure enough, an alert came on talking about thunderstorms to our north. These would not bother us but it was a sign that storms could develop anywhere around us. We lowered the sail and headed for the marina. It rained on us a little on the way back but it wasn’t bad. When were arrived at the marina, I had a little trouble docking. No excuses, little wind and no current, I backed in a little too shallow, tried to correct moving forward, and managed to bring the side of the boat into contact with the large bow roller of the police boat docked next to ours. There was a loud POP and I thought I had really done something. It turned out that a fender line had been caught and the shackle popped under the stress. The loud pop however had the effect of bringing a number of boaters to the dock to assist (and add to my embarrassment). We had a few light scratches. More pride damage than boat damage. I really need to spend some time practicing maneuvering in tight places.

 

The weather had cleared so we decided to walk the docks and look at the other sailboats. There were indeed some interesting boats including a vintage wood yacht that was gorgeous. We finished the walk, showered, and headed into town again for dinner.

 

We had seen a place on the way in called Mi Casita. We thought it was a Mexican restaurant and Julie had her taste buds set. I wanted a margarita. It turned out to be a Creaole / Costa Rican restaurant. It looked good, but no margaritas. The waitress was very nice and was happy to suggest a great Mexican place, famous for margaritas. The place was “Viva Taqueria” located in the downtown commons a short distance away. We found our way there and parked a short distance from the commons. The place was alive with activity, mostly from the colleges. Viva Taqueria seemed to be one of the most popular places. A little loud and crowded, it was still fun. We soon found why they were famous for their margaritas. They were not big, but mighty powerful. We had a nice meal and by the time we were finished it was poring rain. Fortunately, we had closed the boat up in anticipation. We waited for the rain to slow and ran back to the car.

 

After a brief stop at “Scoops” we were in for an early bed call. Actually, Julie read for a few minutes while I took advantage of the computer and cell phone connection to check my Internet happenings.

 

Aug. 29, 2004 Sunday

 

It looked like another beautiful day. The weather reports talked of thunderstorms in the afternoon but for the moment, it all looked ok. I asked Julie what she wanted to do for breakfast. Secretly, I was hoping should would make one of her great breakfasts on board but she wanted Kellys again so off we went.

 

 On the way back Julie suggested we drive up to Taughannock Falls. We drove the 7 miles to the falls, paid the $7 parking fee and walked the ¾ mile to the falls. They were of course beautiful falls. We could not stay long as we had an 11 AM checkout time on the slip.

 

We headed back, unloaded a few things into the car, and headed out to the lake again. This time we were met with 10 to 15 knot winds. I raised just the headsail and sailed up the lake on a broad reach. We sailed along at 3 to 5 knots depending on the winds and point of sail. It was a great time.  It appeared that there were 2 different sailboat races being held. It was a pretty picture as they raised the spinnakers for the downwind run.

 

Towards 2 PM I noticed the skies were a little darker and the winds and waves were picking up. I started tacking back. When it began to look a little more threatening I told Julie it was probably time to head in. About the time I spoke, a gust came and heeled us up pretty well until I brought her into the wind and furled the sail. We motored back to the ramps. I told Julie that with the winds coming pretty strong from the south, I would pull into the ramp and let the wind push us and hold us into the pier. I decided to do this because I remembered that the piers did not have cleats, just piers. If I tried to sail into the wind at the pier we might not be able to hold onto the pier. We did it, after a couple of tries. The starboard bow hit the pier a little heavier than I would like, but no damage. Boy, I really need to working on docking. We pulled the boat out easily, and without incident.

 

At the setup area, just as we lowered the mast, the sky opened. We were drenched. But, we were almost done. I finished in the rain and we both headed for the showers.

 

 

Summary

 

Cayuga Lake is beautiful. It is a wonderful place to sail with some of the best facilities I have seen anywhere. It was a safe, clean and well-maintained facility. The people were friendly. There were parks and open areas adjacent to the marine facility. “Town” is a short distance away. There is plenty to do, and plenty to see. I counted 2 PWCs during the time we were there. Julie commented on how there were not that many power boaters. There were plenty of sailboats. We saw three other Mac 26Xs while there.

 

I would never go to Wallenpaupack again. Not that Wallenpaupack isn’t nice, but why would I drive an hour + to small lake overrun with power boaters and PWCs when I could drive 3 hours to this beautiful place.

 

How could I have lived here this long and not known that this jewel existed.

 

 

Update:

 

We returned to the lake 2 weeks later with our friends from the Dry Tortugas Sail, Chip and Janice Hindes.We had another fabulous weekend. We arrived on Friday September 10, 2004 and stayed until Sunday.

 

We reserved slips 15 and 16. Slip 15 is what we had the last time. We rigged and launched Friday afternoon and had a great sail in 10 knots or better winds. We sailed until dark.

Friday night we returned to “Viva Taqueria” for a great meal.

 

 Saturday morning began with a big breakfast cooked at the slip. Janic made pancakes, Julie made egg beaters with spam “light”. Chip tried out a new drip coffee pot made for the stove. Together we had a nice breakfast. Chip and Janice had some friends join them on their boat for a day of sailing. The day started out with little wind. We finally decided to motor to Taughannock Falls. As we approached the concrete dock and looked for a place to dock, Janice suggested that we beach the boats. That sounded good to me so we drove the boats up on the beach area next to the docks. The beach was closed to swimmers. We walked up for another visit to the falls. Water was running much heavier than it was a couple of weeks ago. The remnants of Hurricane Frances had passed through a couple of days before.

 

When we retuned to the boats we noticed that the wind had picked up. It looked like we had a good 7 to 10 knots. The sails went up and we had a good afternoon of sailing.

 

It was here that I did a little experimenting. I had commented to Chip that I thought that our Mac was performing quite well to windward despite what the cautions had been regarding the Mac 26X’s lack of performance in this area. To test it I sailed a course on one tack, and set the autopilot as close to the wind as I could get it. The autopilot read 180 deg. I then tacked the boat and did the same on the other tack. I was able to sail there at 101 deg. The winds were perhaps 7 knots. This meant that we could sail 40 deg. off the wind. Not bad at all.

 

Chip said that he could not sail that close. And, it seemed that when we were sailing to weather we were always able to beat Chip and Janice. We surmised that it might be our Mylar head sail. Chip has a Dacron genoa. I noticed that Chips sail seemed to have a bit of a belly while ours had a wide, smooth camber. This may have been an illusion but Chip and I both came to the conclusion independently. I will do further experiments but at the moment I am very impressed with our boats performance to windward.

 

I should mention that Chip had the edge downwind. He used a wisker pole for wing on wing sailing. I have one but it did not work as planned. I need to do the modified pool pole as he did.

 

We sailed until we realized we had a long way to go back to the marina and darkness was approaching. The winds diminished so we motored back.

 

Saturday night Julie and I went out to dinner on our own. Chip and Janice had been eating aboard all day with their friends and were not really hungry. They went to scoops for ice cream while we went to the King Buffet. A Chinese buffet with 108 items. $7.99 all you can eat. What a deal.

 

Sunday morning the four of us went to Kelly’s Dockside Cafe for breakfast. Julie and Janice walked the mile or so to Kelly’s. This was after they had already been to the park that morning. Chip and I took the Suburban. After another great breakfast at Kelly’s we returned to the slip to “check out”. We headed back out to the lake and sailed in light winds until a little after noon.

 

We returned to the launch, de-rigged and said our good-byes. It would be a short time before we saw Chip and Janice again as we had a trip planned on the Chesapeake for Oct. 1.

 

Aren’t trailerable boats the best?