Dodging Debris

We arrived in Albany, NY, yesterday as planned.  Albany will be Make Me Smile's home for the next week and we will take a week long break from boat navigation.  Albany has a very nice running, walking, cycling path along the Hudson River.  We got out on the path yesterday afternoon for a run and skateboard ride.  

Out for some fresh air and exercise along the Hudson River.

We are ready for a break from navigation and boating.  Over our past two days of travel, the Hudson River has narrowed from its widest point of 3.5 miles down to 1/4 mile across.  With the narrowing of the river, the current has gotten stronger and we've noted a significant increase in debris floating downstream.  

Rain and flooding has increased the natural spring run off which also includes an increase in debris.  The marina where we planned to stay a couple nights ago warned us off and told us not to enter the creek where the marina is located due to flood conditions, strong current and dock damage.

What kind of debris you ask???, mostly large logs, tree stumps, and firewood.  Our Captain has done an amazing job of dodging visible debris the past two days but we have had a few "bumps" on the bow from debris that wasn't visible sending a panic wave through the Admiral and causing our Captain to immediately put the engines in neutral to allow the debris to safely float by.  We've been fortunate that nothing has connected with the running gear.  It's been a slow go the last two days as we've traveled at a reduced speed to watch for and avoid debris and also due to the current running against us.

When we arrived in Albany the Dockmaster informed us that the locks on the Erie Canal are currently set open to allow the debris to clear out.  Eventually the debris will flow the 150 miles south, through NYC and out to the Atlantic Ocean.

At the last marina and this one as well the crew on the dock has been continually clearing debris caught on the floating docks, allowing it to continue to float south.  Yesterday afternoon we observed a crew at this marina moving log after log away from the docks by tying a line to each log and using a pontoon boat to drag the log out into the middle of the Hudson River and setting the log free to float downstream.  Some of the logs were longer than the pontoon boat!  

The smaller logs are pushed away from the docks with the biggest dock pole we've ever seen with a special spike on the end to get leverage to push the debris.  Each dock has this special pole.  The spike on the end of the pole reminded Hilary of a spike that would be used to poke firewood in a fire, but much, much larger scale.

In the picture below, note the size of the log floating in the water that is caught in the docks compared to the man standing on the docks.  This gives you perspective on the size of some of the debris we've been dodging the past couple days.

Note the size of the log in the water compared
to the size of the man on the walkway and the boats in the background.
Huge log!!!!  

Debris in the Hudson River.
This log was over 20' long.

In the video below, this stump floated by us in the marina after we were docked.  It was probably 10' across and will get caught in the next finger pier of floating docks behind us and need to be removed.  At this marina, all boats are required to dock with the bow facing north.   This is so debris will float on by and not get caught in the transom, swim platforms and running gear.