We had a real sled ride after we left Erie. The winds built to 20 kts with a 5-7 ft following sea. Here's a video Neala took out of the galley port. We arrived at Buffalo Yacht club at 1900 on Friday and took a guest slip on their outer wall and had a great dinner. Scallops with a persimmon risotto.

On Saturday morning, I busied myself building some wooden fenders for the lock walls while we waited for Shawn Phelps to arrive to crew with us until New York City. At 13:15 we departed in a blustery 20+ knot blow (glad we left Erie yesterday) and headed into the Black Rock Channel down the Niagara River.

Here's a shot of the Peace Bridge as we head down river towards Tonawanda and the start of the Erie Canal.

After a short cruise we encountered our first lock: The Black Rock Lock. It dropped us about 5 ft back down to the level of the river that had been flowing really rapidly past us in the canal.

After this lock we followed the river again to the Erie Canal and made our way to Lockport, where we docked for the night.

Had a great dinner at d'Vine Wine Bar sharing and comparing individual wine flights chosen from over 75 varietals. Pretty good selection and great food punctuated by Jeff spilling a glass of wine on Neala followed by lots of laughter. Jeff dubbed "Sponge Jeff Wine Pants" by Shawn.

Ok, this shot was before the spill (you can tell, Neala looks happy). Here's Shawn's art photo having fun with shadows.

 In the morning we awoke and began the Lockport locks (#35 & #34). These aren't little 5 footers, but two big 25 ft locks, back-to-back, that dropped us off of the Niagara Escarpment and into the real Erie Canal below. You can see Northern Lights docked in the upper right of the photo.

From Lockport, we motored 48 miles past serene upstate New York country farmland in fall colors, small towns and a dozen lift bridges. All the towns along the canal have noticed that boaters need services and services generate revenue so the facilities we have seen so far are pretty nice. Free power in many of the little towns, and lots of friendly townspeople greeted us with a wave and a hello as we motored by, including a local Cub Scout group at one of the lift bridges.

Crew work was really tough. At 15:45 we arrived in Spencerport and docked for the night in light rain. Fortunately, we had already pitched the tent.