The 11 locks of the Champlain Canal, that link the Hudson River to Lake Champlain, raise us 139 feet above sea level then lower us back down to Lake Champlain's 93 feet above sea level (the last four locks are lowering us down). Between the wind gusts and the currents from water being pumped into or out of the lock it wasn't always easy to manage the lines to keep Arapesh from banging against the wall, or worse, banging our mast or furling drum against the wall (we really missed having Denis on board with us!). I was relieved to get through that last lock at Whitehall unscathed, only to be greeted with increasing winds and weather alerts about even higher winds, thunderstorms and hail! Once anchored outside of Westport we watched on the radar the rather severe storms pass both north and south of us - we were lucky to have missed some bad weather! Immediately, we - Nicole and Richard and us - noted the lack of tide and ocean swells! Can't say I miss them; we were able to travel fast too, sometimes over 8 knots under motor with the wind directly behind us and stay flat the whole time (imagine what we could have done with sails up)! And, we swam in the most beautiful water, washed our hair, and didn't worry about sharks or salt! We have much to be thankful here.