ZippySails

So after days of solitude we entered lock 19 and saw a sailboat tied up to the wall in front of the lock. Wow it had an Irish flag on the back and South Hampton on the transom. The people on the boat called to us and we got talking. What an inspiration they were. They had been out sailing for 5 years! The more we talked the more we had in common. Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity. Going where the wind blew them, working along the way when they needed to. What a fun encounter. Hopefully we will be able to stay in touch. The visit was way to short as we had gone through the lock and needed to find a place to stay for the night.

We continued on in the dark which was not the best idea with no lights on the boat due to the mast being down. Our trusty high watt spot light proceeded to die as it was not fully charged (who is in charge of that anyways?) so we were navigating with a headlight trying to find the buoys! We made our way to a possible place but found the water to be to shallow for us by the wall. First time we have had that problem the whole way down the canal, what are the odds? Well thankfully we met some other people who were on a sailboat against the wall and they let us tie up to the side of their boat (it's called rafting), that was a real blessing AND we learned they had been out living on their boat for more than 11 years. They started with their boat in Sweden! Amazing right here on the Erie Canal worldwide travelers. We went to bed dreaming of the days ahead.