The Gazette

Bonjour à tous,

Laissez-nous vous partager un reportage qui a paru dans le DAILY GAZETTE of Albany NY, dimanche dernier.

Nous avons eu la chance d’être interviewer, les citations un peu déformées, mais voici un bon souvenir pour nous du passage de Irène. Vous pourrez voir comment entre amis plaisanciers nous avons attendu Irène. Et selon les dernières nouvelles nous serons ici encore un bon 7 jours.

Voir ce lien pour le vidéo :

http://www.dailygazette.com/videos/2011/aug/28/771/

VOICI L'ARTICLE:

Boaters hole up, get to know each other on canal (with video)

Sunday, August 28, 2011

By David Lombardo (Contact)
Gazette Reporter

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Alan Hill of Houston covers up the control panel of his boat inside Lock 3 of the Erie Canal in Waterford on Saturday.

CAPITAL REGION — Wine and hors d’oeuvres were spread out inside the boat of Alan and Peggy Hill as they prepared to make the best out of their fourth hurricane in two years of boat travel.

The couple from Texas had found safe harbor on Saturday in the Waterford Flight of the state canal system and had moored their boat below Lock 3 in the village of Waterford. Peggy was taken with the small community, which she had walked through earlier in the day: “Waterford is a sweet little town.”

Even though the weather was pausing their “great loop,” the Hills weren’t going to miss an opportunity to have a good time and had decided to throw a hurricane party. In attendance were two couples who had docked their boats nearby. A few hours before the rain started to fall in the Capital Region, the three couples were hitting it off, as they chatted and munched.

Alan said the main ingredient for a good hurricane party is a group of strangers you have just met on the dock.

Many boaters found safe harbor on Saturday in the Waterford Flight of the state canal system and had moored their boats below Lock 3 in the village of Waterford.
Watch Video»

“We all worked on each other’s boats today,” he said. “Tying them up, taking the upstairs canopy down ... making sure everybody’s got good position.”

As he nursed a glass of wine, Cincinnati resident Erik Kamfjord jokingly blamed the Hills for his predicament.

“They’re the reason we’re in this hurricane,” he said. “They have a habit of tangling with hurricanes.”

Peggy acknowledged that they had been through a series of hurricanes, both on land and at sea, with the “I” storms repeatedly causing trouble. She said that they hid out under a freeway during Hurricane Ida and that Hurricane Ike caused damage to their boat and house.

This time around, they were well prepared to ride out the storm safely, having chosen this location weeks ago. “We tried to find a safe place, and we’ve been talking about where to go,” Peggy said.

As for Nathalie Gosselin, of Quebec City, she never anticipated that she would run into a hurricane this far north.

“Maybe in the Bahamas, but not here,” she said.

Gosselin added that the insurance on her boat even forbade her from traveling south of Virginia during certain months but didn’t make any provisions above that point.

The only potential danger the boaters were worried about was if the water levels rose about 4 feet, which would put the boats over the docks they were moored to. But because the water levels in the flight are controlled, they don’t fluctuate.

All of the boaters agreed that they would sleep soundly through the rain and couldn’t imagine sleeping on the land. “Here, we are safe,” Gosselin said.

You can follow Gosselin and her husband’s travels at www.amuleto.ca, and you can keep up with the Hills at http://amashoo.wordpress.com.