Towed into Rochester (Day 3 and 4)

Day Three
By 10:00 pm we were being towed into Rochester Harbour by a little tugboat where we tied up alongside the gas docks at Shumway Marine.

The harbour is a very pretty, glittery place to sit and wonder how much it will cost to repair your motor.  To ponder if this the end of our cruising vacation or just an expensive stay-over in Rochester.  Rob was muttering some heresy about giving up boating entirely.  

We left Olcott in the morning not sure where we’d end up, figuring we’d just keep on going until we felt like stopping.  I guess fate decided this one for us.

When we left at 7:30 a.m. there was not a lot of wind, so we motored on and off for the next twelve hours..  Early evening Rob noticed the engine was overheating and switched it off. That’s when we both started cursing the mechanic who ‘fixed’ our motor at the start of the cruise.

We could see Rochester in the distance, so we hoisted the sails and at 3 knots per hour, edged slowly toward the mouth of the harbour, mulling over the best tack to take us inside.  Head sail?  Jib?  Unfortunately, wind right on the nose made it impossible to sail in... and by that time it was dark.  Rob hit his toe on the top deck during the kerfuffle.

We tried our motor after it had a chance to cool down, but it wasn’t starting at all.  Our radio calls to several passing boats were going unanswered, “To the sailing vessel entering Rochester Harbour, this is Yondering”... So we called the Coast Guard, who gave us the phone number for the tug, and $200 American dollars later we were tying our lines on shore.

Day Four


Woke up this morning and left messages with mechanics, hoping to find a diesel specialist.  Found one!   He's promised to drop by today and check out the situation.  Meanwhile, Rob's toe is turning purple and blue.  He has decided against medical attention.


Rochester is a great port.  It's very easy to hop on a bike and get to the grocery store, so that's what we did.


Around 2:30 I started wondering if the mechanic would ever call.  We’d had lunch, ridden our bikes to the store and were hanging out on the boat.  I was watching some swallows on the boat lines. They were perched on them and bobbing up and down as the lines were being gently pulled taut and loose; it looked like they were enjoying a bit of a free ride.

So unbelievably hot!  I asked Rob if he wanted to join me at the Rochester Yacht Club, to sit by the pool, to cool down in the sweltering heat; but he preferred to stay put and nurse his foot. 


I wandered over to the pool to do some reading.  It was at least 10 degrees cooler there - very welcoming, with lots of ice water on hand.  I got lost in my reading (Galore), falling in and out of napping, and before I knew it almost three hours had gone by.


When I got back to the boat, the mechanic, Ray Peters, was just finishing up.  True to his word, he’d not only called but stopped by.  Problem fixed!  I felt like giving this stranger a hug.  He gave the motor a thorough inspection, put in a new hose, and deemed Yondering seaworthy again.  That means we’re off to continue our adventures  tomorrow.

Rochester at night photo credit