Albin 25 sighting

[DesertAlbin736]

We have friends who bought a Southern Cross 31 double ended full keel cutter rigged sailboat up in Bayfield, WI last year. They are considering sailing it to the East coast to as far south as Chesapeake Bay this coming summer season & laying it up for the 2021-22 winter season somewhere on the Chesapeake, like around Annapolis or Solomons for example. . That would be a very long passage which would include transiting the Erie Canal. Bayfield is near the Apostle Islands on the western end of Lake Superior. Just to get from Bayfield via the "Soo" locks, & Lake Huron to Detroit & across Lake Erie to the western terminus of the Erie Canal at Tonawanda, NY is very roughly about 800 nautical miles. To get from Tonawanda to Annapolis via the Hudson to NYC & down the NJ coast & Delaware Bay to the C&D canal is another roughly 620 nautical miles. So if they were to decide to split the trip in to two phases & lay up their boat for winter of 2021-22 somewhere along the way the is a small marina & ramp on the Erie Canal at Macedon, NY about a third of the way east from the west end of the canal.

So, to make a long story slightly shorter, I was looking at street views of the marina & ramp on Google Maps & saw this A25 pictured docked near the ramp, dated August 2017. No idea who the owner would be, but if anyone recognizes this boat would be nice to hear from them. Appears to have a hard top over the cockpit & tanbark colored side curtains plus a "pop top" over the wheelhouse. Our boat had a similar pop top when we bought it, but was a problem when trailering over the road since the 60 miles per hour slipstream would tend to catch it & slam it open.

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[Dieselram94]

The way the rear hard top kicks up looks familiar for some reason. I think I’ve at least seen one similar somewhere for sale.

[Freya]

If I am not mistaken the Albin 25 in the photo was a transit from the Chicago/Michigan region. It was trailered and spent two summers and one winter in the area. To my knowledge there are only 3 Albin 25 and one Albin 27 in this area. I purchased one of the Albin 25 in July 2019, formerly "Flicka". The marina in the photo is Macedon Landing, home of former Mid-Lakes Navigation, English canal boat rental company.

Although I am retired, I own a small marina (Hidden Harbor Marina) in Waterloo, NY where I keep my boats, and also operate Low Bridge Charters, renting a 44' English canal boat the "Sunflower. I remember the Albin 25 in question because I use to winter over my canal boat at Macedon Landing, I asked if it was for sale. Peter Wiles, Jr, former owner of Mid-Lakes could possibly give you more information.

[WillieC]

A25 owners can run but they can't hide. We will find you. I found one in a marina almost fully covered with a tarp. Just a peak at the corner of the aft cabin and the rub rail. Dead giveaway. Might as well have been full monty.

[DesertAlbin736]

I purchased one of the Albin 25 in July 2019, formerly "Flicka". The marina in the photo is Macedon Landing, home of former Mid-Lakes Navigation, English canal boat rental company.

We met that former owner of Flicka at Macedon Marina when we cruised our boat from the Seneca Lake State Park Ramp to the main Erie Canal via the CS Canal & westward to Fairport & back from May 29 to June 3rd, 2015. On June 1, 2015 we just happened to see Flicka approaching Macedon from the west & turn in to the marina as we approached from the east. We pulled in behind him & docked in an empty slip & chatted with the owner. His name was Craig Erickson (as recorded in my cruising log), but I neglected to ask for or exchange contact information at the time. If you happen to see him again tell him we said hi. The world of Albin 25 owners is a small one.

Here's the photo I took of what is now your boat. Must say you made a good choice.

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Launching our A25 on Seneca Lake

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Here's where we docked for a rainy day spent the day before at Lyons

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Now there is a slight chance, still yet to be determined, that we could end up on the Erie Canal ourselves this summer. We have some sailing friends out here who bought a 31 foot Southern Cross double ended cutter rigged sailboat last year which is now laid up for the winter in Bayfield, Wisconsin. That's at the west end of Lake Superior near the Apostle Islands. They are thinking seriously doing a passage with that boat to the east coast via Lake Superior, Lake Huron, and Lake Erie, transiting the canal & on down the Hudson River to NYC & the ICW down the New Jersey coast & up Delaware Bay to the C&D Canal and on to Annapolis. This is the same couple we've cruised with before up in British Columbia when they trailered their other boat, an O'Day 25, up from AZ. That is a hugely ambitious plan, and we've talked about maybe coordinating with them & trailering our boat out to NY & meeting somewhere on the Erie Canal in which case Macedon could be an optional rendezvous point. They're not likely to get underway until early July, and just the distance from Bayfield, WI to Tonawanda is in the range of 840 NM. Averaging 30 NM per day, which is pretty ambitious, could take all of July just to get to Tonawanda. Then there's the 325 statute miles from one end of the Erie Canal to the other where it connects to the Hudson RIver at Waterford, then another 145 NM to NY City, another 130 NM to Cape May, roughly 60 NM up Delaware Bay to the C&D Canal, 15NM through the canal to Chesapeake Bay, and finally another 50 NM or so on to Annapolis. That's at least 1,500 NM in all if not more. That's nearly a two month passage that would put them on Chesapeake Bay around Labor Day at the earliest, not counting weather or mechanical delays.

If we could meet them somewhere on the Erie Canal, & the reason I spotted that other A25 on Google maps was looking to see what the Midlakes ramp looks like. As a possible launch point for us & where we could park our truck & trailer long term, then go along with them the rest of the way to the Chesapeake, do a fall cruise there, then rent a car to come back & get our truck & trailer to drive back down to wherever we end up & haul out & drive back home to Arizona. We'd just better hope no hurricanes hit the Chesapeake. So we'll see. We had planned to do this Triangle Loop this past summer, but Canada closed their border due to COVID which through a monkey wrench into that plan.

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[DesertAlbin736]

Freya,

As noted above we launched from the state park on Seneca Lake. After spending the first night docked at Stiver's Marina we went the length of the CS Canal right past your Hidden Harbor Marina. Perhaps you've seen this "African Queen" steam launch on the CS Canal?

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Looking at Google satellite views of your marina, is that a travelift you have there? Just a thought, but if our friends decided they didn't think they could make it all the way to the east coast but wanted to lay their boat up for the 2021-22 winter season somewhere on the Erie Canal (or CS Canal) could your marina haul out & block a boat like that on the hard? A Southern Cross 31 is a full keel 4 foot draft, looks like this (a sister ship of our friends'):

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Our trailer has full length bunks so it would be tough for us to launch with a travelift.