Summer cruising along New England’s coast has been a tradition of ours for years. A decade ago, however, during my family’s Great Loop adventure, we discovered an alternative to the cool coastal waters of New England. Instead of heading up New York’s East River and east through Long Island Sound, we steered north for a picturesque 160-mile cruise up the Hudson River to Troy, New York. Here we entered Champlain Canal to begin our exploration of Lake Champlain, the sixth-largest freshwater lake in the United States.
Anxious, but prepared, we entered our very first lock at Troy — the entrance to the 64-mile Champlain Canal — and we began our 96-foot ascent to Lake Champlain transiting 12 locks. Speed limits of 10 mph (8.7 knots) and lock delays make it difficult to transit the canal in one day, so we stopped at the charming, friendly Schuyler Yacht Basin, using it as a base to visit historic Saratoga Springs by car. Transiting the locks was easier than we had anticipated. A 17-foot height limit requires sailboats to unstep their masts at Troy.
Between June and November of 2011, a huge dredging project to remove PCB-contaminated sediment was conducted in the canal as part of a 200-mile Hudson River cleanup initiative. While recreational navigation was not interrupted, it’s worth going to www.hudsondredgingdata.com or www.champlaincanal.org for the latest updates. 
View a complete photo gallery here.
Before reaching the clean waters of Lake Champlain, yachtsmen must take every precaution to prevent the discharge of marine sewage. Fortunately, most marinas have pump-out facilities, and a number of public parks provide self-service pump-out stations.
Running north and south for 120 miles and stretching 10 miles across at its widest point, Lake Champlain lies between Vermont’s Green Mountains to the east and New York’s Adirondacks to the west. The mountain scenery is spectacular, and the waters run deep with most hazards well marked. When the winds blow, wave height can reach four feet or more, but protected harbors and anchorages are usually just a few miles apart.
Memories of our 2002 Lake Champlain cruise brought us back this past summer with our trailerable C-Dory Tomcat. After launching at the town ramp in Westport, New York, we took a slip at nearby Westport Marina, a small, full-service marina complete with a restaurant on the premises. Owned and operated by the Carroll family, it offers top-notch, friendly service.
