Waterford Tugboat Roundup 2013 b

First, and I quote, the roundup “began in 1999 as a way to preserve and promote the maritime industrial heritage of the State Canal System….”  Many thanks to the sponsors and the volunteers.   Thanks to the town for their “hawsepitality”  (That’s Jed’s newly minted term.) which brings about 25,000 people to a Saratoga County town of fewer than 10,000.

What light is this illuminating the Second Avenue Bridge between the town and Peebles Island?  And what is the kayaker . . .

and all these others looking at . . .

while bathed in varying light?

If you do Facebook, catch about a minute of the grand finale of  Fireworks by Alonzo‘s artistry in Waterford the other night here.

Waterford’s pyrotechnics are unusual because the geography makes you feel them.  There’s light, sound, and some serious concussion, and that’s all one thing, singular.  And the only thing I like more than watching the explosive colors is to see what they illuminate. . .  like Mame Faye and the glassy water–after an almost shower–at the confluence of the Erie Canal and the Hudson River.

Scroll through here for my video of the show four years ago.

I’m awed by the power and flash reflected in this fresh water.   Click here for my fotos from the first roundup I attended seven years ago.

And then it’s morning and time to clean up, check

the condition on the barge, move

the tow to a place where the ebris can be offloaded, and

send in the underwater inspection expert.

??

For that underwater inspection of prop and flanking rudders . . . that’s tomorrow’s post.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp, who needs to get to his paying job.

Here’s a fireworks post I did a little over a year ago.

Waterford 2009 Details

A truckable tug named Mame Faye and her tow anchor outside the current near the confluence of the Mohawk and Hudson Rivers.  Idyllic . . .  serene, sleepy upstate river banks .  . . eh?  She’ll be back.

Here tugs Empire and Shenandoah tie up on the opposite bank of Mame Faye and along the bulkhead.

Farther east is The Chancellor, with twin stacks arranged longitudinally.

Still farther east inside LehighValley Barge 79, speakers like Jessica DuLong and Don Sutherland mesmerize with their tales and chronicles of the river.

Captains Bill and Pam park their powerful machines to rest and enjoy the quiet of oars moving in and out of the fresh water.

Rain showers come and go and no one cares.  Lined up behind Empire are Little Bitt, Gowanus Bay, Benjamin Elliott, and Margot. It’s another lazy day at the Roundup.

What’s this on the foredeck of Bill’s Eighth Sea?  Looks like PVC, hairspray, and  . . . radishes?

And Captain Fred has gotten involved.  This looks  . . .

ominous, especially after he went to the supermarket for 50-calibre radishes, the most lethal kind.

As dusk falls,  that same Captain Bill boards Mame Faye to maneuver the barge into the middle of the stream, which is now closed to traffic, for it will soon be time to

see the scene change and

How to describe that:  part night harbor scene, rock concert, traffic jam, railroad crossing, cacophony, simulated war zone, kaleidoscope, popcorn popper, video game, confetti, aquatic bioluminescence gone wild, volcano, apocalypse .  . .   Oh, and I’ve always preferred seeing the flashes reflect in water to seeing them in air.

Now who do you suppose Mame Faye was?  Elizabeth toots Mame‘s horn here.

All fotos and video by Will Van Dorp.

Unrelated . . .  the Dutch barge flotilla probably moves through the Hudson Highlands and northward today;  if you get good fotos and want to share, email me.

Boxes on Barges

Tugs moves barges of fuel, dredged rock, garbage, recycling paper, cranes, bulkhead construction materials, and more. What do you suppose is in the boxes on this barge that is marked with red flags and moving north on the Hudson?

Or what’s in the boxes on the barge attached to the small tug Mame Faye? Why are workmen pulling plastic over these boxes? Can you see the raindrops on the water? By the way, this picture was taken near the confluence of the Hudson and Mohawk north of Albany last September at the Tug Roundup.

The rain stopped, the sun went down, horns and whistles on more than two dozen tugs blasted into the night, plastic wrap was removed by someone with a flashlight, the first box opened, and then there was an explosion and light,

and more delightful light as the show went on for what seemed hours; any lull was responded to by more horns and whistles. A stranger stopping at a local gas station while passing through would have wondered about the racket in the tiny town of Waterford, might have made life-altering vows.

Fireworks reflected on the water: this reminds me of the excitement of unwrapping gifts, of the lights in the eyes of children as they open boxes and presents. Such marvels arrive in boxes delivered on ships and barges. How about a whole new mythology about how boxes get delivered all over the world tonight? Cheers.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.