I read a sort of travelog on the Victoria Forum written by a sailor named Donald Peavey. His account of a day of sailing on Delta Lake inspired me to hook up my trailer and go check it out. The lake is about 6 miles north of Rome NY. It was created in 1908 by building a dam on a creek in the picturesque little town of Delta. It's purpose was to provide water to keep the Erie canal navagible during periods of drought. These days there's a very nice state park on it's shores with picnicking, camping and boating facilities.
I left Mariaville NY at 8:30am on October 3rd. I stopped for breakfast on the Thruway and still got to the launch by 10:30. Check out the aerial photos from Google World. I took my time raising the mast and was heading out into the lake by about 11. The wind was blowing 15 to 20 mph. Temp in the low 60's. Leaves turning. A perfect fall day. I roller reefed my main (three turns of the boom) and headed out.


Nice clean concrete launch with a
sheltered channel leading out to the lake

You can see the roller reefing
in the main. The Vic flew in 15 to 20 mph winds

On one of my tacks I scared a Heron into flight.
I scrambled for my camera but missed the shot, I thought.
When I got home I found that I had accidentally caught him.WindSong

The leaves were just starting to peak



After about four hours of brisk sailing I headed for the launch. When I got close I dropped my motor and tried to start it. For the first time ever it wouldn't start. A very nice couple on a pontoon boat offered me a tow but I turned it down and went in under sail. The wind was behind me so I hauled up my jib and coasted on in. A while later when I was pulling the motor from the boat, I was embarassed to discover that the kill switch key had fallen out disabeling the motor. OOPS!

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