Tugboat roundup 2022

It’s a wrap. We had a great opportunity to spend the weekend at the tugboat round up in Waterford New York. We left Friday afternoon and ended up launching across the river from Waterford in Troy. We met up with the boats from the tugboat round up parade that we’re coming up from Albany at Federal lock number one. After a parade up the river we all docked in Waterford for the first night of the round up.

The tugboat round up his put on by a volunteer organization and is a opportunity to showcase primarily the marine transportation tugboats that traverse the Hudson rive as well as the Erie and Champlain canals. There are multiple large working tugboats to come up for the weekend and dock alongside each other. Also included this year was the US Coast Guard cutter Hauser. After all large vessels had been docked for the evening the cruise disembarked and everybody met up.

Day two of the round up consist of everybody opening boats to the public as well as number of food and craft vendors along the walls in the Waterford visitor center. Some boats allow visitors on their boats as we did. There are a number of antique tug boats that give tours throughout the day. There’s also an entire different class of mini tugs which we get grouped into. These tugs are really small. Less than 5 feet with an outboard motor. they tend to be a showstopper and the highlight of the event.

The organizers of the event have gone out of their way to make it very child friendly. Throughout the day there are child activities including children’s activities with the Waterford fire department, Junior line tossing, and several child related craft events.

Throughout the day I got the chance to sit by the boat and interact with all the visitors from the round up. It’s amazing how many people come from a distance to attend the event. Ironically we actually met two other owners of ranger tug 21s and we’re able to connect with them for future opportunities together.

By 4 o’clock official events wind down and the D crowd starts to filter out. An excellent band kicks up which is on top of a boat more than the harbor, and all the boaters captains begin to mingle and talk. at 8 o’clock the worlds best fireworks go off on a barge pushed up by a tug located just several hundred yards off the main Waterford docks. It was an awesome night and a great opportunity to showcase the ranger tug and meet a number of different people.

While we would love to of stayed for the second day of the tugboat round up, the Trent Severn Canal was calling. An early start got us off the water by eight along with a five hour trip up to Trenton Marina in Ontario. After settling in for the night we prepared ourselves for the next journey of the epic trip.