A Man and His Barge Set Sail for The Big Apple

After many months of planning, Erik Andrus and his barge, “Ceres,” are on their way to New York City with 12 tons of goods to sell along the way. Andrus, the owner and operator of the Bound Brook Farm and the Good Companion Bakery in Ferrisburgh, Vermont, conceived the idea of building a 39-foot barge, the Ceres, as a way to provide shelf-stable produce to vendors as he sails down Lake Champlain and the Hudson River to New York City.

The enterprise, called the Vermont Freight Sail Project, has partnered with farms near Andrus as well as the Greenhorns, a young farmer activism and advocacy network and the Willowell Foundation to launch this initiative. By leaning heavily on volunteer labor and crowd sourced funding, the once idealistic dream has now come to fruition as the Ceres and her crew of a half dozen, lead by Captain Steve Schartz, have already made it as far as Troy, New York.

Though the trip has been successful thus far, it has not been without challenges. The first was timing the load-in with a powerful storm that passed through last Monday, Oct. 8. With 24,000 lbs. of goods ranging from maple syrup and blueberry marmalade to potatoes and milled flour, the logistics of loading and balancing the barge has been difficult.

Things were made easier when friends of the voyage arranged for the Ceres to be loaded in the colonial-era shipping warehouses at Chipman Point Marina instead of a fishing access point at Champlain Orchards.  For a project conceived in the image of Vermont’s proud maritime past, the use of the Chipman docks was a delightful and useful opportunity for the Ceres and her crew.

The barge has been making speedy progress on their way south covering 54 miles over 12 hours, and arriving on Oct. 12 in Troy, New York. Tianna Kennedy, the dockside logistics coordinator for the project noted that the dockside event in the city was busy and commerce brisk.

While Andrus did not initially intend to include a motor on the barge, desiring to rely only on the wind for energy, consultations between the Coast Guard and Captain Steve Schartz have forced the project to include a motor for safety reasons, according to Kennedy. She said that the Coast Guard was worried that without a motor, the boat could find itself in unsafe positions once it got down to New York City as it maneuvers between ocean liners, ferries and all other types of sea-faring craft. The motor also makes the navigating of the many locks along the Hudson easier and more efficient for both the crew and the New York Canal Corporation. Kennedy was quick to reassure that the majority of time the Ceres still plans to be under sail.

The project is selling its products through both mundane and high-tech means. Individuals along the route can go to dockside and buy directly from the company or can make purchases via Good Eggs, an online grocer that brings local groceries right to its customer’s doorstep.

If everything goes as planned, the crew hopes to be in the New York City region by Oct. 23 — traversing from Yonkers to the New York City Harbor followed by the Brooklyn Navy Yard and the South Street Seaport.  Once the goods are sold and the barge restocked, the Ceres will begin the long return north on Nov. 1.

Using AIS Ship Finder and Google Maps, interested parties can, at all hours, track the whereabouts of the Ceres as she makes her 600 nautical mile trip south to New York City and back.

The Vermont Sail Freight Project welcomes those interested in the project or the product to seek further information on their website: http://www.vermontsailfreightproject.com/.