can we help
+44(0)1983 296060
+1 757-788-8872
tell me moreJoin a rally

Menu

American Spirit II - Day 22; Thru the Gatun Locks; Saturday, January 25, 2014



I seemed to have miscounted a day so the days went from Day 20 to 22.

The morning was spent getting ready to transit the 3 Gatun Locks today. We had to be ready to go by 12:00 Noon, even though our appointment was at 4:30 PM. Late in the morning we were told to leave the Shelter Bay Marina at 2:30 PM and proceed to an anchorage area, anchor and wait for the pilot boat to drop off our Advisor at 4:00 PM. We departed at 2:34 PM and anchored at 3:22 PM. The area we anchored in was mud, and we along with some other boats dragged anchor. At 4:10 PM our Advisor, Victor, was dropped off at our boat; and at 5:00 PM we weighed anchor and headed for the Gatun Locks. Eleven sail boats in the Rally were scheduled to go thru the locks together, in rafts of 3, 3, 3, and 2. We were in the first raft tied to a 60 foot catamaran named Nexus; who also had another boat named Audacious tied to their starboard.

We proceeded into the first Gatun Lock, with a depth of 43 feet. Two canal workers threw a monkey fist at us. This 'monkey fist' had a thin line attached to it. We took this line and tied our thick, 125 line to it. It was then pulled up to the top of the lock by the worker. Once the rear gate closed water came cascading in. The method of introduction of the water was via gravity. Once our depth increased to a little over 70 feet we moved on. During this whole process,as the water level increased, the lines were taken in and tightened. We repeated this process three times.

We entered the first lock at 5:43 PM and were tied up to Nexus, who was tied up to a mooring ball, by 8:23 PM on Gatun Lake. In traversing the 3 locks, a ship in the other lock was doing the same thing at the same time going the same direction. The whole process covered a distance of only 3.4 miles.

Sunday morning we receive our Advisor at 5:45 AM and then have to travel 27 miles to the Milaflores Locks where we will 'lock down' to sea level again. We are scheduled to be at the Miraflores Locks at 11:00 AM. The lock has a Web Cam that can be accessed at htt://pancanal.com/eng/. Since we are in the first raft of 3 sail boats, it will be possible to see us as we traverse one of the locks. Provided, of course, that the camera is turned on and is working properly.

Brian Fox

Previous | Next