The crossing of the Panama Canal can easily be said was a wonderful experience. The process took about a day and a half total, which is not too bad if you consider what the boats are actually accomplishing by taking the short-cut rather than having to round the horn (though a trip to Ushuaia wouldn't be too bad). Thursday afternoon, after a short Aussie Day Barbie celebration, the 11 boats for the second transit anchored out in the harbor before receiving the advisor for the evening's transit. It all was pushed back a little later than planned but this did not damper any spirits as all were still excited for the experience. Wind Dancer picked up another crew member for the evening and we had the pleasure of having Andrew Bishop of World ARC on board for the trip over to the Pacific.
The first lock was Gatun Lock and would be the only one transited that evening as we were scheduled to anchor in the Gatun Lake and continue the transit early the next morning. Wind Dancer rafted up with two other of the World ARC fleet boats, Serendipity (the middle boat) and Ruby, which was on Serendipity's starboard side as we tied up to their port. We had a bit of a delay in schedule, but the actual moving through the locks was quite a quick process. For the first lock, the boats entered with the water being very low. Once the Canal Linesmen through down the monkey's fist and the long lines were connected and pulled to the bollards atop the walls, we waited until all boats were in place, the lock gates were closed, then at the sound of a whistle the lock began to fill. Then tension needed to be applied to the lines as theses were all that were keeping the boats in place. There was plenty of room on either sides of the outside bots, but we really didn't want to end up being a fender for the middle boat! Once the water levels were equal between the two locks, the next set of gates were opened and the center boat would motor the procession through. This continued for three sets of gates, until it was a short motor, detached from our chain gang, to the anchorage in the man-made Gatun Lake. By the time we were in and settled, it was nearly two in the morning, with a start time of 7am. We were quick to bed to prepare for the following next two locks.
Suffering minor anchor windlass problems, Mike had to devise a clever way to get all of the chain out of the 70ft anchorage. Using cockpit winches and a couple of lines, we were able to pull the anchor up and catch up to the rest of the fleet. We received our new advisor for the day and it was a long hot motor to the next set of locks. The boats reassembled in formation and the same process occurred for entering the next set of locks. This time though the water was already at the high level and it was a matter of reducing to the level of the next gate. This required less work on the line handlers as the boats slowly receded down.
We passed though the next two locks, and approached the Bridge of the Americas, as we made our way into the Pacific Ocean.
The Wind Dancer Crew
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