The sail from Portobelo to Shelter Bay Marina on the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal is only 20 miles – we were all meant to stagger our journeys on the morning of the 22^nd so that all 30 boats would arrive over a period of around four hours in a seemly fashion. However, we all woke up early and everyone set off at approximately the same time!  There was a great feeling of camaraderie and purpose as we had not all sailed together since Gibraltar – but we did give the BWR organisers a headache at the other end - all calling in on the VHF to say we had arrived as a group!

First sight of Panama

Anahi had another minor catastrophe on route…….. we had the full main and genoa  out and were roaring along when there was a ‘crack’ and we lost steering power to starboard – we could only turn to port, which in itself wasn’t such an immediate problem as that was the way we were going anyway - but about a mile away from the Shelter Bay Marina which is near the entry and exit point for all shipping and yachts we lost steerage to port too!  The metal plate in the engine room which holds down the steering cables had lifted clean away from the floor leaving the steering cables slack!  SO!  Just about to enter one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world we had no steering power or control from the yacht’s wheel.  We rapidly brought in the sails and Bennett clambered to the back and began to hand steer with the Hydrovane rudder, pretty successfully in open sea, but not with enough precision to get us into the marina.

Bennett hand steering with the Hydrovane rudder

We reported our situation over the VHF and many other yachts offered assistance – some changing course to come and help, others trimming back in case we needed them.  We decided to anchor just outside the marina to investigate our problem further.  At this stage I was worried because I didn’t want to miss our appointment with the sail maker to mend our genoa or the promised bank run as we were very low on cash.  Hakuna Matata anchored up and came and got me in their dinghy (with our sail) so I could reach land in time!

The marina offered us a tow but had we taken it we would not have been ‘passed’ by the ad measurer in Shelter Bay Marina so it was imperative that we came in unassisted.  The ad measurers board your vessel within a few minutes of berthing to make sure absolutely everything on your boat complies to their conditions for a Panama Transit – this includes having 4 x125 foot lines (ropes), a horn, line handlers pre organised, meals and water for the transit advisors in sealed bottles, and of course steering power!  I was still there to watch Anahi limp in with her emergency tiller installed on the back!!  This is an archaic looking wooden device which we usually keep buried deep in the lockers and resembles a kind of third world water pump – but it did the trick.

Anahi limping in to Shelter Bay Marina 

The ad measurer boarded almost immediately and although he did look a little puzzled passed us – whew! We have been allocated our transit number and have duly signed the non negotiable form which relieves the authorities from any liability whatsoever for any damage sustained during passage!!

The last two days have been a frantic round of shopping to restock supplies (and get enough food on board and prepared for the two extra line handlers and transit advisor we will have with us on Sunday 27^th and Monday 28^th).  I have taken the sail to the repair man in the heart of Colon (reputedly the most dangerous city in the world) who was hermitically sealed behind his nondescript frontage.  The streets looked mean and armed policemen were on every corner.  Tony from BWR kindly took three of us with repairs up and down all the little back streets to find it and coupled the journey with a food/cash run for anyone else in need.  The result was a packed van with us all straddling the seats as the sails in their magnitude took precedence!

Outside Manuel’s sail repair shop

And inside inspecting Peter’s torn sail

Downtown Colon

Colon

Side street in Colon

Paul and Bennett have once again been on the repair treadmill – again successfully – begging and borrowing fibre glass from one source, resin from another and activator from somewhere else!  All this in between meetings with Customs and other authorities to get clearance for the Canal, inspection trips to the Gaton lock to glean more information and confidence for our transit and more in depth meetings giving us  information about the exact order of events and precise procedures. 

I have been shopping, cleaning, stowing and washing in the marina launderette as the shore power doesn’t activate our washing machine – you really need your wits about you when there are only four washing machines and four dryers to share with the restaurant, a marina full of boats and 30 BWR yachts all desperate to get cleaned up! It has been manic but fascinating and we all manage to get to Happy Hour each evening and enjoy the meal of the day before collapsing into our bunks at around 2000 hours!

For us the Rally is getting better and better – everyone mixes really well and everyone has time for one another.  The generosity of people’s time to help each other out is staggering.

Tomorrow the first 15 yachts including us are off at 1400 hours with our line handlers – each boat must have six people in total on board.  We gather together just outside the first lock and each yacht is then boarded by a transit advisor (these guys are often trainee pilots) who arrives on a large rusty tug – apparently they are used to coming ‘bow to’ which in layman’s language means straight for you - towards the side of your vessel. Many yachts have been severely damaged this way so we are all hoping to get them to come alongside instead.  The t/a then jumps down onto your boat.  When all 15 t/s are on board we raft up as we are moving along with our engines on (to give us direction and stability) into five groups of three pre arranged ‘nests’.  We are the last nest to transit in our group of five and we are on one side of Blue Raven who will be the centre yacht with Canapus on the other side.

One of the crew on Canapus was playing football with some kids in Portobelo when he fell and broke his wrist so he and his partner will be returning to the UK once we reach the other side. Hugh, the surgeon on the trip again came to the rescue!  

We then all move forward through all the locks together.  There has been much information given regarding the marinaros who throw down leaded monkey fists from the top of the lock walls – sometimes they smash a solar panel so extra care needs to be taken.  These ‘monkeys’ are put through a loop in the end of the 125 foot warps fore and aft of each outside yacht and drawn back up to the top of the lock wall at virtually a right angle!  We need to make sure that the lines don’t jump out of the cleats, possibly by running them through an extra snatch block, as if one outside boat loses control the others in the nest suffer too.  When we eventually reach Gaton lake we break up our nests and anchor for the night on buoys.  The line handlers remain with us but the t/a is taken off by another tug careering up towards us – more danger!  At 4.30 the next morning we are boarded by a new t/a – more danger!  At this time we re nest and set off again for around another 12 hours of transit.  We pass through the Mira Flores lock between 12.00 and 14.00 local time on Monday 28^th January. We are UTC -5 hours (Around 1600 to 1800 in UK) There are cameras on the lock and apparently around 400 people a day turn up to have a look.  You can go to www.pancanal.com to watch us go through and we will try and wave!! 

Once we have transited the Panama Canal and the t/a is taken off  (more danger!) we have three choices – we can anchor up, anchor to a buoy or go to Flamenco Marina.  Different boats have made different decisions but we are booked into the Flamenco.  Tony and Richard will be there to meet us all and to reunite the line handlers with their yachts still in Shelter Bay – some two hours drive back.  The next morning they come back to collect us – so we then leave our boats to return to Shelter Bay to join our hosts – and start the whole procedure again that afternoon………so you may not hear from me for a while!!!