The Panama Canal crossing

True Blue 1
Robin and Suzie Roots
Wed 6 Feb 2013 18:16
08 56N; 079 33W
 

Panama Canal

 

The Panama Canal, one of the engineering wonders of the world, has its own mystique and tales of disaster and trauma to yachties.  Stories are told of cleats being ripped out, boats being smashed against the wall by the turbulence of large container ships, line-handlers dropping ropes with disastrous consequences etc, etc. So there is a high level of anxious tension in everyone who transits for the first time; we were just thankful we had previously line-handled on another boat so knew what to expect.

 Our day of transit arrived. A flurry of emails from our agent Erick as the times kept changing. The wind was blowing 25 knots as we left the marina to the farewells of all the friends we had made. Even though we had had a practice run the anxiety levels were high. Huge tyres wrapped in plastic lined True Blue 1, and blue polypropelene ropes were attached to the bow and the stern. After leaving the marina we sat at the exposed ‘Flats’  anchoring area, waiting for  our “Advisor” to come aboard.

 

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The Advisor arrives            

 

 Finally, he arrived and we tried to set off but  near disaster! The anchor winch  chose this moment of all times to spit the dummy, and we therefore  had to pull the anchor up by hand, the advisor threatening us with all sorts of dire things unless we got going fast! We did not need reminding that a cancellation of your transit leads to a large fine and a possible re-scheduling for another month. Finally the beast was up, Robin and Bill having worked like fury to do a quick manual retrieval,  and we sprinted for the first lock on the Atlantic side – the Gatun locks.  Thank heavens for a clean bottom as we had to do 7plus knots to catch our pod of yachts.

There were three yachts in our group and we were the centre yacht, so after our initial drama it seemed we would have little to do.

Into the lock we went, True Blue 1’s engine powering all three yachts forward. The Panama staff hurled the messenger lines and monkey fists down for us to catch and secure our heavy ropes to. These were then hauled up the sides of the lock and secured at the top. True Blue looked a bit like a gypsy caravan during the monkey fist throwing episodes as our solar panels and windows were padded with all manner of cushions to prevent a monkey fist landing on one and breaking the glass – the monkey’s fists are hard and a ‘missed catch’ results in broken panels on unprepared yachts

clip_image004 The lock gates close behind us Goodbye to the Caribbean sea

Quite quickly we were trussed up and the water boiled as the lock began to fill. The line handlers on the outside boats puffed and panted as they endeavoured to keep the pressure even on all 4 lines simultaneously. As the middle boat we watched their efforts with interest, feeling faintly relieved that after the anchor winch drama there was little to do.

 Finally we reached the top of the first lock, the far gates were opened and True Blue motored and ‘steered’ all 3 boats to the second lock. The process was repeated a third time and finally we were free; the beautiful Gatun lake lay before us and with some relief we separated from the other yachts as we all made way to a mooring buoy a short distance away to while away the night.

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The skipper and the advisor

 

The next day, our Adviser arrived just after dawn, and all yachts left for the 4 hour motor to the Miraflores locks; this time we were going down so things were easier. Due to a change in plans, True Blue 1 was an outside boat, so our line handlers had their share of work to ensure we stayed in the correct place and never came close to touching the formidable, unforgiving concrete walls of the locks.

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True Blue with her lock livery

Our Adviser called ahead to request the web cams were turned on and we all gave a triumphant wave for the camera as we passed by. Suddenly, we had completed 3 locks, passed under the iconic Bridge of the Americas, and it was over! We had arrived in the Pacific! A mooring was awaiting us at Balboa Yacht Club, organised by the trusty Erick so that we could sort out our windlass problem, and after a couple of days or combined boat jobs and relaxation we were ready for action. With a forecast of inevitably light winds we prepared ourselves for our first leg in the Pacific; Galapagos here we come!