Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
of their time. They were designed and built by the gifted engineer, Ferdinand de Lesseps,
who also built the Suez Canal.
The club assigned us a boat that was crossing the canal in a day's time. We duly met the
owner, Mike, who was a solo sailor spending some ninety days out at sea alone at times!
We were joined by two other sailors who were to cross the canal as well at a later date. We
four were assigned as the compulsory linesmen.
The day dawned cloudless and sunny with a ten knot trade, perfect for a crossing. The club
secretary called us over on the VHF radio and we met the single-hander on the yacht club
dock, where we secured our dinghy until our return that evening. We were ferried across
to his thirty-foot Canadian production boat and were introduced to the other two linesmen.
They were also waiting to cross the canal and were to learn the drill by helping out today.
While heading off to the entrance of the canal, we had a nice, hot cup of coffee and a
friendly chat about boats and sailing and canal crossings.
Mike was understandably nervous and, I could tell, prone to panicky decisions. He was
probably a lot more calm and collected alone. He had turned his radio on and was in con-
versation with one of the pilots, which later turned out to be guitar Al.
Mike was told to take his yacht to the canal entrance buoys and to enter in between the two
giant lock gates behind a monstrosity of an oil tanker. We were stunned at the magnitude
of everything. This was the Gatun Lock. The canal walls were so much higher than the
sea level, and the lock gates were like giant, metal buildings that were concave in shape
with the curve innermost towards the canal where the eggshell principle would be used to
the best advantage. The stern of the oil tanker, the Belwood, was overwhelmingly high and
massive. We could clearly see the enormous rudder and propeller, which were partially out
of the water, and the submerged remainder could be seen through the clear water. I ima-
gined she wasn't fully loaded.
There were railway lines on either side of the canal and four powerful locomotive engines
to port and starboard, fore and aft, squatted alongside this tanker. Huge cables snaked off
the four points of the ship attached to the locomotives, and it was with these engines that
the tanker would be pulled forward or slowed down.
The huge gates started to close behind us, almost in slow motion. Four young Panamanians
appeared alongside Mike's yacht, two on either side. They slung four slim ropes down to
each of us. Attached to these were heavier lines to tie the yacht alongside the canal as it
was being filled with water. We secured our lines as best we could and waited excitedly for
the next step.
