Panama Canal Transit

Transiting the Panama Canal was a highlight for me – I was looking forward to the experience but a little nervous also. I decided I wanted to go through with another boat prior to our transit so I knew what we were up against. Each boat is required to have 4 line handlers and most yachts are searching for other yachties to volunteer on their boat. The drawcard for volunteer linehandlers is excellent food, drink and a taxi back to Panama city. The bonus for the transiting vessel is having people experienced in boats, who know how to handle a line and not expecting to be paid.

Mahboula, a 50ft ketch required two extra linehandlers so I volunteered Don and myself. Yachtie friends Rick and Al made up the other two linehandlers. George, the Captain, excelled in the food and host department. The four linehandlers all had our boats moored at the nearby island, Taboga, therefore we took the ferry across to Balboa Yacht Club where Mahboula was on a mooring ball and stayed onboard overnight awaiting an early morning transit. That evening we were taken to dinner at the local diner then spent the night on Mahboula telling great sailing stories. Yachties never run out of those and each tries to outdo the other in danger, bravado, stupidity and distance – tis quite funny listening to them and is all a bit of fun really. 

Our transit went smoothly, each boat must transit with an “Advisor” appointed by the Canal Authority – he has the final say on all decisions whilst transiting. The Advisor informed George that he had to reach Gatun lock (the last lock on the Caribbean side) by 4pm in order to meet his scheduled lock entrance before a ship. George pushed his boat to the maximum in order to reach the lock in time – which we did with a few 

minutes to spare. The ship had arrived early 

and the Canal Authority had allowed them to tie up in the lock. The Rules insist that small boats must be behind ships in the entrance locks and in front of ships in the exit locks (Don surmises the reason is if something goes wrong with the small boats they can be flushed out with rising/lowering water levels without slowing the transit of the ship and this was confirmed by our Advisor) with the ship already in the lock George was not allowed to enter and was instructed to tie up to a large mooring buoy and prepare to stay the night in the Lake. We made the best of our time, we went swimming in the Lake whilst another crew kept a look out for crocodiles and ate and drank our way through the night. Mahboula set a very high standard of catering and it was a challenge to match it.

Our transit

The passage through the Panama Canal involves a reasonable amount of documentation and to assist yachties there are agents who perform the process for you at a very high cost. We read what to do and it certainly appeared more straightforward and simple than what the agents claim. We decided to go through the process ourselves – it involved initially finding their office and requesting a date and time for an “Admeasurer” to board our boat and measure it – this fellow also checks the engine capability – a boat must be capable of 5 knots minimum for an extended period to meet Authority's requirements. The Admeasurer also checks the mooring lines, these can be hired from locals and need to be 100 feet in length without joins. Four are required and used to steady the boat from four points when in the lock while it is either filling or emptying – the currents created by the valves can twist a boat and lines need to be adjusted constantly to keep the boat straight. The Admeasurer also fills in copious amounts of paperwork – basically stating that no matter what happens it is not the fault of the Canal Authority – the transit fee depends on the overall length of the vessel – the magic length being under 50' and over 50' – the difference between the two is $150.00 in fees. Don assisted our Admeasurer by holding the end of his measuring tape securely to the outermost point forward ( the measurement was taken to the steering pedestal) then Don again assisted by taking the tape to the outermost point of the stern – it wasn't really Don's fault that he fudged it a bit – he just forgot to include the boarding platform – we wanted to ensure we came in under 50ft as we are documented as a 48ft vessel – we came in at 49.9ft – that was a bit tight !!! After collecting paperwork from the Admeasurer we had to visit a particular bank to pay our fees – we lined up for well over ½ hr with all the locals cashing their Friday paychecks – the line going out the door and along the street – when we were finally served we were told that the lady who deals with the Canal paperwork had just left for lunch …... and although we can pay the fee in this bank, the bank does not offer any services to extract the fee from our bank account or visa cards – we had to either hope the ATM in the local fast food restaurant had enough funds or find another bank. After obtaining the fee we again lined up at the bank – it was close to closing time and we doubted that we would get served before they shut the door – which meant our Canal crossing would have to be delayed – today being Friday and our transit booked for first light on Monday morning. The Canal Authority have all sorts of fines for boats who change their booking or who are unable to make the crossing due to a motor fault or other reasons – they have conjured up the most unreasonable charges imaginable. Another requirement is to feed and water the Advisor to a high standard – if the luncheon is not to the liking of the Advisor he can radio for lunch to be delivered to the boat and the owner charged for the service.

When completing the paperwork with the Admeasurer, the question was asked about our top speed – Don said 6 knots but that was unusual and really pushing the motor – our normal speed was 5 knots. The Admeasure entered 6 knots in the speed section and the powers to be took that to be our normal speed which determines the time a boat enters the first lock and exits the last lock –with some 32 miles of waterway in between. For some unknown reason the Canal Authority had us due to enter the first lock at 6am and the last lock at 4pm – that timing was almost impossible for White Rose and when we explained that to our Advisor – he simply said that we would be heavily fined if we did not complete the transit in one day. Most yachts complete the transit in two days – spending the night tied to a very large buoy which they call “hamburgers”.

The entrance into the first lock was delayed by 2 hours, I think the ship we were due to go through with was running late – apparently that did not relinquish our requirement to go through in one day. Our Advisor was wonderful – friendly and chatty. He took us through a short-cut known as the banana route, it only saved a few miles but all helped. Don ran White Rose much harder than usual – we were worried about her performance especially since we had recently rebuilt the water pump and only given her a few hours trial. The Advisor was in constant contact with ACP along the way – checking on the progress of the ship with whom we had to enter the Gatun locks with. We did make it with 1 hour to spare only to be told that the ship would not transit that day therefore our transit had been cancelled and we had to tie up to the hamburgers for the rest of the afternoon, and wait until the following afternoon to transit the last portion – it was hot, still and very frustrating as all on board wanted to go back to their homes and our hired linehandlers now required another days payment for their services. Bill from the yacht “Someday” offered to be a line handler for us but we could not find anyone else so hired our versitile local taxi driver and his son. Tis a pity boaters cannot fine the Canal Authority if they do not hold up their part of the bargain.

We entered the first lock and the process went smoothly. The workers on land throw a long rope with a small monkey's fist at the end – similar to a rock encased in rope the size of your fist – they aim it at your head so if you are not quick at ducking you can receive a severe blow. Linehandlers are supposed to catch these projectiles (most of us duck then go fetch them), tie our lines to the fist and the land crew pull our lines up to bollards on the top of the canal wall. With the wall side secure we can then tighten and/or loosen our end of the line in order to keep the boat parallel in the lock.

The second lock was a different story. The Captain of the ship in the lock with us was heard to complain loudly that the yacht was “holding up his transit time” and he did not want to wait while we centre tied which meant our boat was in the centre of the lock behind the ship with four lines securing each point– a quicker option was to side tie to a tug boat – this was insisted upon by the powers that be and our complaints and suggestions went unheard. When Don had the boat in position next to the tug and could safely leave the helm he went out to check on the side ties – he immediately told our Advisor that one of the cleats he had insisted on using were not strong enough and to retie – the lock had already begun to fill so we were told we could not do anything. One wonders why they begin to fill the lock before all vessels are secure. The ship which was only about 60 feet in front of us used excessive thrust to leave the lock which in turn caused massive turbulence and sent our boat and the tugs swinging madly all over the place – everyone yelled – our cleat broke – actually the screws pulled out of the fibreglass and teak decking breaking a chunk out of the teak and widely flinging a heavy stainless steel cleat with two very long screws protruding from it up in the air and through the same space as all the workers standing alongside the tug – they ducked and how anyone wasn't killed or seriously hurt we are not sure. The lifelines snapped and a solid stainless steel stanchion broke in 3 pieces – all which are now flying through the air – the noise was frightening and the boat began heading for the wall – I couldn't get our fenders free as they were caught in the broken lifelines and Don fought to control the widely swinging boat. If the second cleat had failed out boat would have struck the canal wall and most likely sunk – part of the Canal fees were a holding fee of $900.00 in case our boat damaged their wall!!! Bits and pieces of our yacht were floating in the lock behind us – most were collected and returned later. We had been told the story of a yacht which had been sunk recently in the lock. We were all very shaken and the Advisor was yelling on the phone to the ship's controller. We later found out that the pilot on board the ship, who had complained loudly about our boat holding up their transit had exchanged places with another pilot on the ship and the ship was not transiting the Canal in one day but stopping at a wharf overnight.

Our crew were extremely nervous as we entered the next chamber, but we transited that lock and the others without further incident.

I suppose I am jumping to conclusions which are incorrect but it seems strange to me that our final transit was cancelled and we were requested to tie up to the hamburgers and soon afterwards a representative from the Canal Authority arrived with documents for Don to sign stating that we do not hold the Canal Authority responsible for the incident and would not take any further action. I became mad – how dare they hold that over us – it is very common for small boats to be damaged transiting the Canal and it should be investigated. Reluctantly Don refused to sign the document much to the annoyance of the representative who persisted and insisted on the document being signed. I think our punishment was to be tied up in a very hot uncomfortable situation and not allowed to transit the final locks for 24 hours.

The saga of the damage continued but I shall not bore you with those details – I shall attach our letter to the Canal Authority which explains the process we went through and the biased way in which these cases are dealt with.