On the Saturday morning there was a feeling of anticipation in the fleet, at least for the 12 boats who were scheduled to go through the canal first, the other half were due to follow on Tuesday. One of the advantages of going with the World ARC rally is that the organisers have sufficient clout with the Panama Canal Authorities to arrange what is called “Special Lockage” this means a lock dedicated to sailing yachts rather than squeezing yachts in with a massive supertanker or cargo ship. It’s understandable that this isn’t easy to achieve when a lock for a Panamax ship costs $1M! We don’t know the amount the organisers pay for our crossing as it’s bundled in the rally fee but were told its around $3000 for a mid-sized yacht.

On the Thursday we’d had a skippers briefing for the Canal crossing. I’ve attached the briefing notes here as they not only explain the process but also contains some of the interesting history and photos of the lock. Construction was started by the French but abandoned due to tropical diseases, technical challenges and commercial failings then acquired by the Americans under Roosevelt who “facilitated” the independence of Panama from Columbia and then finished building the Canal.

The yachts would be grouped into “nests” of three boats which are lashed together to enter the locks. The middle boat is a catamaran if available as,with two engines, it’s easier to steer the nest through the lock. The outer boats are at the mercy of the middle helmsman and are also the closest to the rather unforgiving dock sides. We were to be the middle boat of Nest 1 so leading the 4 nests into the lock, with our friends Rachel on Rob on Ægle lashed to our port hull. So no pressure then!

We would also have an Advisor on board Offbeat (an experienced pilot for the yachts) and we needed 4 line handlers, excluding the skipper, so one professional line handler for us, in addition to Anne-Laure, Lucy and Adrian. The yachts would pass through the Atlantic locks on Saturday afternoon. Stay on a mooring overnight on Gatun Lake and then descend into Panama City on Sunday afternoon. This would mean about 20 miles motoring through the lake and then down the canal which had been cut through the mountains, finishing in La Playita marina around sunset on Sunday.

Our advisor Amado and line-handler Jose arrived at around 4pm. When Amado arrived Lucy, somewhat surprisingly, had a massive beam on her face and welcomed him like a long-lost friend! It turned out that he had been the Advisor in April 2010 when Lucy and her late husband Jim went through the Canal on their Freyis 46 Catamaran. Apparently she had the hots for him then as well, according to Jim’s account in their blog :-). What a coincidence!

Amado then and now!

The nests left the marina in order and proceeded to the entrance of the locks about 5 miles away and then lashed the boats together before entering the locks. Adrian produced this time lapsed video of the first locks.

Once out of the locks it was getting dark, we proceeded about 2 miles to Isla Bamboo in the Gatun Lake. This had been formed by damming the Chagres River to create the navigable water before the mountains. As a result the bottom is full of trees which, despite being over 100 years ago, still litter the bottom so are unsafe for yacht anchors. The ships seemed fine to anchor. To stay overnight before final leg across the country to the Pacific we were required to moor all the yachts to three large round mooring buoys. These are rubber coated but aren’t that easy for 4 boats to moor up to. Two of the catamarans were lashed either side of the buoy using bow and stern lines to the opposite boat . Springs are then lashed to the buoy. It sounded straight forward but the weather conspired against us. Amado was picked up by a pilot boat but Jose stayed with us overnight, choosing to sleep on the day bed in the cockpit.

Around midnight Jose started gently, then more vigorously, tapping on the door to our cabin. The wind had come up, now blowing well over 20 kts and Offbeat and the other catamaran Ruaj were both swinging wildly, nearly clashing bows and bouncing on the buoy between us. I got up to investigate and to adjust lines with Jose but after about 30 minutes we realised it was a big issue which needed much more help. In the end all of our crew were on deck plus all 4 skippers and line handlers on the other boats. It was a long night. Eventually at 3 am we had found a stable solution, lashing our fenders together into mats that were less likely to separate, this involved Jose jumping repeatedly onto the bouncing buoy. To keep the raft from moving too much Peter Aurelia T (the outside boat alongside Ruaj) ran his engine and continually edged forward and backwards to keep the raft stable at 35 degrees to the wind. Peter and Paul from Aurelia T and Jose and I spend the whole of the rest of the night monitoring the situation until fortunately, around 6am just before dawn, the wind eased (allowing this photo to be taken after sunrise). Gabriel from Ruaj had taken some photos of our hull which appeared to show damage, fortunately we later discovered that we had escaped with rubber stuck all over the hull and one broken fender valve, a great relief.

The night before!

At 8am we welcomed the arrival of the advisors again and we could leave the buoy and continue the crossing. The rest of the day was more tranquil. We joined a line of ships and spent 4 hours motoring across the lake then through the canal cut through the mountains. On the far side we arrived at the Pedro Miguel locks. Now experienced lock teams, the three boats reformed our raft, passed through the first set and, after a short 1 mile motor, arrived at the final two Miraflores locks. This time we had an audience, a massive tourist gallery in a stand next to the final lock with some of the Group B boats and Yellow Shirts cheering us on.

We had a little celebration on the bow with Amado and Jose then passed through into the Pacific as the final lock opened. As we passed under the massive Bridge of the Americas and along the causeway we caught a glimpse of Panama City. What a difference from Colon. Massive skyscrapers and obvious wealth. We were not only in a different hemisphere but entering another world!