Skip to main content

017-Locking



It can be intimidating going into a big chamber, with huge steel doors being shut behind, looking up a 60ft wall or the doors in front of you that hold back the water above, and then hearing the deep noises of gates groaning and values opening around you.  You’re clearly not in charge as the water swirls catching the keel and shoving your 10ton boat around like it were a cork.  The movement of water is really amazing, to go up 20 feet only takes 5 minutes.  The power exhibited is awesome but then I’ve always loved water projects.

The challenge to locking is staying put like we all expect to do when we take a place on a wall or a pier.  All you’re given to do the task is a rope attached to the top of the wall.  Pulling it does little to hold you like you’re accustomed.  The boat is only loosely held in a position and in many instances, you’re pushing off the wall more than your trying to hold your relative position.  Some boaters don’t worry too much about where they are, they just stand there waiting for the last seconds to avoid a collision since you tend to be shoved back as much as you’re shoved forward.  But with a keel, like on sailboats, we get knocked around a lot more than the power boats do.  Coming from the Chesapeake Bay I rarely experienced currents.  Up here, I experience them all the time and am learning that it is the most important factor in determining your boats heading.  Even a small current will overcome large wind.

There’s been more than one lock that didn’t instill confidence in its integrity on the upside gates.  Water gushing out the seams into the empty chamber like a water canon is cool looking but not reassuring.  One time it was blowing out the concrete of the sill – now that was a problem.

Comments

  1. art3July 25, 2019 at 10:31 AM

    I learned something: sailboat keels make it harder to transit a lock

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

034 - USS Niagara

What a beautiful working replica of this historic ship.  It is used today as a training ship and offers 10day expeditions for youth to learn the ways of sailing a Brigg.  It is about as exact as you can expect.  I loved their use manila rope, linseed oil, and other items that gives it the smell of an old ship – I don’t know what it is but it’s very familiar.  Below decks were tight, it only had a 5ft ceiling in the galley area – how anyone could operate in that space long term was beyond me but the professional crew does. Galley stove and 5ft ceiling - how do they do it? Watching it sail was like stepping back it time.  It passed us on the breakwater silently, tall, and majestic.  It was easy to imagine the awe seeing this come into an isolated harbor like Presque Island 200 years ago.  Something so big and complicated carrying so many men and cannon would change the balance of power with its arrival.  It would intimidate the strongest and lure the wondering spirit t
Post a Comment
Read more

049 - Currents

I admit the picture doesn’t show much, but this was 5.5kts underneath Peace Bridge near Port Huron.  We were doing 1/2kt against the current.  People on the shore were walking faster than us.  It was impressive.  I’m glad to be on Lake Huron where there are no currents.  The lake does slosh around with wind but I can handle that, I really don’t want to fight 5.5kts of current again, it was taking the boat and tossing it all around like a cork.  I was working the tiller harder than in a following sea.  You can see a bit of an eddy in the lower right but you’ll have to trust me on this one.  The dramatized blurry picture below shows the turbulence and terror of the experience.  It also captures the Loch Huron monster in the middle left – it’s unexplained what that silver hump is.  Yikes!
Post a Comment
Read more

038 - Avoiding Customs

The waterway from Lake Erie to Lake Huron is a bit confusing.  The Detroit River is more like a fast-moving delta region with “the river” breaking up into 3 channels at one point with multiple islands.  The USA/Canadian border winds its way around these waters and it is very difficult to keep track of what country you are in at any one time.  Lake St. Clair is straight forward enough, but the St. Clair River which is the outflow from Huron to St. Clair is similar the Detroit River, more a flooded delta region that makes it difficult again to know what country you are in. The basic rule is you can transit each other’s waters as long as you don’t anchor, transfer people or cargo to another boat, or touch each other’s shore or facilities.  If any of the three occur you must report to customs within 24 hrs.  The Canadian’s make this relatively easy with a phone call, the American’s not so much, they require a face-to-face in one of their “conveniently” located offices.  I’m not sure w
Post a Comment
Read more