We went through our first lock today. I think the anxiety was worse than the actually event. For us the worse thing was we smudged up our rub rail, but other than that, it was a non-event. The only other advice I would give would be to have patience. The lock only opened once an hour, and certain watercraft had priority. While we were waiting, a female mallard duck and her 3 ducklings came over to mooch. I have a feeling this routine was repeated hourly as boats waited their turn to go through.