The Lock from Hell
27 September 2016 | Pickwick Lock
We were at the Pickwick Lock around 10:00 and were given the green light to come right into the Chamber!
We were looped around the floating bollard ready to go when the attendant said it was going to be a rough ride so we should move farther forward in the lock so we did. We were not prepared for what happened. I had one end of our line secured on the deck midship cleat and I was holding the other end that was around the bollard. David stands by with our pike pole to fend off if required. Suddenly the water looked like it was boiling around the bollard and the bow started to swing to the wall. David couldn't keep it off the wall and my end of the line was pulling out and I was not able to hold us to the wall. The water was rushing in fast, and this is a big lock with lots of water. It appeared that I was going to lose my grip but I managed to get my end back to the genoa winch and put a couple of wraps on it. Now we had control because the winch was allowing me to pull in or let out as required to stay off the wall. We left intact with no damage but very sore arms.
We learned a lot from this and feel better prepared for our next lock.
We continued 9 miles farther and checked in at the Grand Harbour Marina. It's a very nice facility.