Long Windid made it to our slip at La Playita Marina on the tip of a long causeway located at the southern entrance of the Panama Canal. There, Dan and I provisioned bottled water, soft drinks, snacks and enough food for the required hot meals to feed 7 people during our 12 hour, 40nm transit north through the canal. Our good friends Darrol and Steph flew in from Orange County, California to meet us at the marina and assist us in a safe passage across the canal. The Panama Canal authorities require four-line handlers on each boat during a transit. Not knowing what to expect, Dan and I hired two professional line handlers to tend the lines with Darrol and myself. We were told by our agent after entering the lock, four men (two on each side) stationed on the canal wall, will throw a leader line attached to a steel ball (size of a tennis ball) wrapped in ¼" rope known as a "monkey fist" to the bow of the boat. The first two leader lines are walked aft and tied with a bowline knot to the large spliced eye on the supplied 150 feet of ¾" polypropylene line. Once tied off, each man on the wall pulls the lines to the wall and places the eye splice over fixed mooring bollards on top of the wall. After all four corners are secured and the boat is centered in the lock, the line handlers on board pull in the slack and tie off on the boats cleats. Lines on the boat are constantly adjusted as it moves up or down inside the lock. We won't know what configuration we will be going through the locks until we get to the first set of locks tomorrow morning at 4:00 am. We could be rafted with other boats of similar size, side tied to a tug boat or put in the center position. Everything is fluid right now and the anticipation is great. Decisions will be made as things progress in the morning.
See you on the other side.