For those that don't know (and until a few weeks ago that included your's truly) they paint a portion of the concrete wall outside of a lock blue in Canada. Since the lockmasters don't use VHF radio to communicate, that “blue line” is where one ties up if the intent is to go through the lock on the next opening. The first one to arrive goes to the head of the blue line and is the first into the lock. If there is no room on the blue line, you will likely not be going through during the next cycle. Take a spot on the wall and move to the blue line as soon as the earlier arriving boats go in the lock.
Since we had tied up yesterday not intending to take the lock until morning, we didn't tie up at the blue line. Neither had any of our traveling companions from the day.
Come this morning, we were all standing around talking about who was going on and when, when a new boat turned in and headed for the blue line, pulling up at the end away from the lock. We walked over to help catch lines and the newcomer who asked if we were locking through. We said we where. Whereas he suggested, since we were the first arrival of those intending to go through first thing this morning, that we move from where we were to the head of the “blue line” and tie up in front of him. At first I thought that was kind of silly since we were all standing around together and could just decide who was going to go when. But he then mentioned that there were likely more boats headed to the lock. If they spotted an empty blue line they would assume none of us was leaving and fill it up. Worse, if they found out that we had intended to move, well, cutting in front is considered bad manners, even if it is by accident. (Which is why he didn't pull up to the front of the line.) Of course that isn't to say they wouldn't also take advantage of our lack of manners, leaving us waiting for a later cycle.
Locks were the center of attention today. Lots and lots of locks. Including the “bathtub” lock”. That still struck me as a hair brained idea. It turned out to be a pretty intriguing experience. It was fast, a 90 second lift of 65 feet. It usually takes several minutes to move enough water to pick up (or lower) the boats less than half that far. Which helped explain how they could move enough water get us on our way in less than an hour's wait while they raised the water level between the two locks. (The locks are about a mile apart. That is a LOT of water.)
The bathtub lock is an impressive looking thing. We pulled in and tied to, which wasn't really necessary. They have handles you just hold on to. With no water rushing in, there are no currents pushing the boats around. And the wall we were “on” didn't move in relation to the boat. No grinding up a rough concrete surface. The lift was utterly calm, smooth, and completely painless.
We cleared all seven locks with the same two boats. After the first one in the morning, we had the dance down pat. The smaller speed boat helmed by our etiquette instructor had followed us into the first lock. But for the remainder of the day he went in first, pulling up as close as he could to the closed gate, and tied up to the starboard wall. First Light would coast up his port side and tie to the port wall a bit further back. Then the third boat in the party, a 50 footer, would pull in behind the first boat with about 15 feet of his port side bow riding next to First Light's starboard stern. That would get him in far enough for the gates to close. The water would flow in, the boats would go up, and gates would open. The small power boat would leave first and lead our little three-boat flotilla to the next lock. Since there were seven total today, it helped to have it all worked out before hand.
After the last lock, we moved barely 200 feet and took up one of the last spots on the lock wall in a little town called Young's Point. The 50 footer is tied up to the wall across from us. He took up the last spot. The little speed boat kept going, covering some more miles. He needs to be in Chicago in a couple of weeks so he is driving hard, doing close to 45 MPH wherever he can. There was no reason for him to go that fast today as all he would have been doing is speeding to the next lock and then waiting for us. Plus, there are a lot of places during this part of the trip where the speed limit is 10 KPH, about 5.3 knots. Once he gets to the Great Lakes he will be making tracks.
Tomorrow we will be on our way once again, taking advantage of several days worth of forecasted near perfect weather. We will also be making tracks, just at a far more sedate pace.
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