The Hatch

Getting through the Panama Canal

07 May 2008

To avoid people wondering why we have shortened the course on the leg from Santa Cruz to Panama the reason is the Panama Canal and the effect on movements there due to a pilots’ go slow. There are currently some 150 yachts waiting to go through from east to west, the situation is not so dire the other way, but to avoid delays we want to get the fleet to the canal in a group and with a predictable arrival time. The wind was going light for the fleet and looking ahead there was not much wind for a few days. Knowing that this was a possibility we put in some gates and these have now been brought into use to shorten the race and get the fleet moving towards Panama as speedily as possible. We already have people in Panama doing their utmost to expedite the transit and are receiving assistance from the Embassy there.

The problem with the canal is that huge quantities of water are required to work the locks. In recent years the supply of water to fill the uppermost locks has been reduced, partly through de-forestation. This means fewer lock usages. But the locks are set up for large vessels, which can be handled speedily. Yachts tend to take as long to berth and manoeuvre through the locks as these large vessels and so are not so cost effective from the Canal’s point of view, and, of course, they displace very little in tonnage displacement terms so require a lot more water when they are using the locks. Our boats are larger, which is an advantage, and we try to put them through in groups which helps.