GL: Locking single-handed

[Jeg607@aol.com]

I tried posting this earlier, but it was blocked, I guess. This time I'll  
just use a different "subject" to see if it works.
 
John
 
 
 
Having cruised full-time for four years single-handed, I didn't have many  
choices when it came to going through locks. My logs show over 1100 lockings,  
most through the NY and Canadian locks, all singlehanded in the NY system. Not 
a  big boat, but not "smallish" either - 42' Defever Tiger. Jim and Doreen 
Ague -  you may remember spending a night together back in 2003 southbound above 
Lock 8!  I was the one registered in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
 
The key point is that I always locked through from the lower  station, which 
has a starboard door, tying up only on the starboard side.  The only hiccup is 
on the Erie Canal where you have to lock through tied on the  south (or port 
side) going upstream (if my memory serves me - Lock 17?). Still  not a problem 
- I just pulled a 180 just before entering the lock, then reversed  in along 
the wall for a starboard tie. Exiting - same thing - reversed out until  clear 
of the gate, the another 180 to get the pointy end facing upstream again.  
The rest of the locks are easily done single-handed.
 
I used regular fenders, usually 4 or 5 along the starboard side, a couple  on 
the port to fend off the inevitable idiots you'll encounter in the locks.  I 
never looped the line around a cleat, but simply passed it around the  
vertical pipe or cable, and then held onto it from inside the boat. I was  fortunate 
that I had twin engines, and could use idle speed forward/reverse  while 
against the lock wall to assist in keeping everything under control,  especially 
useful when locking through in thunderstorms with high winds! I also  wore 
leather work gloves any time I was locking through.
 
I also had a very sharp hatchet handy, just because it would be easy  
(especially single-handed) to chop a line quickly, faster than sawing with a  
serrated edge knife. Who cares if you damage some gelcoat in the process. Better  
than the other result.(Actually I carried the hatchet on board mainly for  the 
Trent Severn. Stop in the lockmaster's building at the lock just east of the  
marine railway (Swift Current, perhaps?) that once they start to empty it,  they 
can't close the valves. There is a picture on the office wall of what  
happens when a boater cannot release the lines from a cleat. The photo was taken  
while the boat was still suspended on the wall, just before the cleats tore away 
 from the boat. Some very concerned boaters were on board!).
 
The Canadian locks are a different story because they will not let you keep  
the engine(s) running, even if diesels. So, single-handing becomes a difficult 
 chore. I confess to having been able to convince a couple of the 
Trent-Severn  lockmasters to let me do it, but it was on a slow day, I wanted to get 
through  just a couple of locks that day, and no one else was looking. Don't tell 
the  Lockmaster General! The rest of the locks in the Trent and Rideau 
systems, it  was easy to convince someone from shore, or better yet an extra crew 
from  another vessel locking through, to come aboard handle one of the lines.
 
The main thing to remember is that it actually is fairly easy to transit  
locks single-handedly. Slow and steady is the idea.
 
Hope this reassures you.
 
John Garrison
ex-M/V Canatara
 
 
 
 
In a message dated 4/16/2007 12:25:20 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
ague@usa.net writes:

> My  question I guess is:  What is the best way to rig
> the vessel for  the canals?





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