Locking

Herkimer, NY
43 01.02 N 074 59.84 W

Bringing a heavy boat through a lock can be violent.  The water rushes in and the turbulence starts pushing the boat around with considerable force.   It's only a problem when going upstream. (Emptying the lock to go down is calm and placid.)  It is also only a problem in poorly designed locks.  Well designed ones limit the turbulence.  The worst ones (such as Erie Canal lock 17) let the water in on one side only so the current crushes you against the opposite wall.

We've done it many times.  Not sure the exact number but on the order of 200 times.  No disasters yet, but there have been a couple that had me really worried.   The lock master keeps an eye on you.  If you get in serious trouble, he can always stop or slow down the ascent.

The secret to locking safely is to keep control of the boat, and to keep it in place despite the turbulence.  You must prevent the boat from drifting away, from turning sideways, or from crushing itself excessively against the wall.   How do you do that?  There is no simple answer because the design of locks and the methods of stabilizing are so varied.  

Needless to say, you also use fenders.  Lots of fenders.  The biggest fenders you have.  And sacrificial because the fenders get scraped and dirtied more in one locking than in 5 years of normal use.  Some people rig sacrificial wooden planks to protect their fenders.  That works pretty good.

• Simplest is a rope.  See the third picture below.  In the Erie canal they have ropes hanging down.  You grab one and hang on.  That's it.  If the lock is very turbulent and your boat is very heavy, it is a very ineffective way of stabilizing, but it almost always works anyhow.   In the dismal swamp, you must supply your own rope.
  
  The most famous locks; those in the Panama canal require four 200 foot ropes with four strong rope handlers.  I think that counts as poorly designed.
  
• A cable or pipe ascender.  See the first picture below.  Built into grooves in the wall, are steel cables, or rigid pipes.  You run a line around it and back to your boat.  It holds you snugly and slips as the water rises.  Simple and effective.
  
• In the Eisenhower Lock in the Saint Lawrence seaway, there was a float attached to a pipe.  You tie to the cleats on the float as if it were a dock and the float rises with you.  Piece of cake.
  
• My favorite method of all was in the Richelieu River in Quebec.  They had a floating dock that ran the full length of the lock.  You just tied up to the floating dock.  Better, much better, they had young girls dressed in hot pants on the dock acting as lock attendants.  I don't know how they manage to raise so many beautiful girls in Quebec, but they do. Oh la la.  You don't blame me for making this my favorite, do you?
   

Tied to a cable ascender.

A typical lock

Ascending with a rope

So aren't there any juicy locking disaster stories to tell? Yes, I have one, but it is a second hand story.    In 2010 on the Erie Canal we met a man nursing an injured arm.  It seems that he tried to ascend on a holiday weekend.  There was a substitute lock master on duty who must have been rusty on lock operations.  He closed the gates and opened the fill valve 1/3 to begin ascent.  Then half way up, the procedure is to open the fill valve 2/3 to fill faster.  Instead, he grabbed the wrong lever and opened the dump valve.  Now valves were open at both ends of the lock.  The result was a raging current coming in the upstream end and out the downstream end.  It overpowered the strength of the poor boater and slammed his boat against the downstream chamber doors.  He broke his arm trying to control the boat.  Poor guy.  There was nothing he could do.  Naturally the NY Canal System was totally responsible for all damages and injuries.