Friday, July 20, 2012

Wanting to get an early start this morning, we left Couchiching Lock 42 at 7:35.  We arrived at the Hamlet Swing Bridge at 8:05 and realized, like the locks, the bridges don’t begin opening operations until 8:30 AM.  I had been making omelets and during our delay, we were able to tie up and eat  breakfast together which was nice.  It was 64 cool degrees this morning – most refreshing.

Our first lock of the day was Swift Rapids, Lock 43, one of the largest locks in the system, 47’.  Coming out of the lock, we were surprised to see Bev and Bruce Freese on “Paddy Wagon.”  They were tied up at the blue line heading in the opposite direction.  It was nice to exchange greetings as we went by.  We traveled through the Severn River, enjoying the scenic beauty of the red and gray granite walls contrasting with the lush green trees.  This stretch was often quite narrow, then opened out into beautiful wide areas lined with “cottages” and the further we traveled, the larger and more ornate the “cottages” became. 

Our next and most exciting lock in the entire Trent-Severn Waterway was The Big Chute Railway Lock 44.  The Big Chute is the only one of its kind in the world.  This is a special travel lift that has a bottom and slings.   We had hoped to tie up on the blue line and watch the operation, but the lockmaster had other ideas.  The lockmasters communicate to the boaters via loudspeaker and called over to us and Jay and Debbie on “Attitude Adjustment” who were behind us.  Ralph replied that  we’d like to tie up and watch the operation firs.  To which the lockmaster responded “You two trawlers over there...I know you’re traveling together, but one of you is going through on this run...so let’s go...bring it over here,”  and he pointed to us, as we were nearest the lock.

We entered directly behind three smaller boats which were lined across our bow.  The lockmaster was very personable and instructed us to pull in our fenders on the port side (the side he couldn’t see) and asked if our prop was protected (it is) and we were told to just let our boat glide into the slings to rest on the keel. 

There is no front or back to this contraption.  It was like being on a giant rollercoaster as we went gliding out of the water, up a hill, then down a hill and into the water.  As we neared the water at the bottom, the wooden floor flooded with  enough water to float the three boats in front of us.  They started their engines and drove away.  Then the water level was high enough for us to do the same.  The slings were lowered and we floated off into the lower level.   It was really amazing.  I will try to post the video Ralph took and some still photos that I took.

While we waited for Jay and Debbie to come down, we had a perfect opportunity to take a video of them coming down. 

We continued  through another narrow passage called Little Chute which opened out into Gloucester Pool and Little Lake.  We arrived at Port Severn, the final lock (or the first lock if you happen to be traveling west to east) of the Trent-Severn Waterway.  We tied up to the city dock with Debbie and Jay and some of our other Looper friends we’ve met along the way.  Jay and Ralph unstepped our masts and now we have lots of room to walk around.  We will keep the mast up until we reach Chicago when we have to step the mast again to travel on the USA river system.  Tomorrow we’ll go through the Port Severn Lock 45 and leave the Trent-Severn Waterway into magnificent Georgian Bay.

To see a youtube video of The Big  Chute, go to www.youtube.com/user/ralphyost1

We are in The Big Chute with 3 smaller boats in front.

Say Good-Bye is in the slings resting on the keel, the 3 smaller boats are on a wooden platform

We're heading down over the land from one lake to another on a set of rails

As we near the bottom, the wooden boards drop out and the water comes in

The three small boats float off and we float off behind them

This is what The Big Chute looks like after we are out of it -- amazing!