Waching daily Feb 28 2018

back in Colon

for our last breakfast in the caribbean side before crossing the canal

home made fudge, thanks Emilie!

everything is fine

almost there!

in one hour it is our turn

behind me is Patrick our last handlinner

Suzon team is full, they protect the solar panel with the cushions

we have our tires, our lines, everything

well, we were supposed to cross at 2 PM, It is 3 PM and still no advisor aboard

a 2h30 delay is announced... as usual

we are hoping to cross before the night

well you know so like that i can read! i almost read a whole book before our turn

either we get worked up or we take it cool

i hope that they will let me finish my book before their arrival, we will arrive at night any way

let's go! to the locks!

we are about to go in!

we don't know if you saw us but we set the sign!

bye bye the atlantic!

2nd day of the canal

300 000 000 $ ... 300 000 000 $ on a boat!

we are going to the miraflores locks ... in 30 miles!

and we can see the catamaran behind us... and... "french humour"

we are going through the locks by ourselves

the catamaran has some engine troubles...

yes! Here we work!

i think there is not so much sail boats going alone through the canal!

we are about to go in the last lock before the Pacific!

thank you the webcam and everybody behind it!

it was amazing to share that with you! And Jules is doing some Rodeo...

It's opening! It's opening!

Here we are my friends!

In the Pacific for god sake!

Here we are!!

HERE WE ARE!!!

some canal debrief...

overall it went well. Even if we broke some stuff.

The first day was a little bit crazy

You shouldn't be scared to say no to the advisor

cause sometimes they put in dangerous situations for your boat

for exemple we were supposed to be aside a 50 foot catamaran.

way too big fo us

and the lines on our side were staying on the catamaran

because we were too small to hold a big boat like that

and in the last minute, change of plans

the cata advisor said to put one of the lines on our boat.

and the front one was still on the cata

and when the cargo has put the engine on to leave the lock

our fronts went banana and we got the weight of the two boats on our line

our fairlead exploded

and when you complain to the advisor they say the canal has no responsibilities on the fact that our boat is not in good shape

so.. we had a shitty advisor to stay civilized

the second day was better

the cata had still engine trouble so we went through by ourselves

and we almost hit two walls in the locks

because we had strong back wind pushing us in the locks

but we managed to do it with not too much damages so ...NICE!