"Terry Streeter" wrote: > Steve Wood wrote: >> What I don't get is that I've always been told to first open the >> paddle on the same side as the boat when going uphill. That just >> pushes it over to the far side. Am I missing something? > > Works for me. The water flow goes past / under the bow, hits the > opposite side and pins the boat against the side where it is. In fact, > I normally wind the paddles up in this sequence > > 1. Nearside Ground > 2. Offside Gate > 3. Offside Ground three-quarters up > 4. Nearside Gate > > By the time I've got to step four, the lock is usually full enough that > it doesn't cause the boat to go sideways across the lock. I am, of > course, watching the boat at each step and if it show signs of heading > across the lock I reverse the step I've just started. >
Generally true Terry, but on some locks (especially if the lower pound is a bit low) the first flush of water comes in high enough to catch the side of the boat near to the baseplate and push it away, then as the boat rises it gets pulled back again. To counteract this sometimes the above sequence needs to be prefixed by "First raise the offside ground paddle about one-quarter then immediately get back across the gates to the nearside ground paddle". Another reason it sometimes doesn't work, is if you're too gentle with the nearside ground paddle in step 1, so that the water doesn't enter with enough momentum to get across to the other side of the lock properly. -- Allan Jones - N/B 'Keeping Up' www.keeping-up.co.uk
