Phil wrote: > The easiest boat to single-hand in a lock is a 70 footer. I had singlehanded Bream (70 foot) through hundreds of locks over the past 8 years without problems until last Wednesday. My technique when descending has always been to leave the boat in gentle forward gear, open both bottom paddles all the way then step onto the boat and knock it into neutral as by this point it has lowered enough to miss the cill.
I was descending Thurlwood and having raised both paddles in the usual manner turned to walk to the back of the boat. To my horror I realised that the front was not descending at all and the back was maybe a couple of feet down by now. I dried to drop the paddles by lifting the ratchet (I've always understood this to be acceptable as an emergency procedure) but both were heavy and had to be wound down which slowed me down. As I finished lowering the second one the boat dropped from whatever was retaining it. By this point the cabin roof was about level with the ground at the back. I'm 100% sure it hadn't caught on the top of the gate and I couldn't see any ledge on the side of the lock that it could have caught so I'm at a loss to know what happened. Have to admit it completely phased me and I dropped the rest of the way down to Wheelock rather more slowly than usual. Barring the point that I was maybe too complacent in not paying more attention to the bow as I opened the paddles does anyone have any thoughts why this happened and what I could have done to avoid it? The first thought I had is that there was no bow fender on the boat at the time (I'd removed it earlier in the day) and maybe this had contributed in some way with increased friction, but I've singlehanded many locks without a bow fender without problems. The other thought was that Thurlwood is a wider lock than most so maybe the boat manoeuvred to an unusual angle. Any thoughts? Steve NB Bream
