Worried about Priddy

[tcm]

I note that the intrepid explorer/record breaker is off in April. He pootles down to Gibraltar, then the official starting date is April 7th. So why is he leaving it until April2nd to leave UK? A bit of a mech problem and he misses his start time and other timings (Panama canal) too? I trust that several people will ring him on his mobile to wake him up promptly on April 2nd.

But I would have thought it much better to be in Gib for at least a week beforehand to get all proply ready, and to avoid the situation where he calls the coastguard before setting off and does a pasage plan, and they hang up on him, cos the day for getting ready to leave will be April 1st ...

 

[Guest]

You seem to be presupposing that the entire attempt has been planned down to the minutest detail...do you think this likely? I believe he will be equipped with a grey plastic bucket, a saw, and half a pound of Edam, with which he should be able to deal with any mechanical emergencies.

 

[BarryD]

Edam and Saw OK.... why bucket?

Come on Masaccio - no one can live without cheese, and the saw is valuable but what purpose is the bucket for?

Barry D.<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by BarryD on Tue Mar 12 13:54:55 2002 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[paulineb]

Dungeness Soup !! nm

;-)

Pxx

 

[BarryD]

Referee. I shall start about dribbling... NM

<G>

Barry D.

 

[paulineb]

It wasn\'t a dribble

'twas a slip betwixt fork and lip

Pxx

 

[tcm]

Re: tcm\'s toolkit

Um they're all tools. I used edam to replace complete lack of o-ring in a charter boat on the primary water filter in a Perkins to come back across the channel.
The bucket and the saw are obvious - you need to saw the bucket into lumps to protect the gelcoat from being damaged by a bowline or sternline.

Harumph. anyway. Priddy will need more than this - tho not much more?

The edam can be placed in the cabins to very stinky and keep him awake. The mobile phone will sound louder in the bucket, and erm he's still got a spare saw.... To hack lumps out of the pilothouse when they find how blimmin hot it is at the equator?

 

[jfm]

Being late for Panama Canal

Do you have to book a slot then? Like, if you turn up late in a RIB does the guy at the entrance say "nah sorry mate yuv missed yer slot we're chokka till September, I can sell you a ticket for then if you like?"

Yours inexperiencedly in Global Cruising Matters
JFM

 

[hlb]

Re: Being late for Panama Canal

No JMC. It's. Bucara Inshallah. Arabic for. Tomorrow God Willing. Real transalation. Some time maybe.

Haydn

 

[tcm]

Re: Being late for Panama Canal

I think so. I once saw a web site telling you where to wait , and I think global challenger had a problem. Praps all the locks go one way then another. Slightly making it up now.

 

[coliholic]

Re: Being late for Panama Canal

Ah well having done the Panama Canal that certainly seems to be the case. When we were there we were told that normal waiting time to go through is 2-4 days, though the cruise ships book a slot but have to be on time and fairily exact with their timings, i.e if you're a bit late then you go to the back of the queue. Some of the ships are only allowed in half way and then have to moor up in Gatun Lake for a day or so if there's a lot of traffic coming the other way. Theres a flight of three locks this end and then 2 the other, one on its own and a a separate flight of 2 at the Pacific end with the big lake in between. Takes a whole day to do the transit and well worth the trip especially if you've got any sense of wonder at the engineering feat involved in the building of it. Locks are 33 metres wide and 130 metres long so Priddy should be able to fit his RIB in OK as long as he doesn't fall off it.

Fascinating journey and a magnificent feat of engineering.

 

[tcm]

Re: what! Colin got bored of panama, now Ouse?

Blimey colin you kept that quiet! Did you get to work the locks yourself ? Any nice pubs?

 

[coliholic]

Re: Being late for Panama Canal

No there's two sets of locks side by side so a sort of up and down set and they don't seem to let the two sets work in the same direction even if it's not busy. And there's waiting areas each end and in the middle. After the locks there's a long canal, sort of River Wissey bit then it opens out into Gatun Lake which is absolutely stunning, then back to the River Wissey for the next locks.

Manoeuvering the boats in and out of the locks is pretty impressive. They use little trains to steer them in and the ships use theri own engines so no jumping off and pulling it in by ropes or using boathooks to fend off.

Could be a good trip for the Leopard. Get some cheap high quality supplies in Panama and Colombia too, sniff sniff, know what I mean?

We went when it was still administered by the Americans, though now taken over by Panama, so don't know if the organisation and running of it is as "good" now??

More info at www.pancanal.com if you're really interested

 

[coliholic]

Re: what! Colin got bored of panama, now Ouse?

Silver Weddiing anniversary cruise. Not as good as the Ouse, but better than the Wissey though. They won't let you get off at the locks and have a chat with the other boaters going the other way. And you can't nip down the pub either; mind you with nine bars on board, not much need I suppose.

 

[jfm]

How to widen the canal for free

Blinkin eck. Thx Colin. I asked the Q a bit tongue in cheek, but looks like someone better tell Priddy.

A thort - why bother with locks? There's ocean at each end so who cares if the levels are a bit out? Why not just let it find its own level? Or would you get 50knot currents? Don't worry about the erosion that would occur, it would make the canal wider (for free!) and eventually you could put a central reservation in, so traffic could go both ways, ending all this friggin congestion, and then Priddy could turn up when he likes.

Colin please advise about feasibility of all this, in some detail, with gradient and flow calcs please.

Yours, inexperiencedly in canal design, but learning fast
JFM

 

[longjohnsilver]

Foreign waters

Thanks Colin, but all we really want to know is how cold and how wet the water is there compared to every other location you've fallen in!!

 

[longjohnsilver]

Midget Barry!!

Must let me have your diet secrets Barry, you could make a fortune selling it!!

 

[coliholic]

Re: How to widen the canal for free

Bimmin heck,.so what am I a free google search or what?

Well from memory, the French tried to build a sea level canal for 20 years from 1880 and because of the topography and Yellow fever, and the huge financial cost, failed miserably. The hills are just too high to cut away for a sea level canal oh and there's a difference in sea level between the Pacific and the Atlantic of about 11 metres anyway. So the French pulled out, (typical eh) and in 1903 Panama gained it's independence from Colombia and along comes Uncle Sam and says here's $10million, we'll build the canal and own it till 2000 and also we'll guarantee your Indepenence. The Yanks then buy the IPR from the French for $40 million and send in some famous Engineer whose name I've forgotten, and he designs and builds it almost as he goes with locks both ends. Now the big problem is not just the canal, though there's millions and millions of tons of rock to be shifted and disposed of, but also where do you get the water from? Before you start with the smart answers, think about it. If you've got a big canal with locks each end, you've got to have a huge expanse of water available somewhere to keep it filled up. OK, geddit?

So not only does he have to build a canal 50 miles long with 12 massive locks, 1,000ft long, 110ft wide and 70ft deep, through very hostile terrain, dispose of all the spoil, conquer Yellow Fever and build his own earthmoving equipment, etc he's also got to build a lake that has a shoreline of 1,100 miles. And all this in 1903. The job was finished in 1914 and cost $387million.

The ship we were on had a beam of 106 ft and fitting that in a 110 ft wide lock was pretty impressive. Oh and the single journey toll fee for our ship was $160K. The lowest toll they've charged was 36cents paid by Richard Halliburton who swam through in 1928.

 

[coliholic]

Re: Foreign waters

Pacific was decidedly wetter than the Atlantic, though ship was too big too jump(or fall) off. Though I did catch SWMBO gauging distances a couple of times. Perhaps it's all a cunning ploy to see if the Life Insurance works?

 

[jfm]

Priddy\'s budget

Aha, so the locks are nothing to do with the 11m diff between the two oceans. They're there because the canal goes over the blimmin mountains, not thru em. Eek.

Does Priddy know he needs $160k? Or if it's charged by length he is (I guess) 5-10% of the length of your cruise ship so he still needs $8-10k. Better take lots of cash, or get the limit raised on his Visa