 |
Bridge 12, Lock 9 at Ville Saint-
Jean-sur-Richelieu |
Today was canal day. We transited nine locks. In between locks the speed limit is 10 Kilometers or about 6 Knots. We were the only boat going north at the time, so the locks were mostly in our favor. We waited about 10 minutes for the bascule bridge and Lock 9 to receive us. The bridge and the lock work in tandem. We did not have to stop and wait more than two minutes for Locks 8 through 4. The lock masters called ahead to alert the next set that we were on our way…very cordial and considerate of them, which made the trip all the easier. Each would notify Brian of what was ahead, and when to expect boaters traveling in the opposite direction. They knew exactly how to time our departure from their lock to ensure we had room to pass. Our longest wait was for the last three locks before Lake Chambly — about 45
 |
Narrow channel & all boats must
travel in the middle |
minutes. We tied up to a lock wall and waited. Linda had enough time to look around the area and take some pictures. All the bridge and lock masters were very friendly and spoke English well (they are required to be bi-lingual). At times, the canal was so narrow that between the locks there was only room for one-way traffic. At the lock there is space for north bound and south bound boats to pass — barely. These locks are small, too. They are about 100 feet long and no more than 25 feet wide. All locks are manually operated. This means the lock attendants must “hand crank” the lock gates open and closed, and open and close the paddles (sliding doors in the gates that move up and down to allow water to flow in and out of the lock chamber), and then hand crank the opening at the other end.
 |
Relatively flat on both sides of
the canal |
All bridges and locks on the Chambly Canal are historic sites and operated by the
Canadian Park Service. By the way, here is an interesting tidbit: despite Canada being on the metric system, the Canadian Park Services expects boat dimensions in feet. Brian tried giving the boat dimensions in meters and was advised they wanted feet. Once we arrived in the lock and Linda, who manned the bow, was given her line by a lock attendant to pull the boat forward as Brian shut off the engines and quickly moved to the
 |
| Passing lane south of Lock 8 |
stern to receive his line to keep Splash Down from drifting away from the lock wall. Then when the gates began to open, Brian had to toss his line up and run to the bridge to start engines and maintain position before we could move forward. Hanging on to
the lines and using poles to stand off the boat from the lock wall was very physical, but not as messy as in the New York locks. We were exhausted when we arrived at Marina de Chambly, roughly 68 feet lower than where we started this morning. After we connected water and power to the boat, we went to a nearby bar to have lunch (at 3:30pm). We walked a short distance to a supermarket to resupply. Finally, back to the boat to relax and, Zzzzzzzzzzzz.
 |
Lock wall and basin for Bridge 1,
Lock 3 |
 |
View from Lock 3 down to
Locks 2 & 1, & Lake Chambly |
