Monday July 16th arrived as a bright and clear morning, and it was time to depart Auxerre. The plan was a short trip to Gurgy for a Monday night mooring, then on to Migennes, after which I would try the Canal du Bourgogne (Burgundy Canal).
From Auxerre to Migennes, I would be on the Yonne, with it’s large commercial locks, much larger than the Freycinet locks on the older canals. The Freycinet standard lock (38.5 meters long by 5.05 meters wide) exists on the older canals, such at the Nivernais and the Bourgogne. To this point I had single handed the boat through the smaller locks. Now I would be taking on the much wider and longer modern locks by myself for the first time.
I started out mid-morning, having already watched Milou and other boats depart. The first few locks were handled without incident, and I spent lunch time (when the locks are closed) slowly moving towards the lock downstream from Moneteau. I passed Milou and another boat moored along the bank upstream from the beautiful, flower adorned bridge at Moneteau. By the time I reached the lock, Milou and another boat had
caught up. Clearing that lock with Desormais in the lead, that lock being the last before Gurgy, we headed to our evening mooring.
The evening was quiet and pleasant. Yet again, I have arrived at Gurgy when the very nice Restaurant de la Riviere was closed, but spent some very pleasant time socializing with the owners of Milou. I had moored single handed and felt I was learning more about moving about alone on the larger river.
In the morning, we headed out. I offered the lead to Milou but, with a comment about “age before beauty”, they waved me ahead.
The first stretch downriver from Gurgy is a very long canalized stretch off river, known as the Derivation de Gurgy. Nearing the lock at the downstream end of that stretch, I saw that a boat was locking downstream already, so I floated in place upstream from the lock, allowing ample room for any boat that might be waiting on the other side to lock upstream.
The boat locking down departed, and we waited for the lock to cycle back. And waited. And waited. Milou floated slightly behind Desormais, and another boat arrived to float and wait behind Milou.
Finally, after what seemed an eternity of floating and slowly maneuvering the boat to stay in place, we saw the nose of a large commercial barge come around the bend and into the lock, moving upstream. Because these commercial boats fill the locks and carry large loads when full, they move ever so slowly into and out of the locks.
Now, to help you understand what I was about to face for the first time, you need to understand something about boats on canals. A boat displaces it’s weight in water, which is why it floats. A 25-ton boat like Desormais, therefore, displaces 25 tons of water. A much larger and heavier boat displaces much more.
When such a boat moves through a canal, it effectively leaves a “hole” behind it which has to be filled with water. Given its forward movement, the water to fill that hole can only come from ahead of the boat, rushing to the rear. For large boats, or boats moving faster than they should for their weight, the movement of the boat forward can drop the water level ahead of it. The phenomenon is called “bottom effect”.
As this large, heavily loaded commercial barge made its way out of the lock and towards us, my inexperience left me a bit slow to start moving. Additionally, I had drifted toward the bank on my starboard side. When I did begin to accelerate forward, I found I wasn’t moving! The water level had dropped to where my stern was resting gently on the bottom, holding me in place. Meanwhile, the more experienced two boats behind me, knowing the risk, had also begun to move forward. I had a large commercial barge moving steadily toward me, two boats coming up behind me, on a canal not much wider than two boats, and I was stuck!
Using the throttle to rev the engine forward I was lucky to finally begin moving forward. Looking over my shoulder, I saw Milou just off my stern, and watched as they had to adjust their course. Fortunately, I was able to pass the commercial barge, move toward the center of the canal, and then enter the lock without further mishap. Just the same, I was chagrined at nearly causing a problem for multiple boats.
We made it through that lock and moved on. The owners of Milou were headed toward a dinner reservation in Joigny, downstream from Migennes. Feeling embarrassed by my poor performance with the commercial barge, I moved to the side and motioned for Milou to lead. Unfortunately, my embarrassment for the day was not yet complete.
Further downstream, Milou led into a lock, Desormais coming in second, and a third boat, a hire boat, coming in behind. A mild cross breeze was coming from the port side of the boat and, when I tried to lasso a lock bollard on the port side missed, due to a bad throw. With the hire boat coming up behind me and the cross breeze blowing me to the starboard side of the lock, I had to recover quickly and tie to the starboard side of the lock. In my haste, a port mooring rope continued to dangle in the water, and Milou’s captain was kind enough to warn me. My scrambling, bumbling efforts in that lock served as a humbling experience, reminding me I still had much to learn.
Further downriver, I waved to Milou as they pulled off toward Joigny, made my way into the Migennes lock, and thankfully tied up there without further incident. I know I owe Milou an apology but, as gracious as that couple is, think I might simply owe them a nice bottle of wine the next time our paths cross.
I also knew I still had much to learn about handling Desormais alone, and the Canal du Bourgogne, with it’s smaller locks, seemed like the opportunity I needed.