Kind of cool and sounds like a lot of fun. I decided to try Yuri's
movements on a marine traffic URL. The chart can be be found at:
http://marinetraffic.com/ais/
You can put in the name of the ship. In this case just the Barnacle
works. At this email writing, the chart shows him at: N46. 31', 01.62",
W072, 12'53.89" or
46.5171, 072.2150
Of course by the time this email gets out he'll be a different location.
This program is neat and I use ti to track passenger ships as well.
Again, sounds like a really neat experience that most of us would envy.
Reid, W4UPD
On 4/10/2012 12:07 PM, John Papay wrote:
Yuri, UT1FG/MM, left Thunder Bay Ontario on Lake Superior
a few days ago with a cargo of Oats and Wheat destined for
San Juan Puerto Rico. He had gone through the Welland Canal
which connects Lake Ontario to Lake Erie on the way to
Thunder Bay and would come back through on his way out. The
Welland Canal is very long, has 8 locks and takes the boat from
a water elevation of 572' in Lake Erie to 246' in Lake Ontario.
On the way in it took him about 8 hours to go through.
My thought was to drive up there and watch him go through and hope
we could get within shouting distance of one another. But where you
do go to get close and how do you find your way around in unfamiliar
territory? You may have heard VE3RCN on the birds, sometimes from
different grids and sometimes on the warship Haida. Kevin is in the
Royal Canadian Navy (hence the callsign) and makes his home in Welland!
After some email exchanges and some research on Kevin's part he offered
to host my time in the area. That took all of the stress out of the
situation. He knew everything about the canal.
Yuri sailed out of the Detroit River on Saturday night and into Lake
Erie. I was able to contact him on 144.200 sideband where we chatted
for almost an hour, much different than the quick grid square exchange
on the birds. He estimated being at Lock 8 in the Welland Canal around
8am. After 4 hours of sleep and a quick shower I was on the road at
3:15am.
After a few questions by Canadian Customs (they know what to ask to
determine
if you are telling the truth), I was in Canada. About 15 minutes out of
Port Colborne, the entrance to the canal, Yuri called on 146.52 to say he
was about 15 miles out. Fifteen miles later I was at Tim Horton's (the
Canadian Starbucks equivalent) where I was to meet Kevin, VE3RCN/VA3OR.
He arrived their shortly after me and we were off to the Lake Erie shore
to catch a glimpse of the MV Barnacle. And there she was off in the
distance.
It was all coming together. The Lake was calm, the sun was shining, it
was
about 32 degrees but there was no wind. The fish were jumping.
After the ship started moving closer to the channel we got into position
to watch it come in. As it rounded the bend and we could see the bridge,
Yuri spotted us immediately and was waving. He seemed as excited as we
were. As he got closer we were able to shout back and forth. At Lock
8, the first lock, we were able to talk back and forth; we were very
close.
There are places on the canal where you can stand on the bank and put
your
hand on the ship going by. The clearance may only be six inches.
After that we went to get some breakfast; then we lost track of where
Yuri
was. Kevin made a quick call to his xyl Donna, VE3WIZ, and she was able
to relay his position so we could catch up with him again. We waited for
him to pass over the highway at Thorold. The road actually goes under the
canal! Next stop, Lock 7.
We were waiting for Yuri at Lock 7 where the Canal Pilot changes. We were
standing at the fence when things started to come together. The
invitation
to come on board was given and before I knew it I was ushered over the
lock
to the other side of the ship and boarded as the ship lowered to the dock
level. A minute later I was on the bridge with Captain Yuri UT1FG.
Finally
I was able to meet a guy that I've been working on the satellites in
hundreds of water grids since April 2009! At that point Kevin went back
home to get Donna and they then followed us down the canal, waving and
watching us at every highway crossing and vantage point.
An experienced Canal Pilot takes command of the ship through the
locks. He
stands on the port or starboard side of the bridge so he can see the
ship's
hull with respect to the edge of the canal. There may be only inches to
spare so it is a tedious effort. The Pilot calls out the commands
(Starboard
20, Port 10, Slow Ahead etc) and the first officer carries out the
orders.
Yuri is usually with the Pilot and helps relay the commands etc. There is
very little time for anything else except when you are actually
stopped in
the lock. It's one thing to see the ship going through the locks from
land but quite another to experience the change of level from inside the
lock itself. It truly was an experience of a lifetime.
Yuri took me to his cabin one level below the bridge. His quarters are
quite
