Location: Colon, Panama
This morning, we all gathered in the cockpit for breakfast while Mac and Ben walked us through how our crossing through the Panama Canal would go tomorrow. We were split into four teams, one at the port and starboard side of the bow and then at both sides of the stern. We then all gathered around one set of bits at midship to practice the various positions we would participate in as we moved through the locks. Everyone was given the option to try tailing, which means first catching the line the Canal workers threw us, attaching their rope to our Panama line, wrapping the line around the bits when we were told to hold, and then eventually easing out as we go back down through the locks on the other side of the lake. The other three people on each team were responsible for sweating, meaning they were responsible for taking up slack on the line as the water around us rose. After everyone who wanted to try both positions, we all had some much-needed free time to catch up on schoolwork. Most of us ended up studying at the marina restaurant, enjoying cold drinks and air conditioning while we could, and swimming in the pool for our breaks. We all then had the option to have dinner out at the restaurant as this would be our last time in a marina before Tahiti, so everybody had a quick dinner out before heading back to Vela to study for our oceanography quiz tomorrow.