It would appear that following an incident on the Panama Canal some erroneous reports
appeared in the press. We were asked, along with other marine publications, to publish a translation of a letter written by Germans Barbara and Ulrich Sandmeier about the collision in which they were involved on the Panama Canal and we are glad to oblige:
 On the morning of March 2, 2001 at approximately 0730 hours, on the approach to the first of the three chambers of the Gatum locks in Colon, Panama, the sailing yacht 'Antares Royale' was rafted to the American sailing yacht, 'Nepenthe'.
A professional pilot from the Canal Company was present on each yacht. In the lock we were rafted up to the Autoridad de Canal de Panama (ACP) tug Lider. All lines were clear, the lock gates were closed and, whilst the lock chamber was filling, for reasons unknown to us, the line handler on the tug Lider let go of the line which attached the tug to the lock wall.
Becasue of the strong turbulence created by the incoming water, the entire boat raft swivelled 90 degrees, within minutes, and our two yachts were pushed by the tug underneath the stern of the, approximately, 250 meter container ship, CGM Renoir of Monrovia.
 Shortly before the masts of both yachts came down, all 12 persons aboard the two yachts involved fled to the deck of the tug to save themselves.
We were very lucky that no one was hurt.
The result of the investigation that followed showed that the cause of the dramatic incident was negligence on the part of the captain and line handlers of the ACP tug. We were not at fault. Our 'Antares' is very heavily damaged and it is questionable whether it can be repaired.
At present we are situated in the Pedro Miguel Boat Club at the Panama Canal. We greet all our acquaintances and friends.
Barbara, Ueli and Christian.
For more information, including many more photographs, full reports and commentary from David Wilson, author of "A Captain's Guide to Transiting the Panama Canal in a Small Vessel" and John Pearlman, owner of the 'Nepenthe' go to:
http://www.pmbc.ws/htmls/brokenboat.html
|
