We had two very interesting locks today. After a morning run of about an hour and a half we went through lock # 43 at Swift Rapids which has a drop for us of 47 feet, the largest amount of any of the conventional locks on the waterway. We entered on the high side and dropped the 47 feet in just a few minutes.
The second was lock # 44, and one of the most famous on the Trent-Severn Waterway. Lock # 44 is known as the "Big Chute Marine Railway". In this lock we motor into a giant steel carriage (three stories high and twenty seven feet wide and they lift us out of the water with slings under the boat (just like we use to get hauled out at a marina for a bottom paint job) and then the entire steel carriage moves on railroad tracks up out of the water, over a small road and down the hill to the water at the bottom of the railway. The total ride moves the boat 600 feet forward and down 57 feet to the water at the lower level. The ride is up, over and down, and takes less than 10 minutes. The lockmaster here is an expert on the getting boats safely into and out of the slings. This lock could not have been easier for us.
We finish the day about 2 pm at Port Severn where we dock at the Rawley Resort, with power but no internet.
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