The Welland Canal's Opening Day of the 2024 Shipping Season was on Mar.22. The first upbound ship was ALGOMA SAULT, which had arrived below Lock 1 in the evening of Mar. 21 to wait to enter the canal.
By 6 am Mar.22 (temp -6C) ALGOMA SAULT was departing Lock 2, and soon passed by the Skyway and the Homer bridges, and headed to Lock 3, where the opening day Top Hat ceremony would take place later that morning to honour the first upbound ship of the season.
By 10 am, while ALGOMA SAULT was still in Lock 3 for the ceremony, other upbound ships had arrived at the canal: CSL ASSINIBOINE reached Lock 2, and ALGOMA EQUINOX was in Lock 1.
Meanwhile, at 10 am on the Port Colborne end, 3 upbound ships had already departed the Welland Canal: first out into Lake Erie was PAUL J. MARTIN, followed by the tug SHARON M1, followed by ALGOMA CONVEYOR. These 3 vessels had been wintering at Port Colborne above Lock 8.
Seeing as PAUL J MARTIN and ALGOMA CONVEYOR had spent the winter beside each other at the east wall closest to Lock 8 - both facing downbound - it appears they would have had to enter Lock 8 downbound, make a turnaround somewhere, and then return upbound to pass through Lock 8 again, in order to get back to Lake Erie.
(Not sure where they make their turnarounds - do they go all the way down to the turning basin above Lock 7, or is there a closer spot to do it? Clearly, ALGOMA SAULT won't technically be the 'first' upbound ship of the 2024 season to go through Lock 8!)
Also by 10 am, the CCGS GRIFFON had (on AIS) appeared downbound, and was between Port Colborne and Welland. By mid-afternoon, no other downbound ship had yet appeared from Lake Erie.
There are two separate Top Hat ceremonies, one held at Lock 3 for the 1st upbound ship, and one at Lock 8 for the 1st downbound ship.
Interestingly, it appears that the downbound Top Hat award at Lock 8 went to ALGOMA CONVEYOR (which had been sitting just above Lock 8 for the entire winter!)
Did ALGOMA CONVEYOR go all way down the canal, do a turnaround in Lake Ontario, then return back up the canal?
If CONVEYOR's goal all along was to actually head into Lake Erie - from the time she had docked at the beginning of her winter lay up - then they already knew she would have to either reverse up the canal to reach Lake Erie, or, have to go down through Lock 8, do a turnaround, then return upbound to reach Lake Erie.
Reversing into Lake Erie is doable - but gets you NO award.
But going downbound thru Lock 8 - just so you can get upbound to Lake Erie - gets you a Top Hat award!
Isn't it a bit of a stretch, to give an award for this contrived turnaround maneuver?
What do you think?
How about having the Top Hat ceremony held for the 1st up & down-bound ship which actually comes in from a port on one lake (...not from sitting on layup right there at the canal...) and which FULLY transits the canal, and continues to some port on the other lake?? (...and not do internal turnarounds...)
THAT should be considered an actual transit - so shouldn't THAT be the criteria to qualify for the Top Hat?? Giving recognition for staging a turnaround maneuver appears to be a bit of a gimmick - - but, what do you think?
Maybe they should give CONVEYOR an award for being both the 1st downbound ship AND the 1st upbound ship, to go thru Lock 8?!
Remember: RT. HON PAUL J. MARTIN was on lay-up at the same place as CONVEYOR, but it turns out PJ MARTIN did NOT go downbound thru Lock 8, do a turnaround, and return up again; instead, PJ MARTIN simply reversed from her winter berth, passed under the Clarence St. bridge, and continued in reverse all the way into Lake Erie.
So why didn't CONVEYOR just reverse out to Lake Erie, like PJ MARTIN did?
It seems like CONVEYOR got an award for no other reason than not bothering to reverse!
And lastly: to make this award even more contrived, it appears that CONVEYOR had gone downbound thru Lock 8 at about 7 pm on MAR.21 {!?} - yet 'opening day' was officially supposed to be MAR.22!
CONVEYOR was given an award for something that she did not do on opening day.
When CONVEYOR was given the Top Hat award at the Lock 8 ceremony, on Mar.22 - as the 1st DOWN-bound ship of the season - she was actually sitting UP-bound in Lock 8!
Didn't anyone ask 'hey, this ship is heading upbound - why are you giving them an award as the 'first downbound ship'?
People I spoke to had assumed these awards are given to the 1st upbound and 1st downbound ships which arrive ON opening day, and that these ships are fully transiting the canal that day, and that they're heading to another port.
But to go downbound and do an internal turnaround, just so you get an award - and now to find out CONVEYOR went downbound thru Lock 8 a day BEFORE opening day - just tarnishes this award.
Give it to a downbound ship that is ACTUALLY going downbound, for example...
Негізгі бет Opening Day 2024 Welland Canal Shipping Season, ALGOMA SAULT is the first upbound ship
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