Läckö-Vänersborg-Lilla Edet, 4-8 July

The forecasted gale is catching us up on the way from Läckö to Vänersborg. It will last three days where we remain stuck in our boat, waiting for better weather. When it cools down, we quit lake Vänern through huge descending locks that have nothing to compare with the small locks we passed through in the Göta Kanal.

The first lock on the Trollhättan kanal

The technic for passing the lock is different, and the instructions given in the Göta Kanal skipper guide do not apply to the Trollhättan locks because of their size (90 x 15 metres compared to 30 x 8 metres, 8 metre high versus 3.5 metres).

Trollhättan locks are requiring a single mooring line of at least 25 metres attached at the middle of the boat (beam). The locks are equipped with bollards at the top and hooks fitted in the wall. If you can access the hooks in the wall, pass the mooring line around it (left picture below) and keep the free end in your hand. Belisama being high on the water, in most locks we could not fit the mooring line on the hook and had to use the top bollard (right picture below). Never attach the mooring line free end to the cleat, as it is likely to get stuck there when the boat gets down!

As the boat starts to go down, give slack to the mooring line. Within the lock, there is no wind that may affect to position of the boat. Therefore, even for bigger boats, it is easy to keep her in place. You can use the bow thruster if the boat starts rotating a bit.

Going down...

Reaching the bottom of the lock

Trollhättan Kanal is much larger than the Göta kanal, allowing boats of 80 metres to pass. They are basically filling entirely the lock. Impressive to watch!

Belisama moored at Lilla Edet as a cargo ship passes the lock

Lilla Edet

There are 6 locks on the Trollhättan kanal, but numerous bridges to pass. Here is a sample of the bridges...

Being delayed by the gale on lake Vänern and having a friend to pick in Göteborg, we did not stop in Trollhättan, unfortunately. We will need to come back :-)!