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Cruising yachts and pleasure craft are crossing the Isthmus of the Americas in record numbers.  The Autoridad del Canal de Panama requires four line handlers per vessel up to 80 feet in overall length.  You can be one of those line handlers, go from one ocean to another in twelve hours, see the Panama Canal like few people do, and make easy money doing it. The Panama Canal opened its gates in August of 1914. Few ships since have opted to circumnavigate South America via the Straits of Magellan or the Beagle Passage because of time factors, weather, and ocean surface dangers. The only cruisers that take that route are the ones that want that unusual experience.  That means that 99% of the world’s cruisers that need to get from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, or from the Pacific to the Atlantic, must transit the Panama Canal. When cruisers transit the Panama Canal, they must first make arrangements with the Autoridad del Canal de Panama, that’s Panama Canal Authority in English, or more commonly known as the ACP.  The ACP sets fees, assigns the captain’s advisor, and schedules transit times.  Once these have been done and the fees have been paid, the cruising captain must transit on the day and time scheduled or pay a penalty fee.  It is the captain’s job to find line handlers.

Line Handlers catch the lines from the Lock workers, tie off that line on the ships cleat, and then stay relatively alert for any orders from the ships captain or the ACP advisor.

What Do Line Handlers Do?

Line Handlers handle the lines that go from the cruising vessel to the canal locks.  There are four Line Handlers on each cruising vessel – two on the bow and two on the stern.  When the vessel transits a lock, the vessel must be kept in the center of the lock, and this is done by lines and those that handle them – a Line Handler.  Imagine a square hammock with a rope at each corner holding the hammock steady and centered.
 

There are three sets of locks along the 50-mile stretch of the Panama Canal.  They are, from Pacific to Atlantic, Miraflores, Pedro Miguel, and Gatun.  The locks lift the vessel over the continental divide and then lower it back to sea level, again.  It takes about forty-five minutes to go through a lock.   It takes about twelve hours to transit the whole Canal.  That means a good nine hours of taking pictures, swapping stories with the captain and crew, reading a book, quiet contemplation and meditation, or whatever else your heart desires. Where Do You Go To Become a Line Handler? Line handling doesn’t require training.  All it requires is the ability to catch a half-inch leader line when the lock workers throw it to you (by the third time), tying the vessel's line to the leader line to be hauled  back to the lock worker, then tying the other end of the vessel's line to the cleat of the vessel.  After that, you should stay relatively alert during each of the three 45 minute lock passages. Captains go three places to look for Line Handlers – the Balboa Yacht Club at the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal, the Pedro Miguel Boat Club next to the Pedro Miguel Locks, and the Cristobal Yacht Club on the Atlantic side.  Captains look on the bulletin boards at these three places for notices posted by anyone wanting to line handle.

This is the beginning of the Pedro Miguel Locks going from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean looking North Northwest.

Line Handlers aren’t as plentiful as you might think, and it’s not because the pay isn’t good enough.  Line Handlers get between $50 and $100 per transit, depending on the Captain and the size of the vessel.  If you were to make a week of doing a transit a day, you’d build up a reputation as an experienced Line Handler and a sizeable nest egg that could take you to the next country or easily make back return air fare to your place of origen.

Cruising captains prefer the company of fellow travelers, and there aren’t that many travelers in Panama to fill the need for Line Handlers.  Also, as often as not, there are good probabilities of signing on with the vessel as a crewmember and continuing on with the vessel to other ports.
 

Monrovia registered Panamax carrying six thousand cars destined for the new millennium

Where do vessels head after transiting the Panama Canal? Vessels that transit the Panama Canal are always headed to another port-of-call.  On the Pacific side, there is the Galapagos Islands, or  Ecuador, or Chile, or even the South Pacific.  On the Atlantic side, it’s the San Blas Islands, or Cartagena, or the islands of the Caribbean. Flights to Panama are around $200 from Miami.  Panama has a lot to offer visitors from any walk of life, whether it be the advantage of tax havens or ecotourism.  When you get here, be sure to make it down to the Balboa Yacht Club just to later say you’ve enjoyed the legacy of an Atlas beer at the BYC along with Errol Flynn, John Wayne, Prince Charles of England, and President George Bush, Sr, to name a few of the more famous (or infamous) types who’ve watched ships pass under the Bridge of the Americas on there way through the Panama Canal. Then check the bulletin board and the talk down on the pier to see what vessels are transiting the next day.   Post your notice and Line handle your way from ocean to ocean.  Say you did it for the experience and for money.

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