>>1344824I can understand the concern of officials about pleasure yachts managing the Belomorsk Canal and Vytegra locks, but they are not yet aware perhaps, that Russian locks are easily manageable by vessels experienced with Scottish and West European locks. True, the Russian locks are huge, but they are gentle and efficiently run. We tie up to large, floating hooks set into the wall of the lock, using a single breast rope pulled tight. Large fenders are essential of course, but that is all.
The inland waterway network is astoundingly large and intricate system of interlinked rivers, canals and navigable routes for commercial vessels. There are more than 90,000 km of them! Over half of these passages are fully buoyed and lit, carrying river cargo in excess of 100 million tons annually. The Volga and Don Rivers (and the great canal connecting them) carry the great bulk of commercial traffic. The trip is remote only in one sense – in 2,300 miles we came across only 2 or 3 cruising yachts, all of the Russian of course. But the commercial traffic is continuous and, for sailors, quite fascinating.
As far as navigation goes, Russia’s inland waterway chart atlases are accurate and detailed. They are expensive and, like the essential Russian VHF transmitter, we had difficulty locating a retail outlet to purchase them. We also have an iPad program called iSailor, whose electronic charts cover the entire waterway system. Navionics also has charts, but we preferred the iSailor version.