We left the wall at lock 16 rather late, 9:00, because we were headed for Ilion Village Marina only about 15 NM away. There were only 2 locks to go through on the way, #17 & 18. Lock #17 has a 40’ lift and #18 has 20’. Various locks provide a variety of arrangements for holding your boat in position along the wall while the water floods in (or out). When there are pipes or cables, they are attached top and bottom and allow you to loop a line around them to hold the boat steady as it rises – you must just make sure your rope slides along as the boat is raised. We also have 3’ long sticks (thanks to John & Marilyn O’Bryan)that we use to push the boat away from the wall since some lock walls are rough with chunks of concrete missing and all are slimy or muddy. We also wear heavy work gloves when locking. The in-rushing water creates a current that tries to move the boat fore or aft and occasionally it was necessary to reach into the lower helm station and put the prop in gear or jog the bow thruster to help hold position. Lock #17 had ropes. We find locks with ropes to be the most demanding. The ropes are attached at the top of the lock chamber and hang free at the bottom. In the case of lock #17 with a 40’ lift, we had 2 ropes that were 40’ long and we had to pull down and out as needed to maintain the boat’s position. It is difficult to control the boat since the angle with the wall is very acute when you are at the bottom of a 40’ lock. Locking through these high-rise locks is something like landing an airplane – you know when you begin the process you are going to bring it to a conclusion. However, the portion in between can be very beautiful or quite ugly.