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The last yacht has left on the annual South Pacific run, after failing to find a place in the former Canal Zone to refit and repair severe damage before continuing on.

It's a long story. The Pedro Miguel Boat Club (PMBC) and the yacht are the immediate losers here, but ultimately the cruisers of the world, will be the big losers if these actions by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) go unchecked.

Historically, the PMBC has been a place to work on boats from the mid 1930ís, and for its 65 years has been a legal, helpful and vibrant organization for all of the local and international yachting community and a source of charitable support for the Panamanian community.

Complying with the legal changes required by the reversion of the old Canal Zone back to Panamanian ownership, as penned by President Carter and General Torrijos in 1977, the club switched from a Delaware non-profit organization to a Panamanian non-profit organization. All seemed well as a decade passed. Then in 1996 the Panama Canal Commission (PCC), in their words, "required" the operating site of the club.

The PCC had to terminate the license/lease agreement with the PMBC to remove them. This is where things got screwy, as the Panamanian government had to issue the order, and by treaty should have compensated the PMBC or relocated them.

However the ACP stated that the PCC (an agency of the United States Government) was responsible for the club's relocation or the club's monetary compensation. The PCC flatly denied its responsibility for compensation.

A case was filed against the PCC in the US Court of Claims by the PMBC, for a "taking" of the club's property and livelihood. The PCC, via the US Dept. of Justice, offered a deal for dropping all requirements for the PMBC to give up its area, if the PMBC would withdraw its case against the Panama Canal Commission. It sounded fair to the club, so a deal was struck and everything seemed to have ended. Not so.

The Panama Canal changed hands from the PCC to the ACP, with the same folks running the show. The ACP continued for awhile doing business with the PMBC.

Then in 2002, the ACP required $440 for boats to stop at the club, claiming that transit was being "delayed." When that did not cause boats to stop coming to this haven for yachts in Panama, the ACP decided to increase the pressure.

In November 2002, the ACP stated they did not recognize the PMBC as having any rights to occupy its site and filed for eviction of the club as trespassers. The first legal decision in the process was found in favor of the PMBC, nullifying the ACP's request for eviction of the club. The writing was on the wall for the ACP --- the PMBC did have rights and was not a "trespasser."

The ACP then ordered a "stop transit" of all vessels to the Pedro Miguel Boat Club. There was no notice to the club, nothing in writing, just "you cannot transit to the PMBC" to any vessel requesting transit. This strangulation of access is a direct attempt to cripple the economic viability of the club and has made its survival extremely difficult.

The bottom line is that if this 65-year-old club which offers major assistance to the cruising community was a multi-million-dollar for-profit business, none of this would be a problem. However, the PMBC is a non-profit organization that has spent two-thirds of a century helping fellow cruisers get safely through from one ocean to another and no one gets rich from the work.

Also in this section:
A visit to Panama Viejo
Pedro Miguel Boat Club under pressure to close

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