The SOCP is finally underway, here are the final plans:

• The canal will be 24 blocks wide and 3 blocks deep to accommodate most ships
• The first stretch of the canal will run from the northern shore of the continent at Z:2781 and continue until it intersects the central river at Z:3220 (440 blocks in length)
• The canal will be centered on the chunk boundary at X:479/480, spanning from X:467 to X:492 (26 blocks in width, including walls)

These are the phases and methods under which construction will operate:

• Phase 1 - the canal is dug out along its course to a depth of 1 block below sea level, and the walls of the canal are constructed using polished granite
• Phase 2 - the canal is flooded along its entire length with water
• Phase 3 - the flooded canal is dug out to a depth of 3 blocks below sea level, including adjustments in depth between the inlets and the ocean/river

The reason we are flooding the canal before completion is to make actually flooding the canal much easier, because 1 block deep water does not impede mining - if anyone has a better suggestion, please let me know.

Any Southern Continent nation (or any nation, really) interested in contributing should contact me (s0uthw3st) or redtao for more information. Right now, we could use help with Phase 1, and smoothing out the holes made during the initial marking of the canal route (thanks again to TinyEmperor of Britannia and his expert piloting skills).