SV Panta Rhei Retirement Trip

It feels like home. Of course we are not in Silshole. Maybe we will be, someday, but there is a list and we are on it. In the meantime we are at Bainbridge Island Marina.

23 August 2017 | Prince Rupert

The dinghy holds air again

It wasn't very nice of the bear to tear the fabric across a seam. We were worried that we couldn't patch it but tried anyway. The glue had a job to do and it did it!

15 August 2017 | Anan Bear Observatory

A Grizzly Bear damaged our dinghy

We were visiting the Anan Bear Observatory south of Wrangell. It is one of the best places to visit in all of SE Alaska BECAUSE it has bears. But (as we learned) there is a dark side to this bear concentration. And of course, there is a story to tell.

19 July 2017 | Petersburg, AK

Moving On

"No matter where you go, there you are" (unknown reference). By now we have been there and done that. Most recently that included Cannery Cove on Admiralty Island. The photo shows the quiet grandeur of the setting with Ron and Suzie's boat SV Tango in the foreground. It has been like that for the last [...]

17 June 2017 | Hoonah, AK

We are in Hoonah, SE Alaska now

We got something resembling a high pressure ridge so we moved expeditously across the Gulf of Alaska. The crossing took three days and weather stayed as forecast. That was a very good thing. The weather changes in the far north far more rapidly and dramatically than we ever experienced in the more southern [...]

03 June 2017 | Seward AK

Crossing the Gulf of Alaska

We are still in Seward, AK. Now that spring has come, why not start south?

Stuck in the mud

03 January 2011 | Barra de Navidad Mexico - Lagoon

Larry Nelson

This morning after the VHF net we had a "call for dinghies". SV Lost Elvis, a full keeled 56 foot 50,000 pound sloop had run aground on the east side of the channel into the lagoon. The channel is actually fairly deep, but also very narrow and completely unmarked. You don''t have to be off much to be aground. Many have gone aground while we have been here, but this was the "most aground" of them all and it had a worried skipper. The tide was pretty high and it is a pretty high tidal exchange today, so there was about 4 feet to "fall". When you are on the edge of an underwater mud cliff the possibilities for tipping the boat can be pretty extreme. There were probably about 10 dinghies that responded to his call. By the time we had arrived he had tried kedging and powering with no effect. Using the dinghies we powered into his bow and the boat turned toward deep water. Then we hooked dinghies in series and connected them to a halyard. When we pulled on the halyard we managed to tip the boat quite a bit. As we did this the anchor was kedged again, power was increased and more dinghies pushed on the bow of the boat. The effect was to rotate the boat 180 degrees from its original heading. I was amazed at how much the dinghies could tip the boat by pulling on the halyard. A little more power and another kedging got the boat floating. We were surprised. In the middle of all this there was about 8 inches of bottom paint showing that is normally below the water. That boat was pretty stuck. The story didn't end there. The boat moved only a few feet forward and became stuck on the opposite side of the channel. Like I said, the channel is NARROW. We got him unstuck again and this time gave him a dinghy escort down the channel to his anchorage. Everything ended well with no damage. Whew.

Now it is time for Karen to give Larry his haircut on the foredeck. That is what we had planned before the excitement.

We're still living the dream and it is indeed replete with daily excitement.

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