SV Panta Rhei Retirement Trip

Vessel Name: Panta Rhei
Vessel Make/Model: Able Apogee 50
Hailing Port: Seattle
Crew: Larry and Karen
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18 September 2017 | Seattle
23 August 2017 | Prince Rupert
15 August 2017 | Anan Bear Observatory
19 July 2017 | Petersburg, AK
17 June 2017 | Hoonah, AK
03 June 2017 | Seward AK
03 June 2017 | Denali
25 April 2017 | Seward AK
23 March 2017 | Seward, AK
11 March 2017 | Seward, AK
23 January 2017 | Seward AK
06 December 2016 | Seward AK
12 November 2016 | Seward Alaska
14 October 2016 | Valdez, AK
21 September 2016
05 August 2016 | Seward, AK
26 July 2016 | Whittier, AK
19 July 2016 | Valdez, Alaska
05 July 2016 | Seward, Alaska
Recent Blog Posts
18 September 2017 | Seattle

We are back in Seattle

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?

Anxiety is spelled AUTOPILOT in the cruiser dictionary

20 March 2013
Larry Nelson
A few days ago while we were out testing our new sails the autopilot quit working. It appeared to have no power. Dead. Except of course, it DID have power. On a passage this would have meant we had to steer 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, constantly, during the entire remaining part of the passage. For a crew of 2, that is really really really hard to do. Oh, no, no, no, no .... say it couldn't be so. We DEPEND on the autopilot and now it has gone flaky.

The autopilot people were here this morning. Lo and behold, the autopilot worked fine. Chalk another in the set of non-repeatable events onto the anxiety list for offshore cruising. So....it will happen again just as we depart for Fiji, right?

Well, maybe not. We found a curious thing. The line which tells the autopilot to start up also tells it to power off. If you hold the button down, making sustained contact, the autopilot powers off. (Don't you just love modern multi-function buttons?) So, looking at the cockpit autopilot control there had been water and corrosion inside the connector. The connector is wired in parallel with the control head at the nav station. When the water dried, things worked again. Did I tell you it was raining sideways when the autopilot quit? Actually I was concentrating on steering and the rain didn't really register. The solution was new connectors and a careful installation that included care to prevent water intrusion and ventilation to allow water egress.

It's a good story. Is it the true story? We'll find out on the passage to Fiji.
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