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?

Our doors won't close

18 April 2012 | Enroute to Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia from Galapagos
Larry Nelson
From the rhyme of the ancient mariner: "...Water water everywhere and how the boards do shrink. Water water everywhere and not a drop to drink..."

Silas Marner (? not sure of the author) must have been in the high northern or southern latitudes. Here on the equator the boards swell a lot. We can't close most doors and the floorboards are very hard to open. We have sanded with a hand sander but the task demands something with an electric motor behind it. The task is so hard that we have had to assign it to Karen and Katie. We give words of encouragement. Press harder on the sanding block, we suggest. They seem to have developed a hearing block of some kind.

We have managed to keep the boards like the ones in the floor over the main sump and the one over the watermaker controls and the one where the food is stored working. For some of the doors, maybe we don't need that much privacy?

We were on a track to set a record for solar output until the sun moved behind the spinnaker. This shaded the solar panels and our output plummeted. Probably the same thing will happen again today because our heading is not changing. Fortunately, the strategy of priming the gen set salt water cooling system is working so we have enough power. Of course we've decided to operate the gen set without it's cover and to leave the engine door open so to promote cooling. The noise is not so great. Did I mention that I run the gen set on my watch at 5 am to get it done before the sun hits the solar panels? However, the Katie data suggests that sleep is actually promoted by this white noise. She feels more secure with the ample electrical power (which means fresh water). We may try closing the engine room door to see if we are over killing the temperature difficulty. That would make it a lot quieter.

The wind dropped and that hurt our boat speed. We flew the spinnaker all day but even that couldn't save us. No wind is no wind no matter how big the sail. We did manage to average around 5.5 kn thanks to the current AND the spinnaker. The seas are rough enough that in light wind the direction of the apparent wind becomes unstable. The sails slat and loose power. This is the curse of the ocean. On smooth water we would actually do pretty well with this much wind. Even a couple knots more wind would fix this and fortunately as night came we got that little extra wind. Every one aboard smiled as we took our rest.

Trip log: 12105 nm Distance to go: 2404 Miles traveled from Galapagos: 746 Solar output for the day: 111 AHr (3.16 kWHr) Course: 248M Speed about 5 kn Wind about 7 kn on our stern
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