SV Panta Rhei Retirement Trip

It's been a more than a week and most of the boats from our "flock" have arrived. Mike (SV Astarte) who was the coolest captain in the fleet on the SSB radio (you would have thought he was Chuck Yeager) completed the trip yesterday. He experienced 64 knot winds, 10+ meter seas, a runaway diesel engine, and a broken steering cable assembly. We had been here at the dock more than a week before he arrived. I'd call that a bad trip but Mike was in good spirits last night. So I asked him about the engine trouble? It turns out if the crankcase gets too full in a diesel, it can run (and you cannot throttle it) and you cannot stop it except by cutting off it's air. He cautioned that we should not try that with our hands! The steering cable problem was caused by a turning block that failed, causing the cable to come off the bell crank. When Mike came to the dock he was using his emergency tiller after using the autopilot on most of the trip. (The autopilot steers by a separate connection to the rudder stock). He managed to fix his diesel engine at sea. He didn't say what he did but he did say he was worried that the problem might reoccur (it didn't) which would have been a big deal if it occurred while he was docking.

The hero of the fleet, Bruce on SV Adventure Bound, has not arrived yet. Bruce went to the aid of Wendigo, who sank. Apparently initial reports that they were in their life raft were not right. They had no life raft! Bruce worked his way 30 nm upwind to standby while a large cargo ship picked Wendigo's crew off their boat with their crane. I had wondered how the crew would get from their boat to SV Adventure Bound? Remember the weather was ultra bad, so bad that everyone experiencing it had serious problems just surviving themselves. SV Astarte was close to SV Adventure Bound which served to add credibility to the reported severity of the weather conditions. Our cruising community has prepared a special welcome for SV Adventure Bound when they finally get here. There are gales passing through this area which SV Adventure Bound has to transit in order to get in. His ordeal isn't over until he arrives.

We've arranged to haul SV Panta Rhei out of the water for some repairs to the rudder (from the cable incident in El Salvador) and the swim step (loose mounting caused by compressed wood under the mount) and for new bottom paint. Our haul out happens next Thursday. This is a big deal. The travel lift is busy and we scored a cancellation slot. We'll be staying on SV Gypsea Heart (with Rankin and Sandy Tibbets) during the haul out. We've finished paying off our car (many trips to the cash machine were involved) and we've ordered LOTS of spares and repair parts from the local Chandelery. The balance of payments from the US to NZ has shifted noticeably, and the outflow hasn't even begun to slow yet.

We're loving it here. Thai food tonight with friends. We finished the week long cruiser's party and it was a tremendous success. The dock power is wonderful and changes our lifestyle noticeably. We've made arrangements to get a new mainsail when we are in Auckland. We can continue the rest of the work on the boat while we are seeing the "big city".

Today, Lauren Buckholtz from SV Piko is coming to visit. (His boat is in Auckland now) and we will get his briefing on visiting Fiji, which we are planning to do next "winter".

The picture is of Haruru Falls with Larry standing close to the falls. The scenery in NZ is wonderous.