SV Panta Rhei Retirement Trip
| Vessel Name: | Panta Rhei |
| Vessel Make/Model: | Able Apogee 50 |
| Hailing Port: | Seattle |
| Crew: | Larry and Karen |
| Social: |
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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?
You want me to turn around?
To understand this story, you need to appreciate the weather severity that we have been seeing. It is breathtaking. New Zealand weather has been "a tough spring". This boat had left expecting acceptable weather for the entire route. They had sailed past Minerva reef with a clear weather window. But about 200 miles further past Minerva the trajectory of the low and the high that define the weather shifted. Bob McDavitt, the weather guru, sent them an email and told them to turn back now. They should NOT stop at Minerva reefs. Apparently something approaching 10 meter seas was coming their way. They turned around and will live to sail to New Zealand another day...probably with us this time.
How does it happen that you can get so close to your destination and have to turn around? ...not just heave to and wait but turn around? It's a sobering data point on the difficulty of predicting the weather on this route and the seriousness of the weather that regularly occurs.
Right now we are in town. We've downloaded weather, paid our port fees, gotten our passport stamped, picked up the customs exit documents, gotten the document for duty free fuel and eaten out at Friendlies, the local internet cafe. This is a nice town. We have one more task before we can leave. We have to get fuel. We need all we can carry. In spite of the storm problems, there are a lot of no wind conditions occurring next week. Go figure. This is the wild west of sailing travel. We really don't want to sail 2/3 of the way there and turn around! Geez.
The goal is to reach the safe dock in New Zealand. Then we can take the quick trips south in good weather. We desperately want to do this safely, both for the boat and for us. So...we try and we hope for success. We'll also sign up with Bob McDavitt so that we get the warnings that we need to get.
We'll try to post how things are going.
