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?

Ocean waves

04 May 2012 | Enroute to Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia from Galapagos
Larry Nelson
As I type this we have very modest seas and even more modest wind. But still we slat. We slat because we roll. If the winds are so light, why are the seas not calm like a lake?

In past blog reports, I've reported light winds at the same time we have monster waves. How does that happen?

I'm learning to appreciate this myself. An ocean is not a lake. From a practical point of view it has no shores and it has monster fetch with fairly consistent winds. So waves develop. But more than that they develop EVERYWHERE where wind blows. The really large waves have long pitch between waves (their wavelength). The speed that these waves travel is proportional to their wavelength., so these waves travel fast, which also means they travel a long way. The long wavelength waves travel faster than our boat. so you will notice that they are always "running under us".

Since the ocean is such a big place, more than one storm exists at a time. And storms that are far away can happen earlier and even after they have gone away can contribute waves to a distant location. Add to that the fact that storms move in curves, so these waves come from different and changing directions. The result all superposes where you are making the observation. The seas you observe are inevitably irregular, peaky and generally uncorrelated with the local wind. The small wavelength stuff tends to be contributed by the local wind. It is the longer wavelength stuff that rocks the boat though.

All that experience you gained at the beach watching waves line up and then hit the shore in a big long wavefront? Forget that. In my experience, that is not the general condition. It is a good deal more chaotic than that. At least it has been for the last 20 days where we are in the sunny south Pacific.

Those of you that are still in the workplace could invent an anti-slatting device and it would sell at least one copy, to Panta Rhei. I'd pay a lot.

Turkey and dressing with petite peas for dinner last night, and the turkey was moist....perfectly cooked.

Trip log: 14227 Distance to go: 298 nm Speed 2.7 kn Solar: not recorded
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