the Slowboat Team 
Going from Wrangell to Petersburg involves transiting Wrangell Narrows. The narrows are, well, narrow, and have currents that can run over 6 knots. Normally, we try to time the narrows so we arrive at the middle point – Papke’s Landing – where the current splits and goes opposite directions as the flood turns to ebb. That allows us to ride the flood current into the middle, then ride the ebb … Read more
We left Meyers Chuck this morning at a fairly low tide, making the narrow exit a bit exciting (but not a problem). It was a beautiful clear day, and the seas were fairly calm with just a one-foot chop as we headed around the corner to make our way to Thoms Place. Soon after we turned into Ernest Sound the water was flat calm. Great Escape had hung back in … Read more
We were greeted with lovely weather this morning for our departure from Ketchikan on the way to Meyers Chuck. Great Escape stayed behind for a bit to wait for a part to be delivered, but the rest of the boats headed north. Ralph on Rubicon made a dinghy airport run before he left (we’ll miss you Jeanette!!). The Ketchikan airport is on an island across from town, so it’s always … Read more
We left our anchorage at Foggy Bay around low tide (a -2.8ft this morning!) and had a much skinnier exit than we did coming in at high tide. The shallowest we saw on the depth finder was 16ft, The conditions in the channel were calm and the skies were brightening and it was so nice to have promise of better weather ahead! Our time in Ketchikan was spent doing chores, … Read more
We’re now in Alaska!! We went to Kelp Passage yesterday to set ourselves up for a possible Dixon Entrance crossing. Dixon Entrance is the final open-to-the-ocean section of the Inside Passage. It deserves respect, and can be dreadful in bad weather. For the last week or so we’ve been watching the forecast for Dixon. Generally, there has been exactly ONE good day in the forecast between weather systems, but that … Read more
We woke to light drizzle and some fog, with a little bit of blue sky in the distance. Our plan to transit Jackson Narrows at high tide made for an uneventful experience. Jackson Passage is a beautiful (and shorter) route from east to west, but often avoided due to Jackson Narrows, but at high slack transiting the narrows is easy. We made our way north in Finlayson Channel and up … Read more
We left the docks at Shearwater and headed out for Seaforth Channel. We expected to have some swell eventually, but swell never really materialized and conditions remained calm the entire route. We turned north into scenic Reid Passage up to Perceval Narrows and since we were a bit early, we had a couple knots against us going through (no big deal). It rained all day as we made our way … Read more
We left Codville Lagoon just before 8:00a.m. and arrived at Shearwater around 10:00a.m. We hadn’t been able to get any response from the marina regarding our moorage requests, and calls on 66A went unanswered. We all found space on the dock though, just like a regular first-come-first-served situation, and it all worked out. (We later learned that the radio base station volume had been turned all the way down and … Read more