Petersburg Alaska

We are just returning home from spending a few days in Petersburg Alaska with the largest gathering of Nordhavn boats in the history of the brand. This has been a great get-together and we are sorry to see it end.

We couldn't get the time off to attend by boat so we flew up via the Alaska Airlines "Milk Run".  We flew from Seattle to Ketchican  (1 1/2 hr) then on to Wrangle (20 minutes) and finally on to Petersburg (14 minutes) before the plane continued on to Juneau and Anchorage.  The run from Wrangle to Petersburg is so short that the 737 had to fly between the mountains as he followed Wrangle Narrows.  I swear we could have seen a squirrel on the mountain tops at the peak of our flight and were looking up at them as we came in for our landing.

Looking north across the marina towards the Sons of Norway Hall where we met

The North 2 AK rendezvous started as a "gee let's see if a couple of boats want to meet up in Alaska idea" a couple of years ago with the belief that "maybe 4 - 6 boats will show up" according to the organizers.  Once the word got out the interest grew until 30 boats showed up and a number of fly-ins like us bringing the total head count to about 100.  The town of Petersburg reported that this was the biggest thing to hit their tiny borough for some time.  With luck the fishing season opened up in time for the fishing fleet to exit so there was plenty of dock space left for Nordhavns and the sun came out and it was great!

The opening presentation was by Dan Streech, one of the founding fathers of Pacific Asian Enterprises (PAE) that designs and builds Nordhavns.  It was clear from Dan's presentation that he really loves boats and especially Nordhavns.  He talked about how ground breaking it was when hull #001 of the N46 line of boats was launched as the idea of ocean crossing recreational trawlers was still very much in its infancy (and he was very excited to hear that hull #001 was in the marina).

UUB V (Pronounced WB 5, his previous boats were named Water Boy 1-4) - Nordhavn 46 hull #001 that started the line of now 500 boats

 

I did an impromptu presentation on repairing Hurricane Heaters which I will try to spruce up and post on-line. There was a presentation on radar which gave us some great pointers and suggested a way that I could tie my electronic displays together to make them more useful. I also found the presentation on AC current leakage to be very helpful.  Clarice visited the women only session and a presentation on docking that helped her better visualize what happens during this critical time of most boat outings. We spent a lot of time visiting other model N46s to get ideas for our boat (we are hull #50 of 81 that were built before the mold was retired making this by far the most successful of the Nordhavn models).  I enjoyed just yaking with Bob Senter of Lugger / Northern Lights company and other gear heads. I think Clarice (AKA the keeper of the boat's appearance) has decided that our Teak will go nude before the summer is out as the boats with no coatings looked good and cut costs and maintenance a bunch.

We were fed and entertained by the local folk in the true Norwegian traditions of smorgasbord (with Clarice's favorite - pickled herring) and folk dancing.

Clarice trying to learn a folk dance from the local kids.

We walked the trails around town and saw eagles and more eagles, deer, a whale, seals, and ravens (who have a vocabulary of sounds which far outdoes anything I've heard from their cousins the crows).  The terrain ranged from muskeg bogs to temperate rain forest and always the scent of local money (AKA fishing industry boats and canneries).

Muskeg bogs cover much of the island. This was across the street from the airport.

North end of Wrangle Narrows just past town.

An eagle on an old shed along Wrangle Narrows (notice the bouy - one of many that must be watched carefully when navigating this very crooked channel.

Salmon Berries

Can anyone identify this flower for us?

Devils Club with very pretty berries (wild blueberries in the background).

Finally the boats were all asked to leave together to provide a photo-op and room for the returning commercial fishing fleet.  Those who could joined together for one last night in a local cove / anchorage while we flew back to Seattle.