http://spectacle-boat.com Documenting the Voyage of S/V Spectacle and Its 4-Year Circumnavigation Sat, 21 Jun 2008 01:25:07 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en For any of you who had the pleasure of taking Statistics 150 at Mizzou or its equivalent elsewhere, you might recall the concept of Type I and Type II errors. Basically, a Type II error is, in boating as in most walks of life, the more common mistake:  underinclusivity, the failure ... http://spectacle-boat.com/2008/03/26/type-i-error/ Holy Week here in Panama has proven to be an insurmountable cultural obstacle to our attempts to leave for the Galapagos.  We have not made it off the dock, and Spectacle will remain in Panama City until at least April 9. A bit of explanatory background is needed here.  Having long ... http://spectacle-boat.com/2008/03/23/holy-week-a-curse-for-spectacle/ We are running around like chickens sans heads today as we prepare to begin our Pacific crossing tomorrow (yes, this all came on very fast, we know).  Alas, as of just this hour, an unexpected final repair has just arisen and may delay our Pacific departure (for you excessively curious ... http://spectacle-boat.com/2008/03/21/the-big-crossing-with-ian/ After getting the boats rafted up, we drove into the first lock behind a container ship.  Basically, the drill is as follows: the middle boat captain (i.e. me) drives the boat into the middle of the lock (we had probably 15 feet to spare on either side so this wasn't ... http://spectacle-boat.com/2008/03/21/panama-canal-transit-part-ii/ On the 19th and 20th, Spectacle transited the Panama Canal.  Given the current ridiculous delays for sailboats, we were pleasantly surprised that our agent Roberto Solano was able to get us an appointment with "only" a 12-day wait and that we managed not to get "bumped" or otherwise stymied. Among the ... http://spectacle-boat.com/2008/03/21/panama-canal-transit-part-i/ Apparently not discouraged by his somewhat dramatic previous visit, my brother Erik has traveled down from New York to transit the Canal with us.  With our crossing date up in the air and Shelter Bay feeling decidedly prison-like, we decided to head across to Panama City for last weekend. Having visited ... http://spectacle-boat.com/2008/03/18/quick-trip-to-panama-city/ Helping to cut into the beer-basted tedium of Shelter Bay is the presence of James Bond.  Indeed, the 22nd James Bond movie, currently titled "Quantum of Solace" (are they really going with that?), is filming here at the marina.  There are probably 200 film-related personnel milling about and occasional outbursts ... http://spectacle-boat.com/2008/03/12/double-o-spectacle/ Colon, Panama, the city associated with the mouth of the Panama Canal on the Caribbean side, was originally called Aspinwall by gringos.  The name, Colon (in honor of Columbus), ultimately prevailed when Panamanian postmen finally refused to continue delivering mail addressed to Aspinwall.  Colon is also widely known as one ... http://spectacle-boat.com/2008/03/09/central-america%e2%80%99s-lower-large-intestine/ Our 47-hour passage from Cartagena to Colon, Panama, was totally uneventful, unlike our last attempt.  The wind was  very low and we were forced to motor about two-thirds of the time. On our approach, we marveled at the 30 or so tankers and freighters anchored outside of the entrance of the ... http://spectacle-boat.com/2008/03/07/the-war-on-terror/ After closer investigation, the boat seems to be in surprisingly good shape.  We went over our list with the boat sitter and the marina manager item by item, and what they have not already completed, they have detailed suggestions for.  Today and tomorrow will be packed with repairs, maintenance, cleaning, ... http://spectacle-boat.com/2008/02/25/upon-further-review-the-play-stands/