Boca Chica

Arcturus, my home for the next four months!

Houston, we have a problem

I'm now officially on my way! On my way to being on my way, in any case...at this moment I'm in a hotel room (classy for a sailing vagabond, eh) in Humble, Texas, of all places.


How does a sailor from Washington preparing for a voyage from Panama to Tahiti find himself in the middle of Texas, might you ask? I was wondering the same thing myself a few hours ago. Following the typical craziness during the last few days before departure, my older brother drove me to SeaTac at 1 am this morning, where I was to fly to Panama City.


The authorities had other ideas, evidently, (I swear anyone with a badge can smell me five miles to windward) and upon discovering that I had no return flight from Panama informed me I needed to purchase an onward ticket. A cheap bus ride to Costa Rica took care of that problem, and I flew down to Houston, my only connection on my way south.


As usual, the Texans had their own ideas, and that bus ticket wasn't quite good enough to warrant passage through their airport...I needed a flight out of Panama. Meanwhile I missed my flight, which I rescheduled the last minute for tomorrow morning. So I'm spending one night back in Texas figuring out my travel plans. It's a very different atmosphere from the last time I was in the state, hitchhiking and hopping freight across the south. Although that trip was only two years ago, it feels like decades. Lets hope my next flight works out, because it's a long hitch to Panama!


If all goes well, tomorrow I arrive in Panama City and soon after will begin to prepare Arcturus for her voyage to Polynesia. I would like to thank my wonderful friends and family back home for making my time back in Washington so memorable, and for helping me to prepare for what will hopefully be one of my most exciting adventures to date! Your support makes all the difference, and I could never have done it without you!


Cheers,


Ryan

The Wonders of Technology

Thanks to the wonders of technology, you can now stalk me even while I'm at sea. I have acquired a nifty new device called a Delorme InReach, a small satellite communication device used by sailors, adventurers and fishermen to communicate with aliens (and occasionally their families).  Along with being able to send and receive texts, and having the capability to send a distress signal in an emergency, the unit can send my position to an online map. You can also request my location online, and when the unit is on it will update the map upon request. The site to find me or send a message is share.delorme.com/RyanLangley.

I'm off at 2AM to the Seatac airport, where I'll board my flight to Panama. The ocean awaits, and I couldn't be more happy to be headed to sea.

Toward the Next Horizon

As I write these words, I have less than a week before I fly down to Panama to begin another sailboat delivery, this time toward the mysterious palm fringed shores of the South Pacific Island known as Tahiti.

It's hard to believe that four years have passed since the last time I was in the beautiful, green, wonderfully crazy land that is Panama.

This next trip, I'll be making my way to Bocas Chicas, in the far west of the country on the Pacific side, where my home for the next four months waits; the Matrix 27, Arcturus. The Matrix 27 has been described as a faster, more modern version of the Flicka 20, a strong and capable boat, and very accommodating for a 27 footer.

Possible stops along the way to Tahiti include such destinations as the Cocos Islands, the Galapagos, Easter Island, Pitcairn Island, the Gambiers, and Raivavae. So many new islands await my shadow and I'm excited to return to Panama.

Matrtix 27

LOA: 27'3"
LWL: 23'2"
Beam: 8'5"
Draft: 3'5"
Displacement: 6,800 Lbs.
Ballast: 2,800 Lbs.
Year: 1987
Designed by Lou Nagy

Snapshots from the Apocalypse

Here's a few pictures from some of my most recent travels across the US as far east as Cleveland between early November and late December. I hitchhiked through Portland, Corvallis, and Boise (with a few stops along the way) to Salt Lake City, where I caught a rideshare with three cats, two dogs, three people and a turtle named Hudson all the way to St. Louis, Missouri. I definitely got along best with Hudson by the end of the ride. 

From Missouri I caught a greyhound to Ohio, and after visiting a friend ended up in Detroit, cleaning out houses that had been flooded out during a storm in August and spending some time in that city that has suffered so much but has so much potential. I was in Detroit through Christmas eve, when I caught a flight back to Washington. 

I'm turning back to the water on my next trip, which is coming up in early February. I will be delivering a 27 foot sailboat from Panama to Tahiti, hopefully stopping at places like the Galapagos and Easter Island along the way! More about that to come.

A few more pics

 San Francisco and the trip north:

More to Come

These excellent pictures were taken by my friend Mark Billingsby on a recent passage from Port Angeles, WA to San Francisco on board the Sauvage, a Waquiez 40 owned by Jim Eisenhart, president of Ventura Consulting. Great trip down, even better time in the bay and on the road trip back up with friends.