Norwegian Steam: Welcoming Committee

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Welcoming Committee

Amy and Jennifer Await NS

Most of the Westhagen clan have now gathered in La Paz to welcome Norwegian Steam. Peter, Suzanna, Avery and Stella are not here because Suzanna is expecting a baby in February. Eric is absent because he needs to care for a bunch of cats. Even NS has, at last, a plausible excuse for her delay.

Pescador and Amy Await NS

In her perch atop the cargo ship Beluga Elegance, NS has been battling gale force winds all the way down the coast. Although the BE has not shown up on marinetraffic.com in the last 31 hours, she was halfway between SF and LA when her position was last recorded and, by my reckoning, should reach Ensenada tomorrow, given that the storms are predicted to abate this evening. With only five boats to drop off or pick up, the BE could be on her way again in as little as 10 hours. From there to La Paz, she should have a tail wind, allowing her finally to achieve her potential of 350 nautical miles per day, which could bring her into La Paz on Boxing Day.

Jon, Amy and Jennifer Await on the Malecon

Visiting Lisa and Ron near Todos Santos

Jon, Jennifer, Sally, Amy, Alan and Andrew Await NS on the Beach near Todos Santos

I love La Paz. Wonderful town, great people, fine food, perfect weather. A few in our party would like the evenings to be slightly warmer, but I do not concur. In my opinion, 80 degree days and 60 degree nights are ideal. We are staying in the very friendly and well run Posada LunaSol, a stone's throw from Marina de la Paz. They have been extremely obliging in accommodating our many and frequent changes in schedule, but will have to turn us out on December 27, because of prior reservations. This one last time, Yacht Path had better deliver, or we could be out on the street with no place to sleep.

3 comments:

peterwDecember 22, 2010 at 8:20 PM
We'll miss you all this Christmas. Hopefully NS will arrive before you are forced to sleep in a manger!
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peterwDecember 23, 2010 at 5:13 PM
Looks like Beluga Elegance docked in at Ensenada at about 2010-12-23T13:30:00 according to the Marine Traffic site. Assuming that is UTC it would be today at about 5:30 AM Seattle time or 7:30 AM La Paz time. Hopefully she will be underway again soon!
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peterwDecember 24, 2010 at 9:09 PM
Marine Traffic currently showing (for Beluga Elegance):

Destination: LA PAZ
ETA: 2010-12-26 20:00
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Norwegian Steam, the vessel

Norwegian Steam is the name of our 35' sailboat. She was designed by Ted Brewer. About 40 hulls were constructed by Miller Marine on Bainbridge Island, Washington between 1976 and the early 1980s. It is rumored that additional hulls were constructed in eastern Canada. Because many of these boats were completed by owners, there is a very great diversity in the fleet. To learn more about the basic design, you can find information about Ted's Jason design on his web site.

NS was completed by Alan with the help of friends, some of them professionals, over many years. She has been sailing since 2001. She differs from most (perhaps all) other instances of the Jason design in that her mast is 6 feet taller and she is rigged as a racing cutter, with large overlapping staysail. This rig design was inspired by the work of John Illingworth, the great English yacht designer and sailboat racer.

Norwegian Steam, the name

The phrase, Norwegian steam, may originally have been somewhat pejorative. When a vessel was powered by sails or by oars instead of by a steam or diesel engine, it was said to be powered by "Norwegian steam", the implication being that the Norwegians were so poor they could not afford engines for their boats. As time passed, the Norwegians themselves adopted the phrase to indicate a "can-do" attitude or doing whatever it takes to get the job done, even with limited resources or under adverse circumstances.

During the great era of America's Cup racing in J-Class yachts, the term took on a slightly different meaning. Many of the American defender boats had Norwegian crews and thus were said to be powered by Norwegian steam. A website has been dedicated to this bit of history.