Norwegian Steam: Puerto Vallarta

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Puerto Vallarta

Amy is Thrilled to be in La Cruz at Last

We finally made it to Puerto Vallarta, or almost, since we are not in PV proper, but at La Cruz, which is just a bit to the north. We arrived just after sunup, after a crossing from Bahia los Frailes which took three nights and nearly three days. The first day and night were very rough, but things got better after that. After the winds got back to normal and the seas moderated, there were many hours of beautiful sailing. We made it in time to get Andy Morse onto his scheduled flight to Hawaii. Our daughter Amy will be with us for a few more days. Thanks to both for their company and help.

We are moored in the pretentiously named Marina Riviera Nayarit de La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, an impressive new marina with lots of nice facilities and services. Unfortunately, reliable Internet wireless service is not one of them. In my experience, most web sites for marinas in Mexico are absolutely pathetic. They typically attempt to integrate fancy audio and video, but end up with something that does not work and is just annoying. The Marina Riviera (etc.) site is an exception and therefore I thought they might be able to provide usable WIFI.
Wishful thinking. This blog entry will have to be posted via HF radio and Sailmail.
We intend to be here at least a week, to rest and to make a few repairs and improvements before heading south to Barra de Navidad.
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

1 comment:

DeeDeeJanuary 23, 2011 at 6:16 PM
sounds like quite the adventure for all. will there be a book written about this trip? happy sails to you.
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

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.