Norwegian Steam: Southern Crossing

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Southern Crossing

The Beach at Bahia de los Failes

As I write this we are about two-thirds of the way from Bahia de los Frailes to Mazatlan, on the route known as the Southern Crossing of the Sea of Cortez. We left Frailes at 7:30 yesterday morning, in very light wind. During the day the wind built considerably, but not enough to provide a fast passage. Our ETA is 10 PM tonight and given that we do not want to enter the harbor in the dark, we plan to heave-to offshore for about eight hours. Bad timing, but that's the way it is with the wind.

Leaving Frailes at Dawn

This has been a pleasant crossing. For the first eight hours the wind direction was Northeast, which was fortunate, because NS could close-reach, her best point of sail in light air. After the wind strengthened, the direction shifted to the north and she has been on a beam reach ever since. The wind has never been strong enough to get us above 6 knots for any appreciable length of time, however.

We have fishing gear on board for the first time. In Mexico, if there is as much as a single fish-hook on a boat, everyone onboard must have a fishing license. Sally and I bought licenses about a month ago in anticipation of carrying fishing gear. We asked Robert to get a license as well, so that we would be "legal." Naturally, he wanted to do something with his license, so together he and I rigged my new offshore rod, reel, line and lures for the first time. Once everything was configured, Robert got the first "crack" at a fish and he is now trolling a lure behind the boat. He is hoping for a dorado (mahi-mahi).

Sunset at Sea

Our current position (in GoogleEarth format) is: N 23 30.307, W 107 17.720.
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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.