Norwegian Steam: Noon Report -- Cabo-Hawaii Day 13

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Noon Report -- Cabo-Hawaii Day 13

Another fish! We dropped the lure into the sea just after lunch and 15 minutes later we had a fish -- a seven pound skipjack tuna. Same lure, same handline. This time it was Pete hauling in the line and Gay working the gaff. From the time the gear was deployed until the fish was in the fridge and the cockpit cleaned, less than an hour had passed. Quicker than a trip to Whole Foods!

Our day's run was 144 miles, a new personal best for Norwegian steam. We have been running in 15 to 20 knot winds, under double reefed main and poled-out yankee. A bit stronger winds are forecast for tomorrow, so we will probably replace the yankee with the staysail, which is only 70% its size.

It's sunny again today, but still a bit chilly on deck, due to the wind. Right now, the temperature inside the boat is 74 degrees.

At 1800 UTC, June 16, 2012, our location is 23 07.786 N, 139 31.360 W, 1033 miles from Honolulu.

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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.