Norwegian Steam: Noon Report -- Cabo-Hawaii Day 17

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Noon Report -- Cabo-Hawaii Day 17

Fourteen minutes! Given the success of NS as a fishing platform, I had started to believe that offshore trolling was really easy. But fourteen minutes? The lure had gone into the water a little after noon, local time, and fourteen minutes later, a strike. Pete and Gay had been hoping for a mahi-mahi (dorado), had changed lures, and there it was. Joy! and then heartbreak! The fish got away. Why? I am guessing that Pete was a bit too eager to reel the fish up to the boat. Unlike the two tunas previously caught, this mahi-mahi had some fight.

The day's run was 137 miles. After a brisk start, the winds weakened, especially during the night. At day break, we increased our sail area, returning to the single-reefed main, poled-out yankee configuration. Since we did that we have been exceeding six knots, on average. If we can make 140 miles per day, we will reach Honolulu mid-day on Saturday.

At 1800 UTC, June 20, 2012, we are at 21 27.317 N, 150 01.896 W, with 445 miles to go.

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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.