Norwegian Steam: Noon Report -- Cabo Hawaii Day 20

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Noon Report -- Cabo Hawaii Day 20

A couple of very large porpoises welcomed us to Hawaii an hour ago. For awhile they amused themselves simply by diving under the bow wave, but then one flipped totally out of the water over the starboard bow wave, completing its arc at deck level. The other porpoise repeated this friendly gesture on the port side.

10 miles to go! We are off Oahu and can see Diamond Head in the distance.

Our day's run was 151 miles.

We caught another mahi-mahi yesterday about noon. The lure had been in the water about four hours. The fish weighed about fifteen pounds.

This voyage has been marked by good luck. Good luck in obtaining the paper work to leave Mexico just a few hours after the crew arrived. Good luck in terms of wind. Good luck in terms of fishing, with two tuna caught, one caught and released and two mahi-mahi. Only once did we have to bring in the lure before we had a strike. Good luck in that no one was injured and NS and her equipment suffered no major damage or break-down.

At 1800 UTC, June 22, 2012, we are at 21 13.301 N, 157 39.980 W, with 10 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.