Norwegian Steam: Noon Report -- Kauai

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Noon Report -- Kauai - Neah Bay, Day 20

Our strong steady wind on the beam disappeared and was replaced by a weak wind from astern. The last grib that I was able to download is from July 27, and it predicted this wind shift. We could have these light conditions for a couple of days, then the wind is supposed to pick up.

No ship traffic today. Maybe we are out of the shipping lanes for awhile. I do not miss them but I am sure they will be back as we approach Cape Flattery.

We saw more whales. This time they were a comfortable distance from the boat. They surfaced, spouted and dove. They could well have been the same type of whale that we saw a week ago.

At UTC 2200, August 1, 2012, we are at 47 32.057 N, 137 39.577 W. Our day's run was 84 miles and we are 530 miles from Neah Bay.

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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.