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As expected, the week after the wedding, leading up to our September 1st departure was hectic beyond belief. I spent several days in the office to organize paper work concerning financial arrangements and related commitments, for our 5 years + absence. Gearbulk was good enough to let me use an office, computer and photocopier to get all my paperwork done, and it sure made life much easier for me. An additional benefit was that I could escape from the boat, which was in constant turmoil with all the activities going on there. It was a common occurrence when I came home to have to step over equipment, spare parts, toolboxes and several bodies, before I could get down the companion way (steps usually removed) into a boat with no floorboards and try to cook dinner at eye level... It is amazing that none suffered any broken bones in the process... Last Minute Preparations During the last week, utter chaos reigned onboard "NOR SIGLAR". Martin was at wit's end trying to coordinate all the last minute jobs. People were running in all directions. Several projects were completed in the 11th hour, in the pouring rain. It was plain miserable. But with the help of good friends who worked so hard and tirelessly, we did get underway in the end. All the running around during the last few days was definitely most frustrating for us. It was so time consuming, and with time rapidly running out, it seemed like we were never going to get done. Everything took so much longer than we had thought. Selling the car, arranging the sublease of our berth, organizing mail forwarding, getting vaccinations, meetings with lawyers, banks and accountants, renewing passports, arranging for safety deposit boxes, write or final wills, moving filing cabinets from our offices, putting things in storage, last minute visits to and from family and friends, etc., etc. And finally, the re-stowing and provisioning of the boat, attempting to fit everything in, was a real challenge. On Saturday, August 31, I said to Martin "We'll never get done! Let's postpone the departure a few days". But no way, the Skipper had decided, and September 1st it was - no ifs and buts about it! So all the stuff that we couldn't find a place for got shoved into the bow cabin - much to our chagrin later in the trip, when we couldn't find anything! But at least we got on our way without delay! Oh, blissful offshore cruising! September 1st arrived, and so did the sunshine - finally - after one of the worst summers in Vancouver's history. We were amazed and delighted to see so many people come to see us off, and the reality finally hit us as we were saying goodbye. The time had finally come. This was it! We were actually leaving! Six years of dreaming, reading, planning, seminars, courses, slide presentations, talking to experienced offshore cruisers had come to an end, and it was now our turn to push off and go! It was almost unreal! A wave of nostalgia rushed through me as we moved away from the dock and left all our good friends, neighbors and family behind. It would be a long time until we'd see each other again. And would we all be OK then? What would Vancouver and the world be like on our return five years down the road? There was not much time to be sentimental and ponder our situation and the future. The Skipper wanted the fenders in, the main hoisted, his sweater and his lipsol, and we were off! Erik Ollgaard and Gerry Rolfsen, good friends from Vancouver, were along as crew, and left their better halves, Kate and Judith behind on the dock. Gerry came well experienced, having completed two offshore passages from Hawaii to Victoria. Erik was even greener than us, so we had a good mix of (in)experience onboard. It is nice to report that we were as good friends on arrival San Francisco as when we left Vancouver! We had been monitoring the weather forecast during the last few weeks with concerns, as strong winds and heavy rain showers plagued the coast for days on end. We did not much treasure the idea of battling weather like that on our first ocean passage. It was therefore with a great sense of relief that we found the weather to be improving, and we were blessed with fairly stable conditions on our trip. Our first stop after Vancouver was Sydney & North Sanich Yach Club, where we had planned to spend the night before beading out the Strait of Juan de Fuca. We pulled in that afternoon and received a steady flow of well wishers from the Island. After dinner, the Skipper got itchy feet. The wind had changed to Easterlies and the tide was ebbing. This would make the wind and current conditions ideal for going out the Strait during the night and rounding Cape Flattery early in the morning. A short discussion revealed that everyone was in favour of "going for it", so we let the lines go, and were off - 12 hours early! This proved to be a prudent decision, as Mike and Gillian West on "Khamsin", and other boats from the BCA Class of "91, who left a couple of days later, ran into much heavier weather than we did. 3 Hours on & 4 Hours off - and Vice Versa We started off with our watches right away. Having had good experience with the Iolaire Watch System during last summer's Bluewater Cruising Association's Mini-Offshore Cruise, we had decided to use it again. It works well with 4 people onboard, having four hour watches during the day and three hours during the night. The rest period between the watches is the 6-7 hours. Cooking chores are rotated so that each person cooks all the meals for one entire day every four days. NOR SIGLAR runs a fairly relaxed ship, so in the case of a crewmember being unable to cook, (as in seasick), the Skipper would take over in the galley. As things would have it, Martin ended up with this chore (more or less) for the first 3 days...He is such a versatile skipper...Fortunately for him, Judith, Kate and I had prepared and frozen 6 dinners in advance, in anticipation of exactly this type of situation! Martin is so lucky. He does not suffer in the least from seasickness. Although the winds and seas were moderate, the north westerlies and 6-12 foot swells made for an unpleasant motion in the following seas. Erik, Gerry and I had a few uncomfortable days, but not worse than we could cope with. Amazingly enough, you do get used to the motion, and after about 4 days, the appetite returns, and you start to function almost normally again. It was quite a feeling to round Cape Flattery at sunrise the first morning, and then to leave the familiar waters and scenery of British Columbia behind for such a long period. This occasion was duly celebrated with a shot of Gammeldansk, provided by Erik, the Dane. Actually, the Gammeldansk came out every time there was something to celebrate - we would have a shot to acknowledge that we got through another night, and that we were another day closer to our goal. We had intended to hug the coast down to San Francisco, about 10-15 miles out. However, we ended up going further in search of wind, and ended up between 60-100 miles off the coast. The wind strength was between 10-25 knots the first 3 days. The weather was beautiful, sunny and clear. It was quite cool, though, and we had to wear long underwear and heavy cruiser suits all the way to San Francisco. The night watches were lonely, but fascinating. The moon and stars were magnificent, and the Big Dipper, North Star, Orion and the Milky Way were easy to pick out against the dark sky without interference from city lights. It was quite annoying not to be able to identify more constellations. The next challenge will be to learn more about astrology and the universe. The learning process never ends.. I enjoyed the night watches, particularly the one from 0400-0700. It was neat to watch the sunrise in the east and witness the beginning of a new day. I did find it quite spooky, though, to sit alone in the cockpit at night. You feel like you are all alone in the world, just you, the boat, the sea and the horizon. It makes you feel very, very small in a very, very large universe. And the boat just keeps on going, plowing through the waves. There is a pattern to the movements, and you soon begin to anticipate every motion. It is a powerful feeling. The amount of phosphorescence in the sea at night is unbelievable. Especially around the rudder, the water is chock full of light in all different colours. It is almost spellbinding to look at, as you are drawn to it. I was once told by a captain at Gearbulk never to look into "kj¯levannet", as sailors have been known to go overboard into it. Now I can see why. Scary... We were amazed to see so little ship's traffic down the coast. Only spotted five freighters on the whole trip to San Francisco. It is quite unsettling to sight a light on the horizon in the darkness of the night. Your mind immediately starts racing, wondering if you are on a collision course, and if so, how soon will impact be! In such a case, it was comforting to be able to turn on the radar and follow the vessel's course until she was well clear. Thank God for all the "goodies" onboard. All the electronic toys are truly wonderful, although it feels like cheating a bit. The Global Position Finder (GPS) is our most treasured tool. Among other things, it tells us exactly where we are at any given time with the help of three overhead satellites. This makes you feel very safe, but it does take the mystery out of navigating. We have two sextants onboard, and have yet to master the art of taking sun shots. However, with the help of two Ted Long (BCA) seminars, we know the theory behind celestial navigation, so we better get on with it and practice. One should never completely rely on one's electronic gear. A lot of electricity is a scarce commodity onboard a sailboat at sea. The batteries may run out of juice, or some other electrical malfunctioning may take place. Hopefully this will never happen. We feel pretty well covered with two heavy-duty batteries, a wind generator and two solar panels, but you never know... The Monitor Windvane, which we named "Styrmann", (helmsman in Norwegian), was of great assistance. We would let it do the work at night, but during the day we disconnected it, so we could steer ourselves. When you are not feeling too well, steering gets your mind onto something else. Then, the best place to be on the boat is behind the wheel. The sea life along the coast was not as plentiful as we had expected. We only saw one whale, which we scared away by going closer to have a better look. Dolphins gave us lots of shows, playing around the boat, crisscrossing under the keel and the bow. They are faithful performers and always lots of fun to watch. We were very excited to spot our first albatross, a very large graceful seabird, which glides along the waves and follows the boat for miles and miles. We crossed into California at noon on the fourth day, and our spirits were high. After a shot of Gammeldansk, everyone had a good scrub, (the first after leaving home...), and we all felt like human beings again! California proved to be a disappointment initially, as the weather turned gray and misty and the famous California sunshine was nowhere to be seen. As a matter of fact, we had the roughest wind and sea conditions of the whole trip coming around Cape Mendocino. It was gusting to 35 knots in the night and Erik and Martin had to jibe in very rough conditions. The Wonderful World of Amateur Radio One of the highlights of the trip was when we made telephone contact with Erik's wife, Kate, through a ham operator in Nanaimo just a few miles away from the Golden Gate Bridge. That made the efforts of getting the ham license last winter worth it. At the time I thought I was going crazy. The theory was awful, and our ski season was ruined since I had to study every weekend. But hearing Kate's voice, loud and clear, made me forget all the suffering I had gone through to be able to accomplish exactly this! As a matter of fact, the ham radio is proving to be an excellent investment. We use it every day when we are at sea, and are in daily contact with the various land-based nets. We report our position, so they know where we are during any 24-hour period. This way, we can monitor if there is any traffic for us, and also for us to make contact with shore or with other boats we know. It is quite a social thing also, and it makes you feel that you are in touch with the world, even miles away from shore. We can also tune in to the news any time of the day, and can pick up BBC, Voice of America and lots of other stations. Obviously, other benefits are to monitor the latest weather forecasts, and to be able to call for help if needed. On Saturday, September 7, there was great excitement onboard NOR SIGLAR as we sailed wing on wing under the Golden Gate Bridge at exactly 1715 hrs. The Champagne came out and we celebrated the successful completion of our very first ocean passage! San Francisco was enveloped in mist and fog, and the Bay provided the usual choppy conditions with fluky winds. We received a warm welcome at San Francisco Yacht Club where we downed a few double Scotches, before heading out to celebrate at a wonderful Italian Restaurant on Ark Row in bohemian Tiburon, where fellow diners rolled in on roller-skates...Only in California, they say! Gerry left us in San Francisco, where the rest of us spent a week to get reorganized and see some of the sights. We were pleased to be on the Sausalito side, where we had the sun by noon, while downtown San Francisco was still covered in fog till late in the afternoon. On September 10, my nephews Bj¯rn and Atle Brevig arrived from Norway. Bj¯rn spent two weeks with us while Atle went on to Texas after a couple of days. In San Francisco we did the usual tourist stuff, Erik treated us to a great seafood dinner at Fisherman's Wharf, and we also had an entertaining evening at the famous Caffee Sport Italian Restaurant, where owner and chef Antoine has decorated the place with his own paintings and treasures. An unbelievable place! We also sampled Irish coffee at the Buena Vista Coffee Bar on Girondelli Square where they serve over 2200 Irish coffees a day! A visit to the Trieste Espresso Bar confirmed that the gay population of San Francisco is alive and well. Male couples were openly showing their affection for each other over cappuccino with operatic arias in the background! In addition to being a hangout for the gays, Trieste is also a famous coffee bar frequented by opera fans and stars alike. Photos of famous opera singers were covering the walls attesting to this fact. On September 13, we were happy to leave San Francisco, which is a great place to visit, but sure drains your wallet in a hurry... We had a short trip to Halfmoon Bay where we stayed overnight. Bj¯rn, who is an avid amateur musician, had heard that the Canadian Brass was performing at the outdoor stage of Paul Masson Vineyards that night. We rented a car and drove the 60-mile trip to the vineyard to hear it, and were happy we did. It was a great concert with first class music - old and new - and filled with the kind of lightheartedness and fun that the Canadian Brass is so well known for. The Vineyards are beautifully located high up in the hills overlooking the Saratoga Valley. It was a magic evening, and a special treat was the free Paul Masson wine served during the intermission... The next two days we spent in Monterey, a day's sail from Halfmoon Bay. We have never seen so many sea lions and pelicans in one place before. It was exciting and noisy, and the accompanying stench was hard to take! The sea lions are actually in the process of invading the public docs. A woman was employed full time to kick them off, as they attempted to climb ashore! Monterey is a charming, old fishing town, the home of Cannery Row and John Steinbeck, where many of his books were written. The seaport used to be the center of a bustling sardine canning industry. The sardines disappeared mysteriously in the 50's, so the canneries are now abandoned or converted into quaint shops and tourist attractions. Very well done, actually.There is also a very good aquarium in Monterey, which we visited one afternoon. While in Monterey, we rented a car and drove the Pacific Coast Highway down to Big Sur. The coastline is magnificent with huge surf created by the waves coming in from the open Pacific. The coast is very rugged and treacherous here. We stopped for lunch in the quaint, little town of Carmel, where every other shop is an art gallery, and where lots of Hollywood stars have their summer homes. The Carmel Mission was an interesting stop. Pope John Paul visited here on his Papal trip to North America, and the "cloak" he wore was on display there. The Mission was from the late 1700's - really old for North America. We decided to head out to the Channel Islands to give Bj¯rn a taste of offshore sailing. It was a 2-day, 2-night trip, so we were back to the watch system. Again, we felt quite queasy while underway. I had the privilege of celebrating my birthday during this passage. The day started with going on watch at 0400. Bj¯rn was looking pretty miserable when I relieved him, so I knew he had had a rough night. Despite this, he miraculously remembered by birthday, and gave me a big hug. I then proceeded to throw up five times before breakfast... Eric then took over at 0700, pretty pale-faced, but still managed a big smile and presented me with a balloon and a card! I then crawled into bed for the next 8 hours. I woke up to the best birthday gift ever - a safe, calm anchorage and a raging appetite. Hadn't eaten for a few days, and Bj¯rn and co. had cooked up a great spaghetti dinner with red wine and (reasonably) fresh bread. We even had desert, vacuum packed marzipan cake from the bilges, complete with candles, flags and firecrackers! What a treat! You sure can celebrate at sea too! The Channel Islands are a national Monument, and you may not go ashore many places unless you have a permit. We had not been aware of that, and were quite disappointed. The islands are very barren - virtually no vegetation, but there was lots of bird-life, and the ocean was steaming with fish and dolphins. We tried to explore some of the caves for which the islands are famous, but we soon gave up. The surge from the sea makes an adventure into the caves dangerous unless you know where you are going. You could get your head knocked in... and we really didn't want to risk that at such an early stage of our trip... From Santa Cruz island, we crossed the Santa Barbara Channel back to Oxnard on the California mainland, and on down to Marina Del Rey and California Yacht Club. What a luxury it was to stay at a yacht club again! This place was oozing money - the boats were enormous, the cars in the parking lot said it all.... Despite all this affluence, people were really nice! We were happy to be able to have hot showers again, do laundry, get some fresh produce, and enjoy the conveniences of being alongside. After a few hectic days of sightseeing, taking in the typical Los Angeles treats, i.e. Beverly Hills, Hollywood, Universal Studios, etc., etc. Bj¯rn left us to back to Norway, and Erik took off to Vancouver. It was so quiet after they were gone, and it took us a few days to get used to the solitude. The two of us had a nice, leisurely trip down the coast to San Diego. The weather had finally turned nice and warm, and we were getting the tan we had missed in Vancouver this summer. The first stop after Marina Del Rey was Long Beach, where we visited "Queen Mary" and the "Spruce Goose". The two landmarks dominate the entrance to Long Beach, and are quite impressive. It was very exciting for me to go onboard the QM again, as I had sailed on her across the Atlantic on one of her last trips in May 1967. Part of the ship has been converted to a hotel. Otherwise most everything else is exactly the way it was way back when. A nostalgic trip into the past. We were not as thrilled with Howard Hughes' "Goose", although the story behind the "Monster" and its "Mastermind" is quite fascinating. Both the Queen Mary and the Spruce Goose are now in the process of being sold to the Disney Empire for revamping and further Hollywoodization. Too bad. After Long Beach we sailed to Newport Beach. This is just a distance of 17 miles, but we wanted to visit this incredible yachting center, which is home to over 9,000 yachts and 7 yacht clubs. The beaches at Newport are very wide and go on forever. They are the most impressive we have seen so far. We spent hours walking the beach, watching sandpipers playing along the water's edge, and the young and athletic surfing the roaring waves with great courage and skills. Fascinating! We loved it in Newport Beach and ended up staying there for three days. We were tied up to a buoy in the channel just outside the Newport Beach Club. There are very few docks in this port, and the harbour was absolutely chock full of boats on buoys or at anchor, creating a very nautical atmosphere. We are ashamed of the poor quality and small number of moorage facilities Vancouver can offer out of town cruisers. Apart from limited and temporary moorage at a few yacht clubs and marinas, there are only 5 mooring buoys in False Creek! This is hardly catering to the boating industry, and it is impossible for us to recommend our fair city to fellow cruisers down here. We are truly sorry about this, as people down here are so hospitable and helpful, and it would be nice for us to reciprocate in some way. So we really hope to see lots more marinas and moorages on the north side of False Creek when we return! 1,500 nautical miles - and a broken Toilet Seat The next stops were Dana Point and Oceanside before we finally arrived in San Diego on October 2. We had then recorded 1550 nautical miles on the log since leaving Vancouver on September 1, and the only visible wear and tear NOR SIGLAR had sustained from the passage was a broken toilet seat! We have been in San Diego for almost a month now. The first three days we stated at the prestigious Dan Diego Yacht Club, host of the America Cup, 1992. Our RVYC membership has come in very handy along the way. We have been able to enjoy reciprocal privileges at the best clubs on the coast. Standard privileges are three days moorage free of charge and access to all the facilities normally enjoyed by the club's members. We have been really spoiled on this part of our trip, and will have to face up to reality now that we are heading south of the border to Mexico, where we'll be roughing it in anchorages. San Diego is gearing up to the America Cup. The teams are all in full swing and operating from their various vantage points: America 3, Team Dennis Connor, France, Italy, Spain, Russia, Sweden, Great Britain, Yugoslavia, Australia and New Zealand. The secrecy surrounding these bots is just amazing. Sun Harbour Marina, where we have been staying since SDYC, is adjacent to the America 3 syndicate. We can hear the commotion over there, but we sure can't see much. Everything is hidden behind high barbed fences and solid walls. The team leaves for their daily practice session before sunrise and returns after dark. Then the boat is hoisted up on land and camouflaged by a huge tarp so that no one can see the hull shape and keel! There is hammering going on during the night, and it is speculated that they change keels, in order to confuse spies and prevent them from figuring out the design! Rumour has it that there are divers out there in pursuit of the secret keel designs! We were surprised to see the strong presence of the military here in San Diego. There is a very large navy base here, and the city is full of cadets in white and uniform clad officers. We wake up every morning to the U.S. National Anthem played at a base just a stone throw away! Our stay in San Diego has been very hectic. When we left Vancouver, we had a list of jobs to be completed in San Diego, mainly because we ran our of time at home, but also because we would have so much time down here and because everything would be cheaper. The latter is definitely true. However, time flies just as fast down here as at home! Even without having to go to work 8 hours a day! A big chunk of our time has been spent on an intensive scuba diving course, and we are happy to report that we are now certified divers. We did our 4 ocean dives at La Jolla shores, and this was quite an experience. For me the biggest challenge was to get through the surf with all the scuba gear on my back. But I made it, and we went down 60 feet on all 4 dives, and explored the edge of La Jolla Canyon, which drops off from 60 feet down to 300 fathoms! Scary! We are not too sure at this point how much scuba diving we will do. Initially, we wanted to learn it so we may go down to free the anchor if it is stuck, clear the propeller if fouled, scrub the bottom and related underwater boat chores. However, it was quite fascinating to be crawling on the bottom of the ocean and exploring sea life, so we may very well pursue it further when we get into warmer climates. We purchased full size folding bikes when we got down here, and have been doing a lot of biking since we came. We take the bikes everywhere we go, and have clocked close to 300 miles by now. Good way to keep in shape! We have also got back into our regular exercise programme, and do an hour every morning; mainly to keep the old back from seizing up on us.... The pressure is now on to get ready for our departure to Mexico around November 6. Martin has been working on the wind generator and the solar panels, and they should be installed by the end of this week. We still have a bunch of smaller jobs which should be done, but it looks like we may have to postpone them till we get to La Paz! Sven and Althea Rasmussen are arriving on November 5 to join us for the trip to Cabo San Lucas and the Sea of Cortez. We look forward to seeing old friends again, and it will be fun to have them onboard. I can't believe that this letter turned out to be so long! You probably have had to read it in different stages! Well, why don't you consider it to be four letters, so now you owe us that many! Anyway, I promise that this will not repeat itself - I can't imagine sitting at the computer in the sweltering heat of Mexico and Central America, producing long letters... We hope you are all well, and will be thinking of you this winter when we are basking in the sunshine. Please take some time one of those rainy evenings and drop us a line. We'd love to have your news and hear how you are doing. As we said earlier, just use our Vancouver address. Pieter Jongeneel in the Marina will forward the mail to us wherever we happen to be. Copyright © Anne Brevig & Martin Vennesland. www.norsiglar.com | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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NORWEGIAN 
The Skipper making sure no screws are loose! He is forever checking that everything is in order onboard 
Permanent dodger, windshield, roll bars and granny bars ensure safety onboard 
A large bimini is a must in the tropical sun and heat 
The radio amateur in action! The ham radio/SSB was one of our most treasured items onboard, especially on the high seas. 
Anne feeding the fishes - Whose idea was this anyway? 
Nor Siglar in her element - mile after mile after mile