Back Operation

But we have a good excuse. Just before Christmas that year, I ended up with a back operation in Casablanca, which, believe it or not, turned out miraculously well. However, this delayed our Atlantic crossing by 3 months till February/March, 1997. After such a long stay in Morocco and meeting such wonderful and kind people there, it was very sad to leave. We have corresponded with them all ever since and are determined to go back and visit them again soon.

Atlantic Crossing No. 2

The crossing went very well, although the first leg from Mohammedia in Morocco to Lanzarote in the Canaries was our slowest passage to date with an average speed of only 3.5 knots. Poor old Ross, my son, who had come all the way from Vancouver to help out on this initial stretch because of my recent back operation, didn't have much of a challenge on that trip and had to return home without any exciting stories to tell. Just as well, really. However, the next leg from Las Palmas on Gran Canaria to Trinidad was more eventful. We were fortunate to have Pieter Jongeneel, our friend who looks after our mail in Vancouver, with us on this trip. He is an experienced offshore singlehander and was great to have along.

We started out with a real bang the first night out of Gran Canaria. Nice wind all the way down the south east coast with one reef in the main. There are supposed to be gales only once per month in this area, according to the pilot charts, and when rounding the end of the island, we got hit. By then it was too dark and too rough to take another reef, so we barreled away downwind till daylight, when we managed to take the main down altogether and continue with a little piece of the genoa. In the process we managed to half fill the cockpit, get water in both sail lockers and even a good splash down the small hatch in the starboard stern cabin.

From Side to Side 5 Million Times!

After that, we never used the main sail again on the whole trip. With the wind always almost astern, we found it better to have the genoa poled out on the leeward side and the small stay sail poled out on the windward side. After that first blow, which lasted about 24 hours, we had variable winds from fairly strong to very light. Since the winds were always from behind, the rolling of the boat was terrible. We actually calculated that we rolled close to 5 million times about 25 degrees from side to side during the crossing! With all this rolling, the best place to sleep was on the cabin floor. The rolling also made a hell of a racket from dishes and cutlery, pots and pans and equipment, you name it, and I, who am such a light sleeper, spent half my off watch time trying to locate and eliminate noises by stuffing socks, underwear, towels etc. into every corner, all to the great amusement if Pieter and Anne, who sleep through everything - lucky ones!

Nasty Gales and Scary Waves

About halfway, we had another gale, which is unusual in this part of the Atlantic. But this time, we were prepared for it - more or less. We flew only a tiny piece of the jib and had it poled out, which we shouldn't have, as it got so rough that the pole broke like a match stick in a 45 knot wind gust. After that, it went fine, even though huge waves kept coming at us from the stern. They must have been 5-6 meters high, most of them breaking. Several times, it looked like one was going to poop us (washing over the back of the railing and into the cockpit), but every time good, old NOR SIGLAR lifted herself up in the last minute so the wave just slid underneath us, lifting us high up and skidding down the other side of the wave - wow, what a sleigh ride! On these rides, we hit up to 12 knots in speed (hull speed is abt. 7.5 knots!). When we passed the half way point, we celebrated with home-made cheese cake and a glass of wine.

Live Entertainment

Amazingly, we didn't see any ships, or for that matter, any life at all, for 3 weeks until one day, when we noticed a large, brown shadow about 10-15 feet long, gliding by just below the surface at a terrific speed. A few minutes later, this enormous creature jumped clean out of the water several times. At the time, we couldn't figure out what it was. It looked like a fish but was too big and we doubted that it could be a whale, killer whale or dolphin. I got a picture of its third jump and when we came home this winter, Pieter identified it as a Right whale.

We don't do too much fishing, so were quite amazed when one day, we towed a line for just a little while and caught a beautiful 6 kilo dorado (dolphin fish, or mahi-mahi) enough for 4 great dinners.

Although we didn't get the trade winds till about half way, we covered the 2980 nautical miles in a little over 23 days at an average speed of 5.3 knots. Were we ever glad to reach our goal in good shape: Martin's back survived the constant rolling of the open sea, Nor Siglar performed beautifully and the crew were still friends and speaking to eachother on arrival at the other side!

T R I N I D A D, W E S T I N D I E S

What a Mess!

After a 6-month rest for the boat on the hard in Trinidad and for Anne and I back home in Vancouver, we returned to Trinidad again in late October, 1997, where an awful lot of boat repair and maintenance work was awaiting us. The boat is getting older (12 years) and offshore sailing is a lot harder than weekend sailing at home. We also had the boat fumigated for cockroaches before we left it in April which meant that all the bilges, cupboards, closets etc. had to be emptied out. I can't even begin to describe the shambles we had left and now returned to. But amazingly enough, the boat and everything in it was totally dry, with no mildew or dampness. The only problem was all the mess plus millions of small, dead cockroaches and other little beasties everywhere.

Work, work, work... During the next 6 weeks we changed bearings in both the rudderpost and propeller shaft. Because of stupid design, the rudder actually had to be cut apart to get it removed so we could replace the bearings. The boat builder in France could not or rather would not supply these so I had to have them made in Vancouver. We stripped the bottom paint right down to the gelcoat for the first time in 12 years and put on 3 coats of very expensive sealer, 3 barrier coats and 3 coats of antifoul paint which is guaranteed to last for 3 years. I will believe it when I see it. Anyway, it was one heck of a lot of work.

The Joy of Cruising???

We finally had to give up on the Trinidadian workers and poor, old Kjell Hoel, who was visiting us at that time, had to help me finish this work ourselves. We had the engine overhauled, the outboard engine serviced, the electric windlass totally apart and new motor put in - I did it all. I also overhauled the steering, engine controls and cables. Kjell overhauled the monitor windsteering, anchors and chains. We had new roller furling and sails made and recut for the new staysail. I installed a new stove including all new propane fittings, gages, solenoid and automatic shut-off and detector. Anne had the upholstery redone throughout, including cockpit cushions and fitted sheets for all the bunks. The list went on and on and all this had to be done in 30-35 degree heat! So much for the joy of cruising! Oh yes, we also had a water tight compartment built under the forward V-berth in case of collision. That alone took a guy 3 weeks to do while we were breathing in dust from sanding and fumes from the fiberglass. Six months later, we can still smell the fiberglass.....

While all this went on around her, poor, old Anne was frantically trying to meet the deadlines with her Seilas articles. She even tried to get ahead, so she wouldn't have to worry about writing with visitors onboard during December, January and February.

All this panic royally screwed up poor old Kjell's holiday. We totally ran out of time, so our planned sail to Tobago didn't materialize and we compensated with a 3 day trip by plane instead! Just 2 days before Kjell had to return to Victoria, we finally got the boat launched, just in time for us to set sail to meet Shayne Dunlop and Gail Davies in Grenada on December 6. By this time, both Anne and I were totally bushed but Shayne and Gail managed to cheer us up and get us back in the cruising mode again pretty quickly. Anyway, after all this work, almost everything actually functioned as it should, except a small problem with the outboard engine and a strange noise in the propane solenoid. Not bad after spending over US10,000 and 6 weeks of hard work.

WINDWARD ISLANDS

Christmas in Paradise

With Shayne and Gail, and later on in December and early January with Anne's cousin ÿyvind S¯rbr¯den and his wife Ingebj¯rg from Norway, we cruised all the Windward Islands of St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada. We celebrated Christmas and New Year with a lot of Norwegian, Swedish and Danish boats in Admiralty Bay on Bequia, which seems to be the hangout for the Scandihoovians doing the milk run from Scandinavia, Canaries, West Indies, Bermuda, Azores and back again.

Although the water, anchorages and snorkeling are marvellous in this eastern part of the Caribbean, we don't really like it so much. It is very expensive, the locals don't really like tourists and show it. The boat boys and other vendors are very pushy and bothersome. Besides, there are far too many charterboats whose captains and crew often really don't know how to anchor nor handle a sailboat properly. We were actually glad to get out of there and move westwards to our favourite San Blas Islands on the north east coast of Panama. But before that, we wanted to stop and see some of the outlying islands belonging to Venezuela and, of course, the Dutch Antilles, the ABC islands, where our friend, Nicole McRae from Vancouver, joined us for 2 weeks in late January. We didn't have the time to stop along the mainland coast of Venezuela, maybe just as well, because there have been lots of thefts, robberies and even attacks on cruisers there lately. We certainly don't need that - especially since there are so many other beautiful and SAFE places to visit!

V E N E Z U E L A

Spectacular Reef Anchorages

Los Roques and Aves de Barlovento, belonging to Venezuela, are just very low (max 3-5 feet high) coral and mangrove islands surrounded by coral reefs. The waters are very shallow, and beautifully clear, with sandy bottom. It is a strange feeling to lie at anchor in only 2-3 meters, with no waves, even though the wind is howling at 30 knots through the rigging, and no land to be sighted anywhere on the horizon. The surrounding reefs break the large waves caused by the long fetch of the easterly trade winds. The rumbling noise is terrific, much like a huge waterfall, day and night. The lee side of the reef is usually excellent for snorkelling with an abundance of corals and colourful tropical fish - and water temperature 25-28 degrees Celsius. The only thing you have to watch for is the sun on your back while snorkelling on the surface.

There were only two other boats where we anchored in Los Roques, and they both happened to be Norwegian, "La Boheme" (with their cat Puccini onboard) from Asker, and "Irma La Duce" from Haugesund. Both of them yelled: Oh, NOR SIGLAR! Aren't you the ones who write in Seilas?!" We are obviously becoming celebrities in Norwegian sailing circles - even as far away as Venezuela!

A B C ISLANDS

In Bonaire, Nicole joined us for a 2 week visit to the ABC Islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao. From a sailor's point of view, these islands are not the greatest, with few and poor anchorages and lots of tourists. Although the scuba diving is supposed to be excellent, the snorkelling opportunities are limited. The islands are neat and clean and the larger towns are like miniature copies of cities in Holland with colourful and quaint houses from the Hanseatic times in Northern Europe. Provisions were plentiful but expensive as were the few marinas.

By now, we were running a bit late for our rendezvous with Anne's nephew's wife, Anne Ziffer, who was going to crew with us from Panama to the Galapagos, so we bypassed Colombia and Cartagena and went non stop right to our favourite San Blas Islands, home of the Kuna Indians. This was our second fastest crossing to date, averaging 6 knots and hitting 11 knots at times while surfing down huge following seas.

P A N A M A

Unique Rendezvous in San Blas

The San Blas islands lived up to our expectations from 1992 when we stopped there on our way to Europe. We even met some of our old friends from that time, including the family of the dead man that we helped to transport from a small island to a larger village on another one for burial. We had a wonderful trip way up in the mainland jungle - partly by canoe and partly hiking for more than an hour each way. The Kunas living there were more primitive than the ones on the islands and some of the women were bare breasted. The children were painted black with some kind of berry juice to prevent mosquito bites. Later, we heard that this was really a superstitious thing to keep the evil ghosts away.

Trading with the Kunas

Anne went wild and bought and traded over 30 beautiful molas. We also traded lobster and fish and fruit for old T-shirts, cigarettes, baseball caps, medicine, food, sewing material, fish hooks, etc. An old man took a liking to Sigge's old Manning Park sweatshirt from the 1988 XC marathon and a little girl was really excited to get a Lillehammer OL Haakon & Kristin T-shirt.

"Gift of Eye Sight"

Another hit was the 100 or so old prescription eyeglasses that we had got from London Optical in Vancouver. Anne was the eye doctor, sitting on a log, and helping mostly the old women select the right glasses. They sure could use them as they need good eyesight to sit and sew their molas, often in poorly lit straw huts at night. We took the last 8 pairs to the village chief at one of their congress meetings where they discuss village affairs, etc. We suggested that he give the near-sighted glasses to some young people, who were most likely to need this type of glasses. But no such thing. He and his elder cronies put them on themselves - although they were probably all long sighted - pleased as punch, with big smiles on their faces. Later on during the meeting, when they were discussing whether they should fire the Captain and the crew of the village supply boat because of stealing and drinking, one of the old guys got up to speak and fell flat on his face. Everybody thought he was having a heart attack or something, but it was just the nearsighted glasses that made him stumble and lose his balance! They are really just like children in many ways.

Coming back to the episode with the Captain and the beer drinking. The next morning just before day break, we woke up from the load noise of engines and a lot of shouting. I poked my head out of the hatch and there was the supply ship up on a reef that stretches out from one side of the tiny island. Later on at the next congress meeting, the Captain said he hit the reef because he had to go around the sailboat anchored in the harbour. This was of course us! We assume this sealed his fate.

Panama Canal Transit No. 2

After 3 weeks in our favourite paradise, we had to leave for Colon to get ready for the transit of the Canal and to provision and prepare the boat for the over 3000 nm. trip to the Marqueses in French Polynesia. Panama and the Canal set-up hadn't changed since we last transited in 1992. We had no problem this time either except that the pilot almost got us stuck in the mud making a "short-cut" in Gatun Lake. We were reading 1.7 m on the depth sounder but were motor sailing so fast that we went right through it, thank God. With that speed, we would never have got off again alone.

Back in the Pacific again

The 900 mile leg from Panama to Galapagos was very restful but very slow. As expected, we had very little or no wind for several days going through the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (Doldrums), which stretches from 5 degrees north to 5 degrees south of the Equator. When we crossed the Equator, King Neptune came aboard with his wife, Amphitrite and one of his Nereids, better known as nymphs, who made him offerings from the sea. We toasted the crossing of the "line" with Norwegian "Linje Aquavit".

G A L A P A G O S

In Galapagos, we got permission to stay in Academy Bay on the island of Santa Cruz for 10 days. However, no sailboats are allowed to visit the other islands. This must be done on a tour with local boats and professional guides. Academy Bay is the largest settlement in the Galapagos and really much more modern than we had expected. There are several good restaurants and hotels, a supermarket, a bank and several crafts and souvenir shops. The Darwin Institute Research Station is also here and you can actually see and experience a lot of the rich wildlife right in the bay. All the animals, reptiles, fishes, turtles, seals, sea lions, iguanas and birds are incredibly tame. We woke up one morning to find a marine iguana in our dinghy. The next morning we found 3 sea lions in it! Galapagos is really a place for naturalists, botanists and environmentalists, but even average "Joes" like Anne and I are fascinated by the giant tortoises, the different kinds of boobies, frigate birds, pelicans and other birds that settle down on the pulpit and on top of the mast as if they own the place. The landscape is very barren, of volcanic origin and covered in cactus and all sorts of shrubs - hardly any trees other than some crooked kind of hardwoods.

As we were getting ready to leave for our longest ocean crossing on our own, Anne suddenly got laid up with a bad back, not so good for our upcoming challenge, but we finally got underway after a 2 week delay - and a brief visit with the Kastdalen family, descendents of Norwegians who emigrated to Galapagos in the 30's. Very interesting....

Thanks, El Nino!

The crossing of the Pacific is supposed to be a romantic dream according to history and all the literature and guide books we have read. I guess we have to blame it on this year's "El Nino", because the 3000 miles from Galapagos to Hiva Oa in the Marqueses was probably our toughest crossing to date. Old King Neptune threw everything he could think of at us: No wind, too much wind, no wind with huge waves, terrific squalls with torrential rain. You name it! Of course being just the two of us didn't make things any easier, particularly when we suddenly got hit by 50 knot squalls in the middle of the night and had to scramble up on deck in the pitch black to reduce sails in pissing rain. Mind you, the rain was warm, probably 30 degrees!

To make matters worse, we got over 100 stowaways onboard the last night in Galapagos: Giant, Texas size flying cockroaches! So every night during our watches, we went hunting. We won, because by the time we reached Hiva Oa, they were all gone.

Just like the Atlantic, we didn't see a damn thing for over 20 days - only stars, planets, the sun and the moon. Some times we really wonder why we keep watches. We completed the voyage in 24 days which is still better than average, but this time we had to motor 86 hours to begin with till we got into the trades around 8 degrees south and 110 degrees west.

M A R Q U E S E S

FRENCH POLYNESIA

We arrived in Hiva Oa just in time to celebrate 17 May, (Norway's Constitution Day) with friends from two Finnish and one Swedish boats - no Norwegians in sight. We plan to stay in the Marqueses a couple of weeks to recuperate before continuing on to the Tuamotus Archipelago, Tahiti, Moorea and Bora Bora in the French Society Islands, Cook Islands, Tonga, Fiji, New Caledonia and finally Brisbane, where we hope to arrive in early October. There we plan to put the boat "on the hard" while we return to Vancouver for the winter and to visit Norway before we head back to NOR SIGLAR in the spring.

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