In Norway and a few reflections

Tatt av vinden
Bjørn Larsen
Thu 8 Nov 2018 06:44
Yesterday we landed on Oslo airport at 1130 local time, after 24 hours on two different flights. The first from Auckland to Dubai, 17 hours. One of the longest nonstop flights in the world. The range of the plane was 15,000 km, and the flight was 14,400. The next flight left Dubai two hours after we landed, and lasted almost 7 hours. Both flights with Emirates.
I roughly calculated that we have sailed the equivalent of 125 nonstop days from Oslo to New Zealand. Then we fly home in just 24 hours. What a different world from the times of the white sails.
We started this journey in July 2013, and will finish in 2019. We sailed all the way to New Zealand without serious accidents. That is an achievment in its own. We have been following the seven «P»s: Proper Planning and Preparation Prevents Pisspoor Performance. We allways paid attention to the weatheerforcasts, and tried to do proper maintenance on the boat. But you have to be lucky in addition. And we have had good fortune. As an example, when we had engine problems in Panama in 2017, we could easily return to Shelter Bay and have the problems fixed. If we have had those problems when we entered one of the passes in the Tuamotus atolls, we would have been in for more serious trouble. Another exapmle is that we encountered the most heavy winds well tied up in the marina in Santa Marta, just over 50 knots. At sea we had just a little more than 40 in gusts, and we were almost always able to run before the wind when it exceded 30 knots.
One of the reasons that we shall not have another season in the Pacific is that I begin to feel too old. Others do not. On the last crossing from Nuku’alofa in Tonga to Whangarei in New Zealand I checked into the Pacific Seafarer Net every day. This is a net for HAMs (amateur radio operators). About 10 other boats checked in, and one of them was «Nereida». This is the boat of Jeanne Socrates. She is 74 and has started her 4th attempt to sail solo arround the world, nonstop and unassisted. She hope to be the oldest woman to sail nonstop aoround the world. You should read her blog. She has now been out for 35 days. Https://svnereida.com.
So, we shall not stop sailing, even if we give up the long passages and the unpredictable weather of th SPCZ - the South Pacific Convergence Zone. And I will follow Jeanne Socrates and «Nereida» on her blog.
Pictures will follow soon.