Cruising in the artic

[trond]

Hello.
I`m new to this site, so I`m just going to say "hello everybody great site". I live in a town called Narvik i nothern Norway. My family and I are going south with our Contest 34 next summer. We are planning a 13 month cruise, starting in may 2005. We are longing for a really hot and sunny winter. Until now we have only cruised the norwigian coast. Mostly north of the artic circle.

Trond

[sjs]

Hello trond and welcome. I am new here myself but it is a good place to visit. I would be interested in special issues you face sailing in those latitudes (e.g., maintenance) compared to more southerly lattitudes.

[trond]

Hello Sjs
The maintenance is no different here than in the south. We just have to do everything in some short summer months. I usually take the boat out of the water in mid may. I scrub an put on new anti fouling.
The summer season is no problem really. The temperatur is normally between 10 to 20 degrees celsius.
Sailing during winter the humidity in the boat is the biggest problem. It is not so fun when you wake up in the morning and your sleeping bag is frosen to the hull.
Due to the Golf stream we do not have any ice. From mid December to Mach I usually do not use the boat, it is to dark and cold. The only thing I do before I end the season is to disconnect the salt water intake and fill the engine with defroster. And I empty the water tank.

Trond

[delmarrey]

You are way up there, 6.7 Degrees N., 7.5 Degrees E. But it sounds like the weather is not too bad. The East coast here in the US seems to have colder (more extreme) weather. I am surprised that it doesn't ice-up there.

Looking at the map you have lots of inlets and islands to explore. I'm sure the scenery beautiful!

Where do you plan to go on your trek south?

Del........................._/)

[trond]

Hello Del
Yes from what I have read you have more extreme wether on your side. The coast up her is a fantastic cruising aerea. It is not so many cruisers here so you can really enjoy the peace and solitude. If you look at my friends home site you can see pics from the Lofoten peninsula.
http://home.no.net/norwave/index_e.htm
The text are written in norwegian but the picxs give you a clue of the cenery.

The trip south is planned to go through Germany and follow the inland watherways to the Med. Then cruise the Balearic isl. follow the spanish coast and ovet to nothern Africa and Canary isl.
After that we are not sure. I want to go across the atlantic, but this part is still beeing discussed in the family.....We havent crossed any real oceans yet so my wife think it is a bit more scary than I do.....

Trond

[delmarrey]

The Contrast 33 looks like a well built fractional rig.

The pictures remind me of Alaska when I was there. I'm sure you have to deal with the same extreme tidal currents as we did. And the 24 hours of daylight in the summers. Longer sailing times

Crossing the pond (Atlantic) isn't too bad. A lot of small boats have done it. Now, the Pacific is something else. We get some huge waves over here fairly often. Most of our weather comes down from the Alaska coast and storms are a common event. Just today were having one come through. But Hawaii is nice.

Later..............................._/)