Christian and I decided to buy an Oyster 56, three years ago. Finally in June this year Astahaya was ready. The vessel was picked up in Ipswich and after a taste of the Mediterranean and a christening party in Palma, we are now here, in the ARC! There is much planning behind and we do look forward to the Caribbean.
Friends and family have joined us for the ARC:
Jon Smedsrud is a good friend from Oslo. We learned to sail my first boat together, an Albin Vega. I had my Vega in the harbour of Oslo Motorbåtforening for 28 years, so it was really a big jump to Astahaya. Jon is our computer expert.
Lars Christian Holmeide is married to my sister. He is of the kind who is born for the nature. Living in Arendal on Norway’s southern coast, he is our man for marine life and technical challenges.
Åge Munch Olsen is also from Arendal. He is a friend of Lars Christian. As a musician we expect much of him when arriving to St Lucia – reggae, calypso…we can hardly wait
Tore Hem is the most tanned on board. As a former wrestler we rely on his strength. He is an old friend from both hotel Continental in Oslo and from the maritime life on the Oslofjord.
Christian Figenschou and I want to make Astahaya to an important part of our future life. Christian is born in Tromsø, our beautiful capital of the Arctic, but he has lived most of his life in Oslo.
I Tom Howard have lived in Oslo all my life. The time has come to take time off and investigate the maritime world on board our fantastic Oyster 56.
After busy days with preparations it was a great feeling when we finally set sail on our own vessel in the legendary ARC!!
The two first days we probably headed too much west. We were suddenly in between light and no winds. The cruising shute (gennaker) was not used the first day, as we wanted to take things gradually. The second day, however, the cruising shute was up both with and without pole.
Night to Wednesday the wind turned down to 1,4 kn, while last night it increased to 10 kn! Downhill and great fun! Average speed last night: 7 kn.
Food is important on Astahaya. Every day one of the guys are taken out of the watch list, as the person is responsible for all food making, dishwashing and for keeping the boat tidy. We already have good experiences from this practice.
Here is the lunch and dinner menus so far:
Saturday night before departure, Åge served Norwegian “rakfisk” (semirotten mountain trout) with aquavit and beer. This is a traditional Norwegian dish, popular at Christmas.
Jon served Spanish spaghetti with a fantastic sauce for dinner when things had settled after a busy regatta start.
Tom’s day 2 lunch was Tortilla de patata and bouillabaisse with chilli and lime for dinner.
Tore served lovely tuna salad and later beef with sweet and sour sauce for dinner. Delicious melon as dessert.
Christian had the kitchen yesterday. He battered the wheat doe and served freshly baked ciabatta as smørgåsbord for lunch. Happy hour w/Kinnie from Malta as a non-alcoholic cocktail in crystal glasses before English chicken and mushroom pie with rice for dinner. Pineapple at its sweet peak for pudding.
Åge has his kitchen day today. He made a fabulous green chinoise salad with eggs and anchovies. Åge admits there will be much care performed around his spicy Spanish sausages for dinner tonight!
We have seen so many dolphins! After lunch there were probably more than 100 jumping around, chasing the bow. They seem so happy, as if they are always playing. I am afraid to get one of them on a fishing hook. They say the dolphins are so intelligent that they would not approach our fishing gear. Hope that is true. We have by the way not got any fish yet. We dream of a medium sized tuna.
Captain and crew are healthy. No sunburns, no complains and everybody seems happy. Much time is spent in cooking, sleeping, sunbathing, navigation and watch. The water maker was started for the first time today, and is working perfect. We made 400 litres. With other words, we all smell great! (No problem with showers.)
Welcome on board!
On behalf of the whole crew
Tom
Thursday 27. November 2008 at 15:00