fredag 8. september 2017

We wonder who is still visiting this blog?


I am puzzled to find that visitors still come to this site, a year after the end of our cross atlantic sailing trip. It seems that many are from outside Norway, so I will write this post in english. Some of you may have accidentally stumbled in while investigating how to find cheap cigarettes?

Many may not understand why the boat was called Lucky Strike. Well, a commercial company should not have monopoly on a good expression. A lucky strike was what the golddiggers in Alaska was begging for as they struggled and mined during the gold rush. They hoped for good luck and to find gold. We believe we had a lucky strike when looking for a good cruising catamaran in the summer of 2003. It was not so easy to find. Even today cruising catamarans are not abundant in Scandinavia, and back then they were quite seldom to be seen. Buying abroad was a time consuming and expensive challenge too, necessitating a lot of air travel to check prospects, and a possible long journey home. This in addition to paying extra 25% VAT into Norway, irrespective of VAT paid in EU or any other country.

One friday morning this summer I was having breakfast and superficially looking through a financial paper that I had tossed into my bag two days earlier while at work. And cought a glimpse of a catamaran. A Privilege 37, and I was sure it was one that we had testsailed in the spring in Oslo and very much wanted to own . It was for sale, but at a price that we felt was outside our range. Now it looked like the price had been substantially lowered. But this was another boat! At the time there were only 2, maybe 3, such boats in Norway, and we had never seen another one advertised for sale. It proved their agent had chosen to advertise solely in that financial paper, God knows why. I immediately called the agent, and got an appointment to see the boat the next day, Saturday. On Monday we got the approval for the necessary loan from the bank, and closed the deal. Lucky Strike!

So now I am curious. I would really appreciate anyone visiting the blog to comment on why they came here.....?

Maybe some cruising interested people from abroad just like to read such blogs, old or not. If so, it might inspire to write a bit about norwegian cruising, which actually in many ways is quite different from central/south european. Not to mention lower latitudes.



Among conditions that differ from more southerly areas, are laying up in wintertime.