(POST UPDATED 07/07/11)
This Post is on behalf of an IOA member Jon Jakobsen from Norway. Here he tells us about his boat Vouvray and the Vestfjordseilasen Regatta. Jon has also kindly submitted some great photo’s and archive material which we will add to the site…
I have just participated in a regatta 36 nm north of Bodø, its called Vestfjordseilasen, going from the mainland in Nordland, Northern part of Norway, Nordskot up to Kabelvaag in Lofoten, 90 sailoboats, amongst them in the multihull category, Dolce Vita, a Fountaine Pajot 36, “MAHE”, and mine little Iroquois MK I, Dolce Vita sailing with gennaker and mainsail, and me sailing with an old spinnaker and mainsail over the fjord..
The result in mine class with only 4 hulls!
About my Cat.
June 10th, 1999, a friend of mine and I got on the plane at Bodoe airport, destination Heathrow, then some miles west by a motorway, westbond for Penarth, Cardiff.
I bought Vouvray after an inspection of the cat all over, also submerget inspecting 15 cm under the hulls with scuba gear a half hour, after this day, the 11 of June 1999, we sailed in 3 weeks up Northt to Bodø (as said former, in the Northern part of Norway), underway in Scotland, through 2 channels, the little Crinan Canal, and through Scotland on the big Caledonian channel from Fort William to Inverness.
From there 83 little hours over the little fjord from Scotland to Norway, with windy conditions shifting from near gale to windstill, blank sea, as we call it, the Northsea to Florø, and 1 week sailing up to Bodø. The route from Cardiff…Oxwich Bay, Milford Haven, Arklow, Howth Marina in Dublin, Adrishaig in Scotland through the Crinan Canal one day, Oban, Fort William, several days on the Caledonian Canal to Inversness, then the Fjord to Noway…North sea, Florø, Hitra, Brønnøysund, Sandnessjøen, Bolga, Håkjerringvika near Bodø, and then the destination, my hometown Bodø.
The highest GPS-speed I ever have reached with Vouvray, was in much more that gentle breeze from west (near gale), when we set course for Fort William from Oban, with 2 other monohulls trying to follow us, we reached 20 GPS-knots inbound to Fort William, and with nearly silence from behind, and after that stunt, those members from the 2 other sailboats following us up the Caledonian channel called us, those crasy Norwegians, ps. we gained 1,5 hours on them on that short trip from Oban to Fort William…
Vouvray has sailed about 1200 nm every year from the summer of 1999. Of course a lot of going with engine, at least nearly half of the time, its not so windy in the Northern part of Norway as You might think.
The old Yamaha Bigfoot 9.9 that came with Vouvray is gone, drinking too much oil, and I have replaced it with a Honda 20 HP, 4 blade propeller, giving 7 knots maximum engine speed, at 6 knots its drinking about 3-4 litres of fuel in the hour, at 7 knots it is drinking 6-7 litres of fuel.
I do use my Cat all the Year around, we are blessed with the Golf stream, giving us non-icing conditions the hole year, of course we have much snow in the winter, but with gps and AIS it is no problem sailing in those conditions.
This photo is taken by me at my family country cottage, 14 nm south of Bodø, the place is called Haakjerringvika, ( Haakjerring translated to english: Greenland shark, and vika means bay)
Jon has sent us some classic Iroquois material which is contained in our Archives section.
