Brev fra RX IIs første eier

These are brave, Norwegian, men and not foolhardy glory seekers.

Trond is a great fellow, and has a magnificent wife with Scandinavian

“sunlight” golden hair and two similar young children none of which he

wishes to make orphans. 

Trond has sailed the Rx-II in the North Sea and fell in love with the boat.  Trond has sailed a number of boats as a delivery skipper and so is a competent judge.  I can attest to the Rx-II’s lifesaving qualities as I spent 5 days in the absolute middle of the North Atlantic in a full scale gale, never less than 30° heeled and as much as a measured 120° (where it pegged the inclinometer), and occasionally under water.  (Marsh sang, “We all live in a yellow submarine,” the deck is an off-yellow color).  I built her for exactly this punishment. 

Her scantlings are way over standard.  It took 3 years to custom build her (time & materials $ :-( ) with two marine architects designing and daily overseeing the contractor.  I read several hundred books on sailing vessel design, materials, engineering, etc and so was able to add a little here and there.

Safety and sea keeping were the hallmarks.  The boat was famous in Newport, RI even before she was launched for sea trials.  I was the second skipper to cross the Atlantic in a boat that was a member of the Newport Yacht Club (2nd oldest in the US), and today they write they are following her voyages closely.  Naturally I am prejudiced.

The Swedes are also trying in a very large sailboat to do the same thing.

However they are 4 days behind.  Since the Swedish boat is much longer their hull speed is much faster since speed is a function of the square root of

the waterline length.  However, we have Trond. 

The Rx-II’s budget was 50,000 Kronars while the Swedish Explorer has an unlimited budget in the millions and a crew of 13 against our 3.  I ask you to imagine just how much difference that makes.  It makes a huge difference in fatigue, since at sea you sail 24 hours a day with someone awake on watch. 

In the ice, it is 2 hours on and 4 hours off (sometime, less when you are needed, and then it is no hours off.  Imagine getting up and going on deck every four hours and most likely you just got to sleep, having gone to the head, eaten some peanut butter or granola, written in your log, etc.  You do not know what “tired” is until you sail a little boat in bad conditions day after 24hour day, where you must be rational as decisions must be made constantly, and being wrong is not a good option.  Sounds dramatic, but it is fact. 

At one time I was a hulking “dumb?” Swede sailor with a bushy red beard and fiery red hair and loved 3 reef weather.  The Rx-II is designed with 7+ tons of lead in her keel slurried in with epoxy and lead bird shot and she quickly goes to 22° and just stops there and leaps forward.  She is a very dry boat, but designed to fall through the air off a wave landing on her beam ends and shake it off.  It sounds like being inside a 55 gallons steel drum and having someone beat on it with a sledge hammer.  But I ramble.  Memories.

She is a beautiful boat.

The huge ugly semi-sphere white dome above the boom gallows on the stern

just ahead of and above the windvane (a self-steering device) is a

communication device.  It allows us to follow her anywhere in the world.

Lars Ingeberg talks to Trond 2 or 3 times a day by phone, because he just can not stand not being on board.  [I sailed by dead reckoning, and always found my landfall even if it was a 2,000 n m passage.  (I was useless with the sextant, I discovered when at sea.)

Our friend Lars who is a rags to riches story of ability and hard work.  He

too is a Norwegian sailing champion and owns several sailboats, but loves

the Rx-II.  He is the one promoting these voyages and gathering all the

Scandinavian media support and the support from varied marine companies from South Africa to Sweden.

Trond the experienced amiable skipper who will beat those damned Swedes in their motorboat.

The Rx-II is in good hands.

Eric