SY Solveig is my third boat, I've been sailing in it since 2013. No formal competence in sailing except that I (recently) did the Norwegian general boating license (which is optional in Norway for people born prior to 1980). A friend gave me a one-hour crash course in sailing when I had purchased my first boat. Sometimes I jokingly tell that I "have no idea what I'm doing" - if the crew have strong opinions on how the sails should be trimmed, I usually leave the trimming to the crew. Anyway, I have plenty of experience now, I've been sailing a lot with my family, quite a lot single-handed, and frequently with arbitrary crew or guests on board as well.
I try to do most of the repairs and maintenance work onboard myself, so I'm a jack of all trades - knows a little bit of how to work with epoxy, varnish, electricity, plumbing, carpentry, etc, etc, but I'm an expert on nothing.
I have a day-time job with IT, I'm allowed to do "home office" and work from anywhere in the EU. I'm trying to get back to Oslo and our physical office 9-10 times a year.
I have a family, a wife and four children, one of them is working in Oslo, the others are going to school in St.Petersburg. We had the idea of doing home schooling while doing this mediterranean trip, but I did not have the capacity to both do sailing, maintaining the boat, working full time, doing my part of the chores and then take responsibility for the education in addition, so my wife took them back to physical school. They're coming back to the boat for the vacations.
I'm quite flexible in the diet, I can eat almost everything. When vegan crew members join, I try to eat mostly vegan food.
Thumb's up
Together with an other crew, I had an enjoyable time on Solveig. It's a unique ship with a welcoming skipper, who made me feel at home immediately. While doing a mix of short trips and longer passages, including night sailing. I had the opportunity to test my sailing skills under supervision of the skipper. In four weeks we made around 500 miles. I had an exceptional good time and learned plenty about life aboard.
13th Feb 2024