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Testimonials
Drawn to the Light
It doesn’t matter where they go. The Watsons always seem to cause a stir and draw a crowd. They like the attention. Even though it is not focused on them personally, but rather on their unusual boat.
Kiwhya II is Pottawattamie Indian for “sunshine” and this Nordic Tug (37-016) brightens the faces of all who see her. Named by Emma Watson in honor of her ancestors, this tugboat is the pride and joy of Emma and her husband, Ted Watson.
“We have taken our tug all over including Bay Harbor (Petoskey) where there are a lot of spectacular, mammoth boats,” said Emma, recalling the experience that is repeated everywhere they cruise. “But it was our tug that always had a cluster of people around it. Everyone wants to see it and come onboard. Even non-boaters are intrigued.”
And that is okay with the Watsons. They are wonderful ambassadors for Nordic Tugs, having switched from a sailboat in 2000 when they no longer felt comfortable hoisting sails and worrying about rough weather. “Nordic Tugs are wider, heavier and easy to handle. We have been on Lake Michigan in six to eight-footers and felt perfectly safe.” Ted proudly remembers rescuing a sailboat with his tug in Suttons Bay.
“Ask any Nordic Tugs owner what their biggest complaint is and they will tell you the same thing,” said Bay Breeze Yacht Sales manager Bill Allgaier. “Everyone flocks to their boat. They pull in to a marina or dockage and people gather to find out more about their tug. It’s a magnet. So when I sell a tug, I warn owners that this will happen to them. Just be prepared to be the center of attention.”
The Watsons see all this as a compliment and don’t mind the hassle. Like other Nordic Tug owners, they love their tug.
-Dee Smith
An Owl, A Pussycat & A Duck
In celebration of his retirement, my husband Jack Henry and I decided to spend a year aboard our Nordic Tug (32-205) Sitting Duck. We went over every system and stocked up on spare parts and proper tools. Although we had owned the boat for about 3 years, our cruising had been limited to long weekends. We arranged for house sitters and made the hard choices of which clothes (very few) and which books and which pots and pans deserved the precious cupboard space. We also provisioned for our two Westies, Scabby and Bosun.
We left Clear Lake, Texas, in February 2005, following the ICW around the Gulf of Mexico past Mobile, where we officially began The Great Loop. We timed our travel to miss the hurricane season in any exposed place to reach Chicago before the Midwest traditionally closes their fuel docks in fall.
All went according to plan. We watched with great concern…but from the interior of the country…as Katrina and Rita destroyed. We wondered if we would be rebuilding our home near Houston! We sadly changed our end-of-trip plans to exclude New Orleans and parts of the coast where we hoped to linger.
We logged the usual 7,000 “Loop” miles, but added over 2,000 additional miles of side-trips. These included a trip up the Potomac River with time in Washington, DC; a long summer anchorage in Cape Cod near family; a pause in Georgian Bay and the Thousand Islands in Canada; long trips up the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers as far as we could go; and finally a trip all the way south on the Texas coast to Port Isabelle near Mexico. We arrived home in a year and a day, like the Owl and the Pussycat.
Our little Nordic Tug performed flawlessly. She traversed 134 locks, logged 9,200 miles, and encountered some pretty rough waters and some very “skinny” waters where deeper draft boats were unable to go, like the New Jersey ICW. We were chagrined at the rising fuel cost, but when compared notes with other boats, we found that we always had the most fuel-efficient boat around. We usually cruised around 8 knots, but hurried for short times when we had a good reason. Our average fuel consumption was about 1.6 gph.
We met many other Nordic Tugs on our trip and greeted each other happily. Our Nordic log:
Annie B at Waterford, NY, July 2005
Ingomar at Drummond Island, MI, August 2005
Omega at St. Ihnace, MI in August 2005
Nomad in Chicago, IL, September 2005
Adriana in Alton, IL, September 2005
Annie Jo in Alton, IL, September 2005
Jenny Lynn in Clear Lake, TX, December 2005
Chillin’ in Key Allegro, near Rockport, TX, February 2006
Sjoman in Key Allegro, near Rockport, TX, February 2006
High Klippe at Clear Lake, TX in February 2006
Sitting Duck was small enough for us to handle, big enough to make us comfortable and, most of all, strong and reliable.
- Marilyn Browning, Sitting Duck, Nordic Tug 32-205
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