I have been sailing since I was a teenager - I took a sailing course on a tiny lake near Lippstadt where I got a license for boats on German lakes and rivers, but after I had moved to Stuttgart and Vienna, it kind of just died down - too much to do with studying, getting a first job and so on.

After the move to Norway, we were much closer to the sea, I toyed with the idea of getting a small sailing boat again. Tor Livar took a sailing trip on a colleagues boat then and he sort of liked it, so we decided to do a weekend introductionary course in Oslo together. Both of us really liked it, and let’s just say that suddenly, just some weeks later, we were the very unsure, but proud owners of “Hugo” - in memoriam to Hugo

Hugo is a Bavaria 31 from 2008, and the perfect size for us to get used to navigating around with a boat and all kinds of maneuvers.

Because being a new, inexperienced boat owner can be scary. From dropping anchor (and not drifting away while sleeping) over getting into your berth without ramming other boats to keeping it well maintained - we had to do a lot of learning in a very short time!

It is definitely easier with a boat not that big - and even though 31 feet is a lot by standards from the 90s, right now, it is about one of the smaller boats you can get these days. On the Bavaria meetup in 2021 we were the smallest boat there.

Yet, it is still big enough for the two of us - even though I cannot quite stand upright downstairs, but nearly.

We felt comfortable enough after just a season to go on a three weeks tour down to Lindesnes and back to Sande (where Hugo’s home berth is for now), and there it was comfortable enough for the two of us and had definitely enough space.

We are looking forward to many more sailing trips in the future!