Laura Domela and her husband, Kevin Morris, leaders of the popular Slowboat Flotillas from Seattle to Alaska, just bought a Nordic Tug 44 to replace their old Nordic Tug 34. And they’re more than pleased with the deal. The new boat, Domela wrote on their blog, has “SO MUCH ROOM.”
They heard about the 44 while they were leading a Flotilla around the outside of Vancouver Island in September. They worked with Seattle Yachts to both buy their new boat, a 2006 Nordic Tug 44 flybridge, and to sell their old boat, a 2013 Nordic Tug 34. They actually closed on the sale of their old boat and the purchase of their new one on the same day in mid-November.
The 44 is powered by a single Cummings 540-hp common-rail turbo diesel. It has two staterooms, two heads, a large cockpit, flybridge and lots of storage space. Domela wrote that it seemed “palatial” compared to their 34. It has a top cruising speed around 15 or 16 knots, although the Flotillas usually cruise at 8 knots.
The new 44 is named Airship, as was the old 34. The new owners of the 34 have renamed that boat. Domela, a professional photographer in Portland, Oregon, and Morris, who runs an electronic engineering publishing company, also own a 27-foot Airstream trailer (“Airstream”), and a Cirrus G4 turbo plane (“Airplane”). Look for the larger Airship on future Slowboat Flotillas starting next spring. Read more:
