About Aegir Expeditions

Aegir Expeditions provides unique offshore passage making sailing adventures right here on the Great Lakes. Based out of Chicago, we eliminate the time and expense of traveling to and from far away or remote destinations. Our overnight and multi-day trips are designed to give day sailors and coastal sailors the skills and confidence to sail anywhere on their own boat by gaining the experience of an extended offshore passage.

Each crew member will gain offshore passage making skills and experience by being actively involved in every aspect of operating and maintaining a modern ocean-cruising boat including mastering seamanship, navigation, heavy weather tactics, steering and standing watches, sail trim and reefing, anchoring, provisioning, meal preparation, and ongoing maintenance of the vessel.

While the underlying concept is to build your skills and self-confidence, it is also about the cruising lifestyle and blending the sailing with the richer experience of making landfalls and exploring different locations. While we teach offshore sailing skills, we also make passages, voyages.

Aegir and Ran

In Norse mythology, Ægir (pronounced AH-gih) and Ran (pronounced RAN) are two of the most often-mentioned giants in Norse mythology. They are, respectively, husband and wife—Ægir is the giant, master of the ocean and Ran is the goddess of the sea, and the brother of Logi (fire) and Kári (wind).

Together they dwell in a magnificent hall beneath the ocean and can be seen as the animating powers of the ocean and its varying qualities. Together they have nine daughters, who are usually interpreted as being spirits of the waves.

While the relationship between the gods and the giants is ambivalent at best, Ægir and Ran enjoy an overwhelmingly friendly relationship with the gods. Often portrayed as a gracious host, he invites the Norse gods to a great feast each year in his hall, Brime, where the beer and the food are magically transported to the guests and the drinking-horns fill themselves.

According to Odin, Ægir brews the best ale. He has the world’s biggest brewing kettle, a mile deep, which Tor stole from the giant Hyme and gave to him. In Ægir’s hall, the gods were never allowed to fight, and anyone making trouble was banished for all eternity.

Expedition
def: a journey or voyage undertaken by a group of people with a particular purpose, especially that of exploring a distant place.