Lindisfarne – Forgus 37 – 7,5t (>9t equipped)
May - July 2005

1 quarter of the circumnavigation with Lindisfarne, up and down the Norwegian coast.

We left from Gothenburg on the 1st of May with the bow turned to Lofoten and a turning point at Tromsö, just south of the 70th latitude. Our first month was due to the not really ready yacht, a lot of two to three days stop to be able to catch up with items that weren't done when we left Gothenburg.
We made our first landfall in Norway at Sandefjord, where our old mast and rig found a new home. Last Easter we sold our mast and rig to a nice fellow from Sandefjord, and of course we had to visit him and his family going north.
We had hoped for a sunny and warm spring but could as an example read 3 degrees above zero in the evening in Arendal on the 16th of May. The only god thing with that was that the celebration of the National day in Norway was not as loud as usually.
We are very lucky to have a heating system with circulating hot water, heated either by the motor, shore power or by our oil stove. Even if it was cold outside we had a warm and cosy companion.

View to the south from the hole in the island Torghatten

The coast of Norway is almost 50% longer than the Swedish coast, and our time schedule don't allow us to stop more than a day at each stop. We where aiming to reach the polar circle before midsummer and that means 580 nm from the south tip of Norway. We have sailed the coast up to Ålesund earlier years, so that part we rushed. From Ålesund there is still 300 nm to go to reach the polar circle, which we passed o n the 20 of June in mist and rain.

From the pontoon close to the glacier Svartisen

Next target was Lofoten and this was to be done with extra crew during some weeks. Berit arrive at Bodö and got 10 days of sun and motoring, while the next couple whom sign on in Tromsö got almost just rain and strong winds. Life can be very unjust to somebody.

Together with Berit we got a powerful experience of whales, seen from the yacht in very close distance.

Sperm whale

Its difficult to describe the feeling of having this big creature close to the yacht, but those who remember the first time they had dolphins under the bow can recognize the feeling.
 

Pilot whale

The Norwegian archipelago is quit unbelievable beautiful. The fjords and the high mountains with snow close to the water. You have to see it! On top of that we found out that there are actually a lot of places where you can anchor, fully protected from the sea. Small fishing village makes it easy to get fuel and other provisions, not to mention the provision you get directly out of the sea, almost whenever you like. The people are very friendly and they tell you about their secret local places for fishing and anchoring... Its really a very nice place and don't forget about the sun. During May to mid July the sun shines, when it shines, 24 hour a day!

Trollfjorden in Lofoten

After leaving Tromsö, the ambition was to get the water maker ready before we leave for Island Greenland.
From Tromsö its almost 700 nm to Island and the shortest trip is between Ålesund and Island, only 550nm. So we continued our coastal route down to Ålesund with a nice tailwind and a lot of sun. We stopped a few days west of Trondheim to get the water maker working. Its belt driven so there is a bit of engineering to be done! Its really a relief and a nice feeling of freedom when you actually drink your first self produced water. 

Now we really felt that we where equipped for going west as soon as the whether was right. After a day of stowing and secure anchor and other heavy items we where ready. With a light tailwind we left Norway with a course to northern Island. After one day the wind increased and backed north. We got two days of increasing and slowly backing headwind with the sea state slowly escalating to pretty rough conditions. We found our self having a course just south of Island. Tacking against this sea and strong wind was not a favourable thing to do in spite there where only 100 nm more to go to Island. We decided to turn southeast with the wind  to the Faeroes  160nm away , a decision we have not regret. The wind increased even more to about 40 knots and we learnt later that the ice situation around Greenland was not very good for a yacht this year.
Now we hade to start planning for the alternative route which in spite of the former involved a much warmer temperature. The new rout continue from the Faeroes to the Hebrides, Ireland, Biscay, Spain, Portugal...   It's not that adventures as the first rout, but its far more comfortable and lots of more tailwind.

We are on that alternative route now, and we will leave Canada, Greenland, Island for another year, probably then from west to east, which should increase the chances for tailwind instead of headwind.  We are actually righting this whilst sailing from Faeroes to Hebrides. A moderate wind is on the quarter and its quite warm, the temperature is 13 degrees, we are used to much colder whether so even just 13 degrees is quite warm!

 The always present Puffins

One of the good things with changing route to the south, is that we will meet far more yachts compared to the previous route, and that's really a good thing.

11 August 2005
Annika & Björn
S/Y Lindisfarne

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