Into the arctic

 July 14th    Lurøy - Myken

There is no clear definition on what the Arctic is. I lean toward the latitude definition, i.e. the part of the earth north of the northern polar circle. And today I passed through that imaginary line, with no ceremony other than enjoying the spectacular landscape and nice weather. 

Destination for todays sail was the Myken i tiny village and archipelago around 20 nm out in the Norwegian sea. 

I actually got to sail some even if the trip started with mirror flat seas. I also got the first symptoms on a problem that would pop up several times in the days to come even if I didn't understand what the problems was yet. Todays symptom was that the autopilot suddenly turned itself off while I was under deck using some of the facilities there. With the autopilot off the rudder was turned hard to starboard and before I could rush up onto deck (not full dressed) the boat had turned at least 360 degrees. Luckily there where plenty of space so I didn't run into anything.  

Today there are around 10 year round inhabitants. Even if fishing was the reason for populating a group of tiny barren islands far out in the sea, todays Myken todays inhabitants are artists, tourist host and most famously whisky makers. In 2014 two intrepid risk seekers decided to establish the first arctic whisky distillery here. Since the process of making whisky is time consuming it took several years before they had any products to sell. So to fill the product range while waiting for the whisky to mature they also started producing gin. A gin they have received awards for that they due to Norwegian alcohol legislation is not allowed to tell about. The distillery is open for tours and tests, but I arrived to late and left to early, and as a non-drinker the testing isn't interesting. 

The light, nature, vistas etc. that I got to experience on my one night here was fairly exhilarating and I am not sure that alcohol was needed for anybody here today to get feel the magic.