Time to leave the winter behind

April 25th - April 30th Orkanger - Brekstad 

On April 28th the most important items was checked of the to do list and Rulten (and I) was ready to leave the rainy Orkanger behind with hopes for brighter conditions on the coast.

With temperatures on the rather chilly side I had to pack my already significant body into quite a bulk of clothing to stay warm.

As it was weather got brighter further out the fjord.

After lunch on the day of departure from Orkanger (the 28th of April) the boat officially became my main office for the coming months, but the two days at Brekstad became the first full days. 

In the evening after work I got this kind of views - the ferry dock in the background doesn't look industrial at all with a sailing ship through the sunset.

Even the bathroom run in the morning became something quite nice.

The sailing ship Motig was originally a diesel motored fishing boat built by Gjert Eidesvik Skipsbyggeri in Rosendal in Hardanger in 1930. The boat was this first boat the legendary Leif (Shetlands) Larsen crossed the North Sea with bringing himself and others wanted by the Germans to safety to Lerwick on Shetland in February of 1941. Actually Larsen and his gang came to Turøy in the Bergen archipelago in a small motorboat not suited for crossing the North Sea in winter so they in essence stole the boat for the crossing. After the war Motig was returned to its owners and continued fishing for the next decades. In 2006 the boat was purchased by Harald Krogstad in Trondheim who rebuilt her as a sailing cutter and brought her to the pretty state she is at now.

On the hard (winter of 2020-2021)

October 21st 2020 - April 25th 2021 Orkanger

This winter leaving the boat a long way from home felt even more sketchy than normal. Would the corona restrictions hinder me in any way to come to the boat when needed. In the end most things went well. The one restriction that stopped me from more visits was the general request to avoid unessential travels. To be honest not being able to visit my parent as often as I would have liked, hurt more than not being able to confirm that the boat is ok. 

I ended up with Christmas and Easter/spring boat work/launching day. But since nothing got damaged besides several bungee cords securing getting broken or lost their elastics. Thus my plan to avoid halyards slamming the mast - making noise didn't work as planned and the cockpit didn't work as well as it should have. 

Due to the work from "home" order I chose to go to Orkanger a week earlier than for a normal Easter holiday. One of the aims was to get more boat work done. Before launch.

But many of the extra (and ordinary) days was like this. In the end we, the boat owners that was to launch together, decided to postpone the launching with a week to at least get some decent weather for boat work. 

And some nice evenings to enjoy the surroundings.

(Luckily the noise of the industries and commercial port on either side of the marina doesn't show in images)

In the end though launch day came and everything that wasn't done has to be done with the boat in the water. Weather on launch day morning was not ideal - it had snowed during the night so first item on the to do list was to clear snow from the boat.

Since the dock was covered in 5-10 cm of snow I got the idea to drive up to my parents and borrow their snow shovel and clear the dock before eager (or panicked) boaters where run around with their boats swinging through the air.

Weather improved and before all boats was launched all snow was gone.

With all boats in the water there where a mess of stands and other items left on shore that had to be tidied before the boating season could start proper. I also had to launch my dingy that I store inflated under the boat during winter.