Tacking the summer holiday out

 August 9th - 15th    Bessaker - Kuringvågen, Stokksund

For the last day of the summer holiday I was decided on sailing at any cost. In the beginning of the sail the wind was blowing from where I had to go. The waters here was also fairly confined so there had to be a lot of tacking involved. And on several of the tacks I was almost on the rocks before tacking.

From the moring (well noon) the wind was strong enough for me to reef the main a little.

Luckily no ships that I would have had to yield to appeared on the narrow parts.

However at a safe distance I met Statsnets M/S Elektron II transporting a road transport transformer carrier with a transformer. Elektron II loads its heavy rolling load through a bow gate and ramp like a WWII LST.

I ended my summer holiday at Kuringvågen. On Monday August 10th I was back at the boat office. I spent the first fall work week there in Teams meetings, answering mails and even trying to produce some meaningful text or documents. After work hours i took the kayak for a spin on several of the days staying there.

The wind farm on Hardbak fjellet that only had the towers when I was here in May was no finished, even if hidden in the fog here.

A knitted boat - does that really work?

 August 8th Vingsand - Løaholmen, Bessaker

The one day nice, the next day windy and rainy, or at least overcast that has been running since Bodø was continuing. To day the forecast warned for gale and rain from the afternoon. So this became a short jump under engine down to the boatclub at Løaholmen in Bessaker.

I was planning on trying my hands on making muffins in the boat and lacked a few ingredients so I had to take the bike a few kilometres to the bay where the grocery shop, with the oldfasioned name E. Hopstads Enke (E. Hopstads widow). Since the weather was nice I cycled in shorts and t-shirt. But just before arriving the gates of heaven opened and I arrived in the shop in a state of wetness usually only seen in the water or shower. For the trip back to the boat I took out the raincoat that I had in the backpack.

There obviously are a scare of this boat getting cold, why else knit a sweater. The sails are also knitted, I'm curious to how this contraption sails. 

First little sign of the coming autumn - or being further south

 August 7th    Ottersøy - Vingsand

As I already was at the eastern of the strait I chose to take the secondary route on the eastern side of Nærøy. In the northern end there is a power cable and a bridge that according to the chart is 16 m high. 

The top of my VHF antenna is 16,6 m high. Even if the tide was more than 2 m below the chart datum for overhead objects  the passages was made at very low speed and at the highest possible point. Especially the power cable was scary, even if much higher than the bridge in reality.

The crossing of the open to the Atlantic stretch Folla was made in no wind and clear skies.

Near to the end of Folla i passed close to the island of Villa. On Villa what was probably the last built coal fired lighthouse in the world was finished in 1839. It was rebuilt to burn liquid fuel in 1859 and decommissioned totally in 1890. The tower was still used as a lookout for the pilots living in the old lighthouse station. The last pilot left the island in 1946 after which the lighthouse fell into disrepair. Local enthusiasts has since 1976 brought the lighthouse back to its former glory. And as it stands today it is probably the best preserved coal fired lighthouse in the world.

After I passed Villa a boat under sail appeared from west. And even if I claim to have an underdeveloped eagerness to compete. This time the old saying of two sailboats going in the same direction always becoming a race was true. I set sail and the race was on - I lost in the end, and to a boat that should have been slower.

Being in august and this far south nights has become dark. Giving the opportunity to mix light from the sunset with artificial lights in images and real life. As much as I enjoy the light norther nights this also has its charm.

Leaving Nordland is nothing to record

 August 6th    Berg - Ottersøy

Grey, partly rainy head wind and waves trip under motor today. Strangely enough I didn't take any pictures.

Since I knew that the pontoons at Ottersøy has rings and not cleats I prepared the Hook and Moor stick and docking was thus no problem even if I could not use my normal lassoing technique for securing the first important line.

Sailing the narrow straits of Brønnøysund

 August 5th    Hommelstø - Berg i Sømna

The weather showed again its nice side. Breakfast was enjoyed underway in a dead flat fjord. 

At the mouth of the fjord the wind filled in and sails could be set. Direction and windspeed gave me the curate to sail through the narrow and often busy straits through Brønnøysund (all my previous passages had been under motor). Down Tilremsfjorden wind pushed the speed above 5 knots most of the time. In the narrows the speed limit is 5 knots and since I was uncertain on how the land would blanket and funnel the wind I chose to reef the main a little.

There where no noticeable funnelling effect, but much blanketing so I raced through the straits in a whopping 2-3 knots. 

The final narrow strait was mor upwind than the others and there where some bending of the wind so I had to start tacking, and in the end help with the engine for some minutes.

At Berg I was treated to the seasons last spectacular Nordland sunset, and pizza at Klakkskjæret Pub.

The penalty for enjoying the nice weather - I tricked it by visiting friends

 August 3rd - august 4th    Tjøtta - Hommelstø

Forecast for the coming two days indicated rain and gale force winds on the coast. 

Luckily for me this time is that I have friends that spends their summers in Velfjorden so that I could combine visiting them and staying in the very protected guest harbour at Hommelstø.

It rained pretty much the entire stay, but I couldn't tell whether the forecasted wind showed. The image above isn't entirely true for most of the stay.

While visiting I got to assist (or rather since it was me interfere) in the renovation of my friends log house. Part of one of bottom layer logs was rotten, so we had to cut the bad part out and insert fresh new timber.

And then the weather was (really) nice again

August 2nd    Lurøy - Tjøtta

Left Lurøy in dead calm, but after i while the wind filled in. And I got some hours of nice sailing.

The weather was well suited to admire some of the mountains that has inspired a fairytale. Especially the Seven Sisters on Alsten.

In fact the weather was so nice that the skipper dared to immerse his body in the normally cold waters of the Norwegian sea.

Tacking out of the Arctic

July 31st - August 1st    Bolga - Lurøy

Grey and light southwesterly breeze today. And the wind was forecasted to lighten through the day. 

I saw S/Y Ayla that I was buddy boating with yesterday and today taking the main and wide route south. I thought I should be smarter and tack my way directly upwind through the fairly narrow sound just south of Bolga to get further out, on the outside of the high islands Rødøy and Gjerøy, in hope of the wind blowing a little longer and stronger there. It probably did, but in the end (after two hours) I had to give in and furl the sails and continue on engine. But Ayla was at Lurøy several hours before me.

At my cousins summer house there had been a change of crew and two other cousins (and families) from the two that where there when staying over northbound. Thus I took the opportunity for more family mingling and free dinner.

Since I didn't really feel that crossing the arctic circle once in either direction was quite sufficient, I sneaked myself aboard my cousins go fast boat when they where going on an evening tour.

Trying to get somewhere and still be sailing

July 30th    Bodø - Bolga

 With several boats lying outside of each other on each spot on both piers in the small basin I was at it took some tome to untangle everybody but eventually I was free - to go to the fuel dock and refill.

Being a sailboat with moderate diesel consumption that didn't tak too long either and soon I had passed the mole and was free to unfurl the sails and fully enjoy the beautiful summer day. 

When I got into the sounds south of Saltfjorden the mountains shielded for the northeasterly wind and engine had to replace the sails to get any progress. 

At a day like today in the landscape I passed engine noise wasn't able to tarnish the day. The noise is the prize that has to be payed for the experience of gliding to mirror flat water and the mountains reflecting on said flat water.

Further south the wind made a short revisit and some more sailing was possible.

In weather like today there are spectacular panoramas to be had almost everywhere along the coast of Nordland, but this view with the Svartisen glacier is not among the worst.

Todays trip ended at Bolga.

Sunsets and sandy beaches seems to be a favourite for sailors everywhere judging from instagram and blogpost and youtube videos from fellow sailors. In Northern Norway in general as here on Bolga the potential for spectacular beach sunsets are enormous, pity that the water temperature does not invite to any time wise measurable bathing.

Perfect wind? and fresh from the Netherlands - a new chart plotter.

 July 28th - July 29th    Kjerringøy - Bodø

Almost prefect wind conditions through the day. A windless morning made for an early paddle, breeze on the border to gale for the sail down to Bodø and windless again for the docking.

During the sail down I was to preoccupied with the sailing to take any pictures so I only can offer images from the dead calm. 

The main reason for going to Bodø today was that my chart plotter was arriving from the Navico distribution centre that I was told lies in the Netherlands. On the sail down here in choppy seas and double digits (in m/s) winds the advantage of having the chart plotter and the autopilot connected became obvious. The sail was on a close reach and on the way I had to pass a gap in a line of skerries between the mainland and the island Landegode. To find the right one early enough to avoid having to go higher to the wind (and getting overpowered) wasn't easy when I had to extrapolate the direction from the iPad. And the seas was to choppy to find the lighthouse at the right pass through the binocular. In the end my extrapolation turned out right and I got another reminder of the skills of sailors of earlier ages.

On tuesday afternoon Tina from TT Marine came and test fitted the chart plotter. On wednesday she came back and did the final installation even with a new custom plexiglass sheet to mount it to the pedestal.

With a new chart plotter I had to download new electronic charts. A task that should have been simple but that turned out to be more difficult. Garmin had been hacked and their entire online solution including the newly acquired Navionics site was down. And to download the alternative C-Map I couldn't find a solution that didn't require a windows PC, which I with my affinity for fruits only have at work. In the end I could borrow a computer from a neighbours boat and download the appropriate C-Map.

At the docks in Bodø the the old motor fishing vessels Rapp and Faksen lay side by side. Faksen was built in 1916 by the legendary ship builder Nils Skandfer i Mosjøen and after more than 80 years in service for the Pedersen family of Bliksvær outside Bodø it was transferred to Salta coast culture society in Bodø. M/S Rapp was built 1913 in Risør for a Swedish customer, but it was sold to Austevoll in 1916. Today the boat is home-ported in Stavanger.

In the land of literary greatness

July 26th - 27th    Nordskot - Kjerringøy

With plenty of time until the estimated delivery of the chart plotter I had ordered in Bodø i cut my sail short today too, and stopped over at Kjerringøy.

Kjerringøy is or is said to be the scene of several of Knut Hamsuns novels.  On an earlier visit here (by car) I went to the old trading post and the guided tour there , so I skipped that this time, COVID and all. 

In the kayak I got to see the post from the side most visitor came back in the day. The kayak since the sound outside is to shallow for sailboats.The shallowness is even the reason for the demise of the trading post and the subsecuent preservation of the buildings and interiors.

On bike and in kayak it was obvious that Kjerringøy has the potential to inspire artistic greatness - I however is only able to achieve this simple blog.

Climbing Strandåtind (one of few peaks in Norway more difficult than Rulten) is not for me, but admiring it form below is.

On the way here I met one of the preserved rescue boats. Built in 1920 for the Norwegian Sea Rescue Society from drawings made by the legendary Colin Archer. RS Kragerø served the seafarers on the Norwegian coast for 40 years. In 1960 she was sold to California and sailed there until 1996 when she again returned to Norway.

The design of this traditional Nordlandsbåt Fembøringen Kjerringøy is much older than Kragerø it is actually much younger. It is nice to see the traditions being upheld, but I prefer my plastic wonder for my sailing.

I stayed at Kjerringøy for two nights and was treated to fantastic light both evenings again.

The most fabulous evening

 July 25th    Skutvik - Nordskot

With a plan to motor to Helnessund i motored away through the quite nice landscapes of Steigen. In what you could call nice varied weather. (it didn't rain much but skies, overcast and sun was switching constantly)

Compared to the Lofoten I sailed through in the last week or so Steigen felt more tranquil. Partly du to protected sounds to sail through and partly because here there are a prominent strandflat between the sea and mountains in many places. Thus instead of forming fishing villages people here as in much of Norway has spread out in the strandflat with farms and combining fishing and farming. The mountains forming the backdrop is however similar to the mountains of Lofoten.

When going through the manmade and newly realigned channels towards Nordskot (my paper charts was not updated) the sea was mirror flat, I thought I saw a free spot on the dock and the weather looked more ominous further south, so I cancelled my plan and stopped here. 

In the mirror flat water and sounds and islets around Nordskot taking the kayak out almost became essential.

As the overcast and rainy variations of the weather disappeared through the afternoon and thus presenting Steigen in an even (literary) better light, the choice to stop was even more confined as good. 

And then came the main show - hours of spectacular sunset.

(no looking through the ocular with the final minutes of the sun going below jagged mountains of Lofoten through a 250 mm Pentax lens)