Logs & Articles

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

nordic odyssey

The first leg of this journey by Clive Woodman had been to deliver his Shrimper, Freya, from Plymouth to Oslo in 2003, more.. . The second leg was to ski up the spine of Norway to the far north as shown by the black line ine the map below. This log is for the final leg to return to the south of Norway by driving Freya north and then sailing south along the coast.

To view and print an Adobe Acrobat version click here.

the final leg

It was 0030 and already the morning sun was streaming through the hatch of our Cornish Shrimper Freya as she sat on her road trailer in the remote Arctic fishing harbour of Lakselv. Inside the cramped cabin we were unsuccessfully trying to snatch a few hours sleep before her planned launch later that morning.

Ahead of us lay the final leg of our 9,000 km Nordic Odyssey; a year long adventure which had started 9 months earlier when we set sail from Plymouth in Freya bound for Oslo. On reaching Oslo, we went on to spend the next 4 months skiing the entire length of Norway from Dalen in the far southern Telemark Mountains to Lakselv on the northern Finnmark coast. The final leg of the trip would see us rejoin Freya in Lakselv to sail around Nordakpp, Europe’s most northerly point, before heading south down Norway’s west coast to our starting point in Dalen.

Although desperately weary from our marathon 3½ day drive through Norway with Freya in tow, sleep was proving impossible. Not only was the bright daylight conspiring to keep us awake but, as we rapidly discovered, in the land of the midnight sun the dawn chorus starts at around 2200 and doesn’t stop until the time for sleeping has long since passed!

Any tiredness soon gave way to nervous apprehension as the time for launch came round. Lakselv boasts nothing as sophisticated as a boat hoist or crane, but in this part of the world improvisation rules supreme. A logging truck with a hydraulic jib had been arranged for us and within minutes of arriving at the harbour, the driver was lashing together a makeshift cradle for the lift from a motley assortment of scaffolding. Our nervousness was misplaced, as 15 minutes later we were safely afloat and making final preparations to set sail.

Although still only early May, arctic Norway was enjoying an unprecedented spring heat wave with temperatures in the high 20’s, glorious sunshine, and not a cloud in the sky. Hardly able to believe our luck, we sailed from Lakselv clad only in t-shirts and sun hats. Just 48 hours later we were to discover just how fickle the weather can be in these latitudes, as we were battered by a week long series of northerly blizzards hurtling straight down at us from the North Pole. With the air temperature back down at -5ºC, and with wind chill taking it lower still, we donned every article of clothing we had, whilst inside our unheated cabin any fresh food and liquids rapidly froze solid.

To compound our problems, our engine starter motor had seized solid. Venturing out in such conditions without an engine would have been foolhardy so we remained trapped at anchor in Smørfjord, a small Sami fishing village in the outer reaches of Porsangerfjord. Once again Norwegian resourcefulness and efficiency was to come to our rescue. Although hundreds of kilometres away from the nearest town, and just a few degrees of latitude short of the magnetic North Pole, we nonetheless managed to get hold of a marine engineer who within 3 days had got hold of the necessary spare parts and had fitted them; a repair which could easily have taken a week to effect even in our home port of Plymouth.

At this point the reader may be wondering why we had chosen to set sail so early in the season and in such a small yacht. At first sight both would appear crazy and verging on the irresponsible. However, it was not quite as mad as it seemed.

The Norwegian Pilot, Den Norske Los, assured us that on average we were likely to encounter lighter winds and more favourable conditions in May and June when the Arctic high predominates, than in July and August when Atlantic depressions sweeping in from the west are the dominant weather feature. Equally importantly, by setting out early in the season we gave ourselves an 80% chance of winds from a northerly sector, whereas by mid summer the balance shifts strongly in favour of southerly winds.

Likewise, sailing a 21ft long yacht along the Norwegian coast in such extreme latitudes is not as foolhardy as it might first appear. Although for many the fjords are the archetypal feature of the Norwegian coast, from a yachtsman’s perspective the skjærgård is a far more dominant feature. Literally translated skjærgård means “the waters protected by islands” and refers to the complex channels lying between the Norwegian mainland and the many millions of off lying rocks and islands that fringe its coast. It is possible to sail almost the entire length of Norway from Nordkapp to Tananger inside the shelter of the skjærgård, protected from the worst of the Atlantic weather and seas. Navigation inside the skjærgård is often complex and demanding, but provided one’s navigational skills are up to it then it is perfectly safe to venture along the coast in even the smallest of boats.

Writing in hindsight, our planning decisions were vindicated. Once the early blizzards had passed we went on to enjoy relatively settled conditions and tail winds for the remainder of the 1,600nm journey, only tacking twice in the entire passage. However, at the time, as we lay trapped in Smørfjord only 2 days into the trip, desperately trying to keep warm inside our arctic sleeping bags, we did start to question our sanity and wondered whether we had bitten off more than we could comfortably chew!

 

10 days after setting out from Lakselv the weather finally relented and we were able to break out of Porsangerfjord to reach Honningsvåg, the most northerly town on the European mainland. From there we went on to enjoy some of the wildest and most spectacular cruising that Europe has to offer. With snow capped mountains and glaciers dropping right down to sea level, together with spectacular anchorages nestled in between them, the Finnmark coast is a wilderness lover’s dream. The crystal clear water, brilliant blue skies and gleaming white beaches, make it easy to imagine you are in a tropical paradise if it were not for the snow capped mountains in the background and the freezing air temperatures!

Marinas are unheard of in these latitudes and other cruising boats are a distinct rarity. Four weeks into the trip and we had yet to see another yacht; our tranquillity disturbed only by the occasional passing fishing boat or whaler. It was not until we reached the arctic city of Tromsø that we had our first brush with civilisation and the chance of a hot shower.

The settled weather continued as we headed southwards towards the Lofoten Islands. Famed throughout the world for their spectacular mountain scenery, the Lofotens are the jewel in the crown of any cruise in Norway. Our early season start meant that we got to see them at their best, still snow covered and shown off to magnificent effect against the backdrop of the clear blue spring skies. Even better, we had them to ourselves as most cruising yachts don’t reach the area until late June, by which time the peaks are often shrouded in grey low lying cloud.

This is the end of the first half of this log. To go on to the remainder, south from Lofoten, click here.