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Sailing the Norwegian Coast
  • Angela Chapman
  • Russell Wilson
  • Merel Jager
  • Angela Chapman
  • Russell Wilson
  • Merel Jager

Sailing the Norwegian Coast

We bought a yacht in the Arctic! While working in Kirkenes as dogsledding guides, the opportunity to buy a yacht popped up, so we decided it would be a great adventure to prep the boat over winter and set sail along the coast of Norway. Weiterlesen
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  • Beginn der Reise
    5. Januar 2026
    Sailing the Norwegian Coast
    Our frozen boat in a frozen bay
    Our frozen boat in a frozen bayFirst northern lights from the yacht

    We bought a boat!

    5. Januar in Norwegen ⋅ ☁️ -20 °C

    The original plan was to buy a van. But after weeks of unsuccessful searching, this boat was seeming more and more like a good idea. And it was half the price that it started at..
    So we arranged to see the boat and had our first look around in -30 degrees. The owner had lost the keys for the padlock so step one was to borrow some bolt cutters from work and break in. We really hoped the guy actually owned this boat…
    The boat was in a complete mess, but seemed structurally sound.
    So, insanity overcame reason, and we bought it!
    The previous owner assured us all she needed was a lick of paint and she was good to go…which seemed optimistic, at best.

    And so we found ourselves in possession of a frozen 1979, 28ft, Album Cumulus and a fair bit of work.    Weiterlesen

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  • Sailing the Norwegian Coast

    From the hard to the water

    1. März in Norwegen ⋅ ⛅ -6 °C

    It seemed a little crazy working on a boat in the middle of an Arctic winter, and many of the locals who came down and spoke to us said as much. It seems the ice normally melts in the bay any time between March and beginning of June.
    So it wasn’t looking promising for our leaving at the beginning of April after our work contracts ended 31st March.
    However, we decided to remain optimistic…
    When the temperatures started getting unseasonably warm during March, we may have been the only ones happy about it!
    Every day was looking more and more promising that the ice would be ready, but the boat was still far from being ready for the water. Given our first trip would be along the coast of northern Norway in the Barents Sea, we needed to go through every single system on the boat to make sure nothing major failed, a task not made easy by the freezing temps! Turns out there was plenty to fix, and Kirkenes is not the easiest place to get boating supplies!
    After a hectic month, we got the last coat of paint on the hull and the replacement engine throttle/gear mechanism the day before she got a lift into the water. Cutting it fine, but that seems to be a bit of a trend…
    We were also the first boat to go into the water in the harbour because as everyone else knew, it wasn’t boating season yet.    Weiterlesen

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  • Sailing the Norwegian Coast

    Testing the sails

    5. April in Norwegen ⋅ ☁️ 1 °C

    So she floats, but does she sail?

    We finally got to take the Millennium Falcon out on her first voyage since we bought her! There were a lot of nerves, not made better by the fact that our engine sea water intake impeller was the wrong part, so we could only run the engine briefly on the old, failing impeller. But, we needed to test the boat out since we were now jobless and had a weather window to get around the northern coast coming up!

    We didn’t want strong winds to test her out, so with the first good weather and a temporary solution to our impeller problem, we headed out of the bay for the first time.

    Amazing to have a day trip in perfect weather to test all the sails and other systems. Result: Good enough to go once we installed the last couple of parts we were waiting on. Bonus is that she sails beautifully, barely needing any wind to be able to slip through the water. Time will tell if that becomes an issue at the other end of the wind spectrum, as we only have 2 reefing points in the main.

    We didn’t even hit a single iceberg.    Weiterlesen

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  • Sailing the Norwegian Coast

    Goodbye Kirkenes

    10. April in Norwegen ⋅ ☀️ 6 °C

    After almost 5 months of living and working as dog sled guides in Kirkenes, and long days/evenings trying to get the yacht ready, it was finally time to say our goodbyes and set sail! Our weather window was here and the boat was (kind of) ready to go.
    Managed to squeeze 10 people inside for a very cold boat party the night before, then we set off in the direction of Vardø. With a stunning blue sky and a light breeze, we couldn’t ask for a better start to the trip.    Weiterlesen

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  • Sailing the Norwegian Coast

    First Day

    10. April in Norwegen ⋅ 🌬 5 °C

    What a day…We left in absolutely beautiful weather, and that kept up the whole day, with breeze coming in and out throughout the day.
    As we exited the last of the fjord into the Barents, Russell went to check something and found there was water past the floorboards. In other words, we were sinking. Oh shit. Lifejackets on. We didn’t have the bilge pump on auto yet because we had been sorting electrics still, so we were extremely relieved to see the water start dropping once we switched the pump on. Cue pulling the whole stern of the boat apart to try to find where the water was literally streaming in. Keel bolts, no. Engine raw water intake, no. Stern gland, no. As we chased different possible points of entry further back, it got more and more confusing. Meanwhile up on deck, Angela had spotted whales. So Russell ducked his head up every now and then from solving the boat sinking problem to see the whales! Weird experience. Finally found the leak was from a utility hole in the stern that had been installed extremely low, and never sealed when whatever system used it was removed. Big relief! A bolt with some sealant shoved up the hole solved the problem. Unfortunately it’s a rather tight space, so Angela got the job while Russell kept the boat (kind of) steady following the swell. Russell started sweating a little when the fix started to take quite a while, and the charts were out of reach to check how far away the Russian border was…
    So we didn’t sink, or cross into Russia and get arrested, and the rest of the trip went beautifully smoothly. Solving little issues and finding quirks the whole day, but that is likely going to be happening for a while! We were so lucky to have such gorgeous weather. The golden sun tracking across the Varanger peninsula with glassy water was something truly special, and as we closed in on Vardø, a pod of dolphins gave us a show.
    We also received a text message from the number we had been given to ask permission to borrow a mooring in Kirkenes for a few days. He was in a little red fishing boat heading into Kiberg. He had spotted the sailing yacht and assumed it was us as we were the only sailing yacht out within a radius of several hundred kilometres. We were quite well known in Kirkenes…
    We pulled into Svartnes for the evening, which turns out is a whaling port, dropped anchor, and collapsed. However, the day was not done with us yet! Just as we were about to head to bed, the northern lights decided to put on a show for us! What a way to finish the first leg of our trip along the Norwegian coast.    Weiterlesen

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  • Sailing the Norwegian Coast

    Into the Unknown

    11. April in Norwegen ⋅ ☀️ 6 °C

    It was a relatively lazy start to our second day sailing. Another stunning day, and a little breeze for us to sail past Vardø and round the corner onto the northern side of the Varanger Peninsula. Now we really were in the Barents Sea! When you look at the charts, this coastline is riddled with more wrecks than I’ve ever seen thanks to a shelf out from the coast where it goes from 300-400m deep to ~60m deep over very little distance, amplifying the swell and creating some extremely dangerous conditions.
    We however, managed to get a day of glassy water and a breeze that slowly died to not a breath of wind. For the whole day, we were mind blown by the scenery and the weather as we made our way to Makkaur-Sandfjorden. We had a great time soaking up the sun, the views and guessing all the new sea birds we were seeing - Auks, Puffins, Eider ducks, the list goes on.
    As we were pulling into our bay, which happened to be the most spectacular bay we’ve ever seen, a whale appeared again, though this one was much more shy than the one we saw while sinking.
    Watching the bottom come up to greet us through the crystal clear water was very cool, and slightly terrifying because of just how clear the water was, and the charts seem a little uncertain of themselves through a lot of this coastline. So we explored the shallows a little before dropping the anchor where we were happy, and watching it set in 6-10m depth.
    A quick trip ashore to explore before it got too late revealed that even here, on top of the world with not a boat in sight, the effects of humans is very evident. There was rubbish all along the shoreline. From gumboots to whole fishing nets, there was easily several hundred kilos of rubbish that we could see from a very short explore - pretty sad. We wished we had a bigger boat to be able to collect it all, but all we could do was take some photos and head back to our yacht.    Weiterlesen

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  • Sailing the Norwegian Coast

    Over the top of Varanger

    12. April in Norwegen ⋅ ☀️ 1 °C

    Day 3 of the journey and the start of decade 3 for Angela. There are very few places better to spend a birthday! Waking up to a beautiful sunny day in the most stunning bay we have been in yet, coffee in the sunshine, crystal clear water, no wind…

    We considered staying here another day, we would have loved to spend some time exploring the Varanger Peninsula, however, our weather window wasn’t going to last forever and it isn’t the kind of coast we want to be caught out in. So with the wind picking up to a lovely sailing breeze, we moved on. Upwind sailing, which while usually is a drag, is actually quite lovely in our little yacht - she cruises upwind like a dream!

    Our spot for the evening was Berlevåg, a cute little fishing village with some impressive sea walls, apparently needing several attempts to get them right so the Barents Sea didn’t just sweep them away!

    We read in the cruising guide we have that Berlevåg has a guest dock for visiting boats. On arrival however, we were told that no, it’s not a guest dock, and no they don’t get so many visitors…Luckily the man we met was lovely, and offered for us to stay for free on his fathers dock.    Weiterlesen

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  • Sailing the Norwegian Coast

    Around the Top of Europe

    13. April in Norwegen ⋅ ☀️ 6 °C

    Another stunning day greeted us as we caught an early start from Berlevåg in order to make it around the last of the northern coast. We even had a beautiful sailing breeze from behind us. Unfortunately we spent the first few hours motoring, as we found quite a large amount of very suspicious looking water in the under seat compartment where our sewage tank is…that was a fun experience cleaning out while the boat was rocking and rolling all over the place!
    Finally though, we got the main up and had a beautiful sailing across the mouth of Tanafjorden, feeling grateful once again on our luck with the weather as a beautiful, relatively calm day still produced quite some waves in that area.
    Becalmed a couple of hours later, but again we were just happy to have beautiful weather! Finally though, we got to pass the most northerly point in Europe connected to the mainland! (Nordkapp is a lie, go look at the map…). That was pretty special, so we celebrated with a Cuban cigar that came with the yacht and some rum.
    After quite a long day we found a beautiful anchorage in Skjøtningberg to soak up the last of the golden sun. Again, completely alone!    Weiterlesen

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  • Sailing the Norwegian Coast

    Southwards

    14. April in Norwegen ⋅ ☁️ 5 °C

    Another beautiful day! We’re feeling incredibly lucky with the weather, every morning we are surprised to see sunshine - again!
    Started the day with little wind becoming a lovely sailing breeze late morning for sailing around Nordkapp. Unfortunately, not where we were planning on going. But with such a lovely breeze, maybe we should… as our ex boss would say, ‘the plan is nothing but planning is everything’.
    Our biggest restraint was a trickier section between Havøysund and Sørøya, where there are some strong tidal currents that don’t go well with a strong northwesterly wind, which is exactly what was forecasted in a couple of days.
    After some time of considering options, we decided we didn’t have the time and we had already passed the true most northerly point of Europe. So we started the engine and headed into the wind to the south side of Magerøya.
    The wind died off completely in the afternoon giving us glassy water and spectacular scenes with the sun dogs reflected in the water.
    Our anchorage for the night was a bay south of Honningsvåg, at the entrance of the tunnel to Magerøya. This was another bay not mentioned in the charts or guide books as a good anchorage, but it proved to be beautiful!    Weiterlesen

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  • Sailing the Norwegian Coast

    Under the Bridge

    15. April in Norwegen ⋅ ☀️ 4 °C

    A 4:45am wake up in order to reach the shelter of Sørøya tonight, with a supermarket stop in Havøysund, and to pass through the channel with the right tide. Thankfully, this is the arctic and the sun was still up before we were!

    Very little wind and therefore very little sailing, but we have figured out that at 1500 revs we burn very little diesel (half as much as we do at 2000 revs!) and we still go around 4.5kts.

    With the tidal current up to 4kts through the channel between mainland and Magerøya, we were going a speedy 8kts! A pretty cool little channel with steep snowy sides and made even more interesting having to dodge the many king crab pots, some almost entirely under water. We’ve sailed in heavy currents before, but the bathymetry with the 3-4kts of tide made some interesting currents where we could see large whirlpools and feel it pushing our boat around. Very bizarre feeling!

    We found very little information about where we may be able to stop for an hour or so in Havøysund and much of the harbour looked quite shallow… but we found an empty dock and a friendly man told us it was okay to stay there, looking quite surprised to see a sailing boat. We still haven’t seen a single other sailing boat out on the water. Apparently even during the summer few people venture east of Nordkapp.
    We were astounded how clear the water was in Havøysund harbour, we could clearly see the bottom in what must have been at least 10m depth!

    Some excitement heading out of Havøysund- we were passing under our first bridge! We really hoped we were right about what we thought we knew about our height.
    The further south we come the higher and pointier the hills are getting, and the more ski runs we are looking at if only there was a bit more snow!

    Our anchorage for the night was Akkarfjord. Again we chose to anchor where the charts didn’t recommend as an anchorage, but was a really nice little spot!    Weiterlesen

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  • Sailing the Norwegian Coast

    Sørøya

    16. April in Norwegen ⋅ 🌬 6 °C

    The first day since the start of our sail that we didn’t have beautiful sunny weather so we took advantage of it and had a lazy day. Late sleep in, banana pancakes, reading, and a little explore across to the other side of the island.
    We were watched paddling ashore by a couple of seals, spotted some Arctic hares and even a white-tailed sea eagle!
    However, again we were saddened by the amount of rubbish along the beach.

    It was also interesting to test almost a full day enclosed in wet weather and how to manage the condensation inside, a task made much easier by our little diesel heater!    Weiterlesen

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  • Sailing the Norwegian Coast
    111

    A Rather Long Day(s)

    17.–18. Apr. in Norwegen ⋅ ☀️ 4 °C

    As the weather cleared, we made our way down Sørøysundet towards an anchorage on Seiland that we had read about where you anchor in a small pool and run a line to the island behind you to stop from swinging into the rocks. It wasn’t supposed to be super calm so we had a backup plan to go to Kårhamn.

    Unfortunately there was a line in the water between the two islands which made it impossible to anchor well, and with some decent gusts coming through we decided it wasn’t worth the risk, but it was an amazing little spot, so well worth the detour to see it.

    After a quick downwind sail in the sun surrounded by steep mountains we got to our backup anchorage. Motor on to drop the sails and just as we were cruising into the bay a fishing boat whose engine stank passed us. Unfortunately the smell lingered even when the fishing boat was past us so Russell quickly went to check the engine. Upon opening the engine cover, he was met with a wall of smoke. Oh fuck, again. A slightly mad rush to quickly shut the engine down and put up a sail to let us sail away from the rocks was then followed by a frantic search to see if anything was on fire. Thankfully no fire, and after some digging the solution seemed that the alternator belt had slipped or jammed. So we sorted that, then went to fire up the engine. Nothing. Double fuck. Thus ensued an evening of trying to figure out a sheltered anchorage that we could sail into while figuring out why on earth our engine wouldn’t even try to start.

    As we came out of the shelter of Seiland, the wind funnelled very strangely around and into the bay we had picked, so we tried even further up the harbour - not easy sailing into the wind, only to find the wind increasing more and the light decreasing. We turned and ran, one last quick look at the bay we wanted to anchor in, but it was just too risky. So as evening slipped into night, we ran for the Lee of the island, hoping to get back to Kårhamn and try again there - a two hour sail away. Ironically we were then becalmed so in desperation tried for Sørøya again. We were extremely grateful for the large amount of daylight we have now, because as we approached Sørøya at 12:30am, the light started to come back - nice to be able to see the rocks! Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough wind now to get into the bay, and the current and swell was trying to pull us onto the rocks so once again, we turned and ran (maybe not the best description…turned and slowly floated trying to use any breeze we got).

    In the end, we decided that this was getting ridiculous, so we would sail through the night and try to get all the way to Alta. Figured if we were lucky we should make it by the following evening. Spent the next 4 or 5 hours barely moving as there was no wind (this made missing the Hurtigruten that came through rather exciting), and then as we approached Rognsundet the breeze went from 1-25 knots in about 10 minutes. So now we were sailing upwind with fully reefed sails in a fairly small channel. Great. Well, we were at least happy to have wind, and even though it seemed like it was going to be upwind sailing for the next 12 hours or more, we should at least make it to Alta!

    As it turned out, our little yacht sails beautifully upwind so we were making good ground, although it definitely hasn’t been sailed hard for some time, as little bits of sailing hardware started breaking or ripping along with some rather large bits of furniture downstairs. Oh well, good to test it out properly finally!

    We pulled into the marina at Alta sometime around 8pm, again grateful that the sun was well and truly up still. We had tried to contact the coastguard to help us into the marine, but their non emergency number wasn’t working, so we contacted the marina and the guy was nice enough to come and catch us as we sailed in. A quick wine with the guy to say thanks, a shower and then a very short tidy up (the boat really had taken a hammering) and then bed, glorious bed!

    Not bad for Angela’s first overnight sail…    Weiterlesen

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  • Sailing the Norwegian Coast

    Alta

    18.–25. Apr. in Norwegen ⋅ ☀️ 7 °C

    And so we found ourselves in the marina in Alta with what we were pretty sure was a fried starter motor, and upon some further tests and closer inspection was exactly that. Scary how burnt out it was and how close we were to a full fire in the yacht! On the bright side, the weather was nice and Rune, who had helped catch us when we sailed in proved to be super friendly and helpful. He had sailed his yacht around the world and been living on yachts for the last 25 odd years, so he was keen to chat to some other sailors.

    The next day Russell’s Mum was joining for 10 days. Now she always knew that the yacht would be a bit unpredictable, but we don’t think she was expecting to be stuck in a marina for a week! Luckily there was plenty to do and see, and we had a dinner party with Rune almost every night which was great fun. A new starter motor took a few days to arrive and while we were waiting, the weather turned pretty sour, so we were going to have to spend more time at the marina even if we got the engine running. There were a couple of stressful nights with high winds and big swell causing a lot of surging in the marina, especially as we were on the fuel dock right next to the marina opening. So 3 fenders turned into 7 fenders and quite an elaborate spring system for the mooring lines! During one gust of wind, there was some concern it would blow the yacht right over on her side! Glad we weren’t out in a shoddy anchorage with no engine…
    Even with the storm and dinner parties, we still managed to fit in fixing our toilet, replacing and tweaking much of the hardware for the Genoa, and Rune fixed our spray dodger, Genoa tack and made us a new cockpit cover for our rainy days to come!

    It wasn’t all boat work and dinner parties though. Rune took us around to see some of the rock art in Alta that has been dated back to the Stone Age - that was pretty impressive! We also managed to find out that Norway does have some great food, you’ve just got to go to the right places.

    Finally, the weather let up and we had all the bits we needed to keep sailing. So over a last dinner we said goodbye to Rune who had been amazing with his help and good company, and after a not so early night got up before 6 to set off. When Russell pushed the button to start, the engine barely started to turn over and stopped. Huh, our funky starter battery must have finally given up, so we switched to our good house battery and tried again, same thing. Oh boy…Ok, let’s try both batteries - it was a cold morning. Same again. Now Russell panicked…there’s only a few reasons why an engine will refuse to turn over, and none of them are good. Trying to turn the engine using a wrench proved it was in fact jammed somehow. Water in the cylinders was the only possible explanation, but how? Well, remember the storm and the surging from the waves? Turns out it was enough to force seawater up our exhaust pipe and completely flood the engine.

    So, another long day. This time pulling the engine apart to get an opening to the cylinders, draining the engine oil that was also now full of seawater, and in the process finding that the diesel filter was also full of water. That was an entirely independent way we almost destroyed our engine, so we were glad to have found the water before the filters failed. Turns out there was a lot of water in the whole diesel system. We still don’t know why unfortunately…

    By the evening, we had flushed all the water out of the engine, oil and diesel system. One hell of a day considering we were up so early and thought we would be sailing off!

    Hopefully tomorrow we can go sailing…    Weiterlesen

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  • Sailing the Norwegian Coast

    Back on the Water

    26. April in Norwegen ⋅ ❄️ 1 °C

    Mercifully, the engine started this morning, and we managed to slip out of Alta Marina early in the morning without any more dramas. We could all let out our held breath.
    Really lovely to be back on the go, though it felt a bit surreal to be motoring back out Altafjorden after the sail in we had and the week long pitstop. It was cold again, but with the sun shining and coffees in hand, spirits were high! With a bit of wind we hoisted the sails and marvelled at the Genoa, now fitted correctly so we could unroll it fully and trim it properly (for context, the previous owner jammed the halyard so didn’t hoist the Genoa fully, but decided to leave it partially hoisted so there was a horrible fold at the foot of the sail), it felt like we were slowly getting the boat back to how she should be!

    Our destination was a cool little anchorage on Stjernøya that is protected from all angles - handy since the weather was still a little wild. Russell’s Mum was having the time of her life finally sailing in the arctic, finding all the birds she could, though the cold did finally start to take its toll on her, so Russell and Angela did the anchoring while she warmed up inside with the heater on.

    This was our first time anchoring with a stern anchor and a line to a bollard set into the rock on one of the small islands, so there was a lot of faffing around while we got all the angles right - this was made more difficult since the wind was supposed to swing almost 90° through the night. Finally we were happy and were able to enjoy the amazing scenery, surrounded by snowy mountains in a completely enclosed anchorage, all alone again. Made even more special by the snowfall.

    Rune sent us a message seeing how we got on, and asking if we had a good hold on the anchor - perhaps he knew something we didn’t…    Weiterlesen

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  • Sailing the Norwegian Coast

    One Dodgy Anchorage to Another

    27. April in Norwegen ⋅ ⛅ 1 °C

    The day started a hell of a lot earlier than we wanted, at just after midnight in fact…the wind climbed steadily so Russell got paranoid and let out a few more metres of warp on the bow anchor. Turns out that he wasn’t paranoid enough as we all woke up at 2am from a strong gust with the boat heeling at a very weird angle and facing a very weird direction. So Russell got up quickly to assess what the problem was - we had dragged our bow anchor but luckily the stern anchor and line to the island caught us before we drifted into the rocks - hence the weird angle and direction. Now the fun part - transfer the stern anchor to the bow while making sure the line wasn’t around our propeller or keel, same check of the stern line going to the island, then get Angela up to help reset it all. A little bit of trust gained in the engine as she fired right up and we spent the next almost hour resetting everything, this time with our extra length of stupidly heavy chain attached, and way more warp than we ever thought we would need. A good hard tug using the engine proved she was holding very well now and even though we were only a few metres off the rocks on the port side, the stern anchor had a good hold too, so Angela went back to sleep while Russell stayed up till 4am to make sure she was indeed sitting nicely. Ironically, we didn’t get any more large gusts of wind.
    Perhaps it was the lack of sleep or perhaps it was just fucking cold, but warming up again took a while!

    A long sleep in, after the night we had, felt necessary. Feeling very thankful for our heater and coffee in bed from Russell’s mum.
    A slow start, Turkish egg breakfast, and a bumpy but beautiful motor to Meltefjorden - another stunning anchorage! And at least 6 seals curiously watching us from a distance. We had issues again setting the anchor in about 12 metres of depth, so took a punt going into the shallows to anchor - a sinker on a line told us we had half a metre of water under the keel - heaps! We do need to figure out why we can’t get the anchor to set well though…it’s not exactly a heavy yacht. Once we got over the fact that we could see the bottom like we were standing on it, we again appreciated how much of an insane anchorage we had all to ourselves. It still requires some pinching every now and then to believe what we are doing…    Weiterlesen

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  • Sailing the Norwegian Coast
    1

    Last Visit to Stjernøya

    28. April in Norwegen ⋅ ☁️ 0 °C

    Another beautiful spot back on Stjernøya to enjoy the dramatic landscape there. Crystal clear water, our own sandy beach and mountains towering above us in every direction, so high you don’t need to get out of the seats inside to see them out the windows.

    Before we left Meltefjorden, we decided we weren’t in a hurry and went for an explore of the little island, with Russell’s Mum excitedly exploring like she was a kid again. Luckily, the wind had died down, so we had quite a relaxing morning after a decent (though not perfect) sleep, which was a welcome change! A great snowman by Angela and a snow angel from Russell’s Mum were fun little side quests on the island. As we set off for Sternøya, we stopped to catch lunch in the form of a small cod - but enough to share!

    Still bloody cold, so once we were anchored it was time to warm up and make a nice dinner for Russell’s Mums last night with us on the yacht.    Weiterlesen

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  • Sailing the Norwegian Coast
    11

    A ‘spacious’ boat again

    29. April in Norwegen ⋅ ☁️ 2 °C

    The original plan was to drop Russell’s mum off in Tromsø, however with the little delay in Alta and the unpredictability of the weather (as seen in the screenshot, planning around the weather can be tricky..) we decided finishing her trip along the coast by ferry was the best option.
    Øksfjord was a cute little village which smelt like fish food (thanks to the fish food factory) and whose cafes or bars didn’t open until 4pm. Thankfully the nice ambulance boat people let us stay on the dock for a few hours and after a last lunch on the boat we said goodbye and waved her off from the water on our way to Tverrfjordbotn for the night. Although the trip while Russell’s Mum joined didn’t go exactly to plan, it was always known that the plan would probably change with such extreme environments, and a boat so cheap it was basically free…The best part is that Russell’s Mum was up for all of it, and was just happy joining us for part of the adventure, which not only made it fun to have her join, but also made some of the harder moments a little easier. Positive company in hard times can still be nicer than negative company in easy times.
    Our boat was suddenly feeling quite spacious again, despite the man on the dock telling us ‘that’s not a boat! It’s a shoe’.

    Once anchored, Russell decided to show off his manliness and wave around our ridiculously long fishing rod - and actually caught a fish! So it was Atlantic cod in creamy garlic lemon sauce for dinner. Rather fancier than we were expecting!    Weiterlesen

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    A Storm and Unexpected ‘Powder’ Skiing

    29. Apr.–4. Mai in Norwegen ⋅ ☁️ 2 °C

    What was supposed to be a short stop after dropping Russell’s Mum off turned into hanging around for almost a week. When we saw the weather forecast, a rather large storm rolling through in a couple of days, we decided this was going to be the best anchorage to wait it out. So far, we have found it very difficult to figure out exactly which anchorages are going to be sheltered from where, so it was quite nerve wracking waiting for the storm to arrive without knowing how our little bay was going to handle it.

    We managed to fit in our very first ski tour from the boat before the storm arrived, after meeting one of the professional sail/ski yachts and their customer telling us the skiing was excellent, while the guide behind was shaking his head and saying no it was crap (it rained most of the day). The skiing was very slushy but nice to get some turns!

    The day of the storm dawned beautiful and sunny, Angela even went for the first swim of the trip! Then, like someone flicked a switch, it changed to windy and snowing. We spent the next couple of hours getting the boat ready for whatever we thought the weather might throw at it, and let all of our 65m of anchor warp out. Both of us were a little nervous. In the end, while we had some pretty violent gusts come through it was nothing compared to the 60-70 knots we were seeing on the live wind readings around. Over the next days we had a couple of the locals we had met check in to see if we did Ok during the storm, it definitely seemed pretty violent in other places!

    Finally, we had some beautiful weather. So beautiful and calm in fact that our bay froze overnight and we woke up to a very strange sound at 2am as the yacht moved around grinding and breaking the ice - luckily it was super thin! After a bit of a sleep in and some terrible coffee, we headed up for a longer ski tour. What we found was a bluebird day with some beautiful powder runs to be had in a large bowl. The sail/ski tours had beaten us to it, but luckily there was enough space for us to get fresh lines as well. What a treat!    Weiterlesen

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  • Sailing the Norwegian Coast

    Champagne Sailing

    5. Mai in Norwegen ⋅ ⛅ 0 °C

    Finally time to leave our anchorage at Tverrfjord. It felt nice to be moving along the coast again, and closer to where we were hoping to find some more epic skiing. Amazingly, as we left Øksfjord, the wind played ball and we got to sail on a reach for a couple of hours in the sunshine - Champagne sailing as some would say! A quick stop to catch a Cod for dinner, then carry on down towards Bergsfjord in a relatively big swell. Luckily running with it meant that we made great time and we found ourselves in a cute little anchorage in Bergsfjord in time to make a green curry out of the Cod for dinner - so far that’s the winner for how to prepare Cod! Back to being the only yacht in the anchorage, at some point we are going to forget how to anchor with other boats around!Weiterlesen

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  • Sailing the Norwegian Coast
    1

    From Finnmark to Troms

    6. Mai in Norwegen ⋅ ☁️ 3 °C

    We left pretty early in the morning in order to make it around to Arnøya at a reasonable time. This is getting easier and easier now that it really is a pathetic attempt at dusk over night so even early in the morning looks like late morning. Not long until the sun doesn’t set!
    Today was quite exciting as we were going to be crossing one of the more exposed and potentially scary bits of water along the coast - luckily with a good forecast. Not only that, but we would be leaving Finnmark and entering the Troms district.
    With a long day of motoring ahead, we settled into the views and coffee. Just as we were starting to eat our second attempt at breakfast (the muesli we were given had gone off), the engine did a funny thing. Now the ignition had been rewired by the previous owner to remove the normal key and replace with a “fancy” ignition switch and start button. That wouldn’t have been a wholly terrible idea, if they hadn’t bought the cheapest automotive buttons available in Norway. So naturally in a marine environment, they seized and the starter motor was engaging while the engine was running. We are getting a little tired of engine troubles…
    Only thing to do was to disconnect the cables so we could hot wire it whenever we needed to start the engine. Not the end of the world, but a pain in the ass.
    Once we were under way again, we saw our very first private sailing yacht since starting our journey! It was almost weird, but a sure tell that we were getting closer to more populated waters.
    The rest of the journey went smoothly, although once we rounded Loppa and were exposed to the Norwegian Sea, there was quite a swell pushing through that reminded us how different it could be.
    So, a very beautiful, although very rolly few hours gave way to our first look at the Lyngen peninsula and stunning islands around it. Lots of skiing to be had here!
    We stopped again briefly to catch a fish for dinner before going up Langfjorden on Arnøya, only to find a yacht anchored! Well, we turned around and anchored at Akkarvik instead (mostly because the bay was quite tight, not because we felt indignant at the thought of having to share our bay…).    Weiterlesen

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  • Sailing the Norwegian Coast

    Tromsø

    7.–9. Mai in Norwegen ⋅ ☁️ 4 °C

    We woke up to a stunning day in Akkarvik with a very enticing ski slope right in front of us and many more surrounding us. It was very, very tempting to postpone arriving in Tromsø another day, however, our friend Rob was arriving on Sunday to join us for a week and we had quite a list of things we needed for the boat and the day after was a Sunday and shops are closed…
    So we settled for watching skiers through the binoculars as we motored along. Some pretty epic ski runs were had!
    Arriving in Tromsø we met and had dinner with Dag, the boyfriend of our ex-bosses sister, who had also arranged a spot for us in the marina.
    And so we had an admin weekend - shopping, fixing things, changing oil, doing laundry, etc. But it meant that when Rob arrived on Sunday afternoon we were ready to head straight out to tie up next to Dag at Nipøya for the night. We were treated with a meal of fresh cod already prepared for when we arrived - luxury!    Weiterlesen

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  • Sailing the Norwegian Coast
    11Spot Russell and Rob skiing down the hill

    Last of the Skiing

    10.–12. Mai in Norwegen ⋅ 🌧 5 °C

    Both Rob and Russell were flying out from Tromsø on the 17th of May, leaving Angela to keep sailing. Rob was going back home, and Russell back to NZ for his brother’s wedding. Since we have such a small yacht, Russell would take the skis back with him as we are coming to the end of the ski season.
    This gave us the week to hopefully get a few more tours in! Of course, as we headed back to Arnøya where we had spied some really cool runs, it started raining. The rain persisted throughout the day, but was forecast to clear up in the evening. Since the sun is only barely setting at the moment, we essentially have 24 hour daylight. So, we decided to have an early dinner and go for a late ski tour. It felt very wrong starting the tour at 20:30, and we actively had to stop our brains from stressing that it was about to get dark! We had some phenomenal views, and the first 5 minutes of skiing down was lovely, but after that we were really just there for the experience…We finished up at around 1:00am, with the sun starting to rise again, and crawled gratefully into our beds.

    The next day Rob and Russell planned to go for a paraglide with their skis. After a late morning of coffee and planning, we started getting ready. On the pre-tour toilet trip, we found out the toilet will siphon sea water into the holding tank if left open even at anchor. Inconvenient, but easily fixed with a little trip out of the bay to empty it.

    Now here’s a kicker, went to start the engine and…nothing. Again. FUUUUUUUU….I’m sure you don’t need much imagination to know what the reaction was. So, it turns out that if there’s too much weight in the yacht (i.e a third person with lots of gear), then the U bend in our exhaust is not high enough, and it will siphon sea water into the engine, there must have been more swell overnight than we had realised. Now, this happening a second time was unreasonably frustrating, especially given it was a beautiful day and potentially our only chance to get out paragliding with our skis, but at least we had planned for something like this. So we had all the spares and it only took half a day to fix the engine this time. But Murphy must have been annoyed at how prepared we were, because after changing all the oil, draining water etc. etc. and getting the engine running, it did it again. Immediately. In relatively calm water. Russell almost threw a spanner across the cockpit…in fact he may have. So we spent the rest of the day Jerry rigging some anti siphon valves, and carefully skimming and filtering our replacement oil, as the coastguard essentially said we were shit out of luck, sort it out ourselves, or pay lots (a Norwegian lots) of money for a full day tow back to Tromsø.

    So, after all was said and done, we at least had an engine than ran, but given that there was still likely traces of seawater in the oil, and we didn’t know if our valve would actually stop the siphoning repeating, our ski sail week had turned into a ski SAIL week.

    Thankfully, after sailing off and onto anchor up into the fjord, the weather gods allowed us a window to go for a ski tour up one of the more famous places to ski on the island. Angela decided to sit this one out after the state of the snow on our last ski tour, so Rob and Russell went up alone. A stunning skin up with views up and down the fjord with our yacht in it were compounded by an even more breathtaking view after gaining the ridge. The avalanche risk was quite high for small wet loose avalanches so we were being very careful not to get ourselves over any terrain traps! Even with slushy spring snow, we had a fantastic ski down in muted sunshine, making us forget all about the day before. We even managed to find a tiny finger of snow all the way back down to the shoreline. After setting off a very small wet loose avalanche on one of the steeper, heavier sections though, we were very happy with our route planning, meaning we could sit on the edge of the avalanche going wow - freaky, rather than shitting ourselves.    Weiterlesen

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  • Sailing the Norwegian Coast

    The Mountains Are Fake

    13.–14. Mai in Norwegen ⋅ ☁️ 6 °C

    Emboldened by such an amazing ski tour the previous day, we decided we wanted to stay around Arnøya to explore it more. The day ended up being a crappy weather day, and we needed some reception to get a forecast to make sure we could stay here with a weather system we knew was coming through. Since we wouldn’t be skiing today either, it was time to catch a fish! Once out of the fjord, we had our weather forecast, but thanks to our lure jumping off the line (after all three of us looked at the connection that we have been using the last month, say ‘that looks dodgy but it should be fine’), no fish.

    There was supposed to be a bit of an easterly blow coming through the next day into the evening, but looking at the terrain and some reviews of the fjord, decided it would be nice and sheltered. We decided to go back up the fjord and explore the other side of the valley for a paragliding spot, and check out the start of nice looking ski tour that we spied from our ski the previous day. Unfortunately, by the time we got anchored and climbed up to where we wanted to launch our paragliders, it was quite late. So the nice take off breeze coming up the slope turned into a catabatic flow that definitely would have killed us if we tried to take off. So we had a nice hike.

    The next day was our ski touring mission. This would be a full day ski tour, but the wind had got up a little overnight, so we mulled and discussed for a bit before deciding to pull the trigger and go for the ski. Rob and Russell managed to battle with the dinghy into the wind to get ashore, narrowly missing a willywhorl in the process…By the time Russell was heading back to pick Angela up the wind was really stonking, from the east, where there were several large mountains in the way.

    Now it’s a funny thing when you anchor a boat, as it swings and moves it can play tricks on you making you think the anchor has moved. This happened to Russell as he got back to the yacht and started grabbing Angela’s ski gear, especially since the wind had switched and we were lying across the short side of the fjord. He said “that’s weird, I swear we are closer to that beach…” except, it wasn’t a trick, and we were closer to that beach. Concerningly, we kept getting closer to that beach. Time to move! By this point we were getting gusts rolling off the mountain around 30-40knots, flipping the dinghy up over the railings and generally causing some chaos as we threw ski gear below and got ready to move.
    Meanwhile, Rob was meditating in the sun on the beach.
    Remember the suspect engine? We sure as shit did. As we quickly got the engine ready to start, Russell was also running through how we were going to sail off anchor in 40 knots, 50 metres away from the beach behind us if the engine didn’t start. Mercifully, the engine started, and we had never heard such a beautiful sound, even though we could barely hear the engine over the howling of the wind.
    Rob was still meditating in the sun.
    We were quite keen to get the fuck out of there in case the engine died, so after Angela struggled a bit with pulling the anchor up, Russell took over and got rather angry with it - sometimes it’s necessary to expedite pulling something very heavy!
    Rob was done with meditating in the sun, and saw us waving for him to walk down the fjord a bit to where it looked more sheltered. Angela rowed in from the yacht with a bit of a slingshot in a lull between gusts, and Russell tried to keep the yacht out of trouble, almost not succeeding when a gust blew the boat over far enough that he thought the cooling water intake was probably out of the water - slightly stressful!
    After what felt like a long time, Angela and Rob were on their way back out in the dinghy in another substantial gust, but managed to link up with the yacht and get back on board, with the skis and Rob still in ski boots, only a bit soaked. Now it was definitely time to leave, as this was the part of the forecast before the wind was at its peak. By now it was late afternoon, and a 5 hour sail to the only place that looked like it might have some decent shelter (judging from the live wind readings in the area, not the charts). Luckily, as we moved down the fjord, for some reason the same mountain range gave us a little more shelter, so we could organise everything and get ready for a bumpy sail.

    With a fully reefed main sail, we left the shelter of the mountains into the full force of the easterly and were met with…not much wind. Now we were convinced that the mountains aren’t real, it’s actually where they store the fans to make the wind. As we sailed toward Hessfjord, the wind did slowly build as well as the sea sate, until we were surfing down waves in 20-25 knots of breeze for a time before backing off again, very fun, very fast, but a little nerve wracking knowing how old and tired everything is on the yacht! This wasn’t made better by some suspicious sounds from our running backstay. So a backup line was rigged in case the tired looking adjustment line snapped. We made fantastic time, and we got to a cute little bay around 10pm. This cute little bay was exposed to the east with a small hill in the way, but was dead calm. Literally not a breath of wind. I don’t think we will ever understand the wind in these fjords…    Weiterlesen

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    Starting to Feel Like Summer

    15.–17. Mai in Norwegen ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    After what was quite a hectic day and late night, we were all very thankful for a sleep in with nice calm weather. It turned into a beautiful sunny day with a gentle breeze and we figured this would be the best chance for paragliding while Rob was here. Hiked up a hill where we were anchored and had a lovely time relaxing in the sun while we waited to see if the wind died down a little - it was a bit too strong to launch our paragliders. Eventually the breeze softened enough for us to give it a go. Rob managed to take off but had to work a bit to push through the breeze and get out of the lift, so Russell decided to give it a miss this time - he didn’t want to have a hectic flight as his first in 6 months! It did mean that Rob got to enjoy the sun and be the local talk of the village while Angela and Russell walked back down the hill.
    The next day we tried again. Early when the wind should have been lighter. Unfortunately, we were going off time on the clock, not taking into account the fact that even by 10am the sun had been up and heating the rock face for about 8 hours, so there was already a strong thermal - no flying for either Rob or Russell. Angela had been smart and decided to have a relaxing time on the yacht in the sun, and was rewarded by looking up to see a moose swim past the yacht. Yes, you read that correctly.
    Because it was such a beautiful day, and quite warm, we all decided to go for a swim - turns out the water is still crazy cold! After that we headed back to Tromsø for Rob and Russell to fly out the next day. After a beautiful trip back to the city, we needed to stay at the marina in the town centre, as the berth we used in Skattøra was busy. After a slight near miss with the Havila cruise under the bridge (we thought we had lots of room to get through before the Havila, but hit about 4 knots of current just before the bridge, so that slowed us down to 1.5 knots making our heaps of room, not heaps of room), we pulled into the city centre. Conveniently it was Norway’s national day the next day, so we got to see a lot of the fanfare and flotillas right from our yacht!
    Then it was time for us all to head our separate ways. And for Angela’s friend Isabella to arrive, keeping Angela company for a week while Russell was away.    Weiterlesen

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    But it’s summer!

    18.–24. Mai in Norwegen ⋅ ☁️ 7 °C

    The day after Isabella arrived was her birthday and so we decided to spend the day treating ourselves in Tromsø instead of doing the boat admin needed before leaving the city. We found great coffee and brunch, pastries, a scenic sauna and even found ourselves in a glass blowing studio invited in to watch them and chat!
    Afterwards, a trip to Skattøra marina where we could stay for free thanks to our friend Dag. I was very proud of myself getting out and in to a marina for the first time without Russell, and very smoothly if I may say so myself 💁‍♀️
    Thankfully we had a bit warmer weather, since Isabella had come prepared for a summer holiday with two bikinis, two pairs of shorts, a summer dress and no jacket…

    After a day of shopping, oil changes, laundry and all the other bits and pieces needed for the boat, we missed the tide to where we wanted to go and so decided on a 4am start to catch the tide and have the full day. It was a beautiful little trip down with a very speedy 10 knots through the channel and caught a fish just before reaching the floating dock - all before 9am!
    The dock was Tromsø boat club owned and had a little fireplace and cabin on it. So we collected some firewood and had fish for dinner cooked over the open fire. Delightful!

    The next day I thought we could try for a spot to see the midnight sun. But after a couple of hours beating into the wind with a cold and slightly seasick Isabella, we gave up on that idea and headed back to the floating dock. Isabella had decided she was a boat person, but maybe not a sailing person. Sailing upwind was maybe not the best introduction to sailing…oops.

    We were joined at the dock by Helga, a really nice yacht recently owned by a Swedish girl living in Tromsø. It was quite a treat sharing the dock with 3 other ladies around our own age also on a sailing adventure (she was still learning how to sail her yacht) with swims and a midnight game of catan.
    In the morning we watched a red fox having a meal along the beach over coffee in the sun. A real bikini weather kind of day!

    Later on we got a lovely downwind sail where Isabella got to experience how nice sailing can be. Still not sailing person but warming up to it. We anchored between the three islands north of Tromsø. The first night at anchor since Russell left and I was a bit nervous and didn’t have the best sleep.. In the morning figured I had nothing to worry about since our anchor had wedged a rock in it and was quite the challenge to pull up!

    Ending the week back in Skattøra for the night and a celebratory cocktail.    Weiterlesen

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