Arctic voyage

Before leaving Ålesund Pete had a conversation with the crew of Ronja Hope, a traditional rowing boat, who had just rowed down from Trondheim and were then setting off for Lofoten to raise money for a cancer charity. Wow!

We departed Ålesund at 11am on Monday 27th May after topping off tanks with water and diesel, and getting some tips on rounding the notorious Hustadvika (where a cruise liner had made the news by nearly foundering earlier in the year) from the skipper of Parrat III, a converted 1936 trawler, who had just travelled down from Lofoten. Basically go out to sea and avoid it if you don't know it - good enough for us!

Glorious "inner lead" sailing through Harøyfjord. 

Pete keeping watch and helming. Who says men can't multi-task??

We managed to pick up a pot buoy and had to gybe around to detach it but apart from that had a great sail out into the Norwegian Sea. The forecast suggested we had a couple of days of fair weather ahead of us so we decided to head straight for Lofoten while it was calmer.
Variable winds meant we altered between motoring, motor sailing and sailing under several different sail and reef combinations.
We saw the last sunset of the season just before midnight on Tuesday. It would rise again soon after but for times of the next sunset, consult a calendar.

Last sunset for several weeks. Luckily it was a good one. The Sundowners Bar regrets to inform customers we are closed do to lack of suns going down.

Ataraxia crossed the Arctic Circle around noon on Weds 29th. It's cold - not a surprise, really.

Steve and I trying to keep our eyes from freezing.

The weather deteriorated as we neared our objective: Reine in Lofoten. Winds picked up to 30 knots from the North and rain (occasionally hail) combined with confused seas to make an uncomfortable last few watches.

Two reefs and three pairs of underpants.

Lone watchman in a spectacular but deserted setting hunkered down against a tempestuous Arctic blast. The Queen's Park FC hat felt quite at home, then.

 A Lofoten Island looming menacingly.

View between hail showers after tying up in Reine, Lofoten.