The wind came on the nose and rose steadily to over 30 knots. We had a slow and bumpy ride so curtailed the adventure at Brattvåg visitor berth. It appeared to be still under construction but we found a pizza restaurant which was open on a Sunday and Steve treated his crew - happy crew!
On Monday we had several plans, variable to suit the weather. We had a nice sail for a bit but the wind died so the little donkey got back to work.
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| Foredeck crewing was never like this in my day! Pauline keeping watch for whales, shipping containers, icebergs and cornershops, all of which can present a danger to navigation at sea. |
To get to the West coast we needed to round the dreaded Stattlandet headland. A 150m high cliff on the Northwestern end of this mainland peninsula splits the wind and tides coming from the North Sea and can cause very tricky conditions, even on an otherwise calm day.
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| Rush hour at Statt. In places where they expect storms at least 100 days per year, you take your chance when it comes. |
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| Management conferences to discuss good sailing practices and navigation were held frequently, in lieu of steering and eating (which are for amateurs and thrill-seekers). Here Pete points at passing features and tells us whether they are "skerries", "holms" or "reefs". |
Updated forecasts suggested this would be our best chance so we made a long day of it, covering 64nm in just over 12 hours (including a couple of fruitless fishing stops along the way) and tied up on the visitor pontoon in Selje.
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| Fortunately the Pub - Disko was closed, sparing the Selje residents the spectacle of my "dancing like there's nobody watching" routine. |
We've been impressed with the facilities for visiting leisure boaters all the way along the Norwegian coast, often provided by the local boat owners' association (båtforening). Typical pontoon berthing costs between £10 and £30 per night for a 40ft yacht and this generally gives access to clean and reasonably priced facilities: laundry about £2 per load and showers around £2 for 10 minutes. I have short hair so struggled to keep myself entertained for 10 minutes in a shower until it dawned on me to take my dirty clothes in too. If the shower was only 5 minutes I could just wear my undies in there: two birds, single stone! Green credentials box firmly ticked ✔️
Tuesday's weather looked a bit cheeky so we made a short hop to a bay with a beautiful beach at Refvika.
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| 11pm on a breezy night and those crazy Norwegians are still out playing on the beach. |
We sailed into the bay at 7.5 knots under genoa alone and were seeing gusts in the high 30s while we set the anchor. The Norwegian coastal terrain creates an effect known as fjellvind (mountain wind) and we saw it properly today, gusting from nothing up the 36 knots in a few seconds. I guess this is why most Norwegian pleasure craft are motor boats.
The heatwave that has been troubling most of Europe made it's way to Norway on Wednesday. Taps aff!!
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| Happy now... Send beer! |
The day was spent swimming and fishing in clear waters in a gorgeous sandy bay, rounded off with barbecued freshly caught mackerel and a few beers with some new German friends Marcus, Lukas and Steffi from the yacht Frifot who had also anchored in Refvika.
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| Lukas in his hammock under the spinnaker pole. At last! A sensible use for the spinnaker rig. |
On Thursday 25th we had just over 40 nm to cover to drop Pete and Pauline off at Florø on Friday morning, so we scheduled a 9am departure ahead of a fairly long day. Unfortunately the fjellvind was back and a 35kt gust hit us when we were sideways on part way through our anchor lifting, and the shock loading broke the bow roller. Thankfully only 3 of the 4 mounting bolts sheered through so it pinged through 90° but didn't disappear down the chain to join the anchor a metre deep in the Refvika sand. A bit of grunt from the foredeck crew got it sorted enough to raise the anchor, but that could have been a really tricky spot if it had come right off.
With the wind on our nose through every turn of the trip, we ended up motoring to Florø's huge guest pontoon.
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| Florø looks pretty industrial on approach but the centre is lovely, and the guest pontoon is right there. |
Friday 26th July: Pete and Pauline headed off to Bergen on the Hurtigbåt for Pauline's brother's stag do and Steve and I hit the showers, laundry, supermarket and chandlery, and spoke to several other intrepid yachties, including Bill and Helen from yacht Alembic and our German friends from Frifot, who had sailed round from Refvika in a 12 hour epic - well done, guys! Florø is blessed with a great chandler (aptly named BestMarin) so we got replacement bolts and repaired the bow roller.
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| Anchor and bow-roller on the dock at Florø |
It was a straightforward job except that one person had to get inside the chain locker and work a ring spanner behind the windlass motor. There are days when you really need a very strong infant with arms like a gibbon on board.
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| On some days you could only tell us apart by our hats. |
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| It feels like it was like this all the time after a few days in the sun 😁 |
After that we had a short sail round to a small anchorage called Valvika to meet up with Marcus and his crew on Frifot.
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| Frifot at anchor: lovely people sharing a great adventure. |
We had both caught some decent fish and Steve and I were invited over to Frifot where Marcus cooked the fish and did something fabulous with some potatoes and we enjoyed their generous hospitality and some grand craic as the Irish so eloquently put it.
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| Bedtime can wait... |
The next stop on this leg towards Bergen was a stunning anchorage called Jutevikneset pool on the South side of the massive Sognefjord.
Gentlemen only sail downwind.
At 100nm long and over 1,200m deep in places it is Norway's largest fjord. It is popular with cruise liners and is busy with ferries and cargo ships as well as fishermen and leisure craft, so could be an entire holiday in itself.
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| Time to ramble on. |
The heatwave was showing no signs of waving goodbye so we were just glad to get hooked on to the planet and straight in to crystal clear waters for a swim.
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| One of our more picturesque anchorages: Jutevikneset. |
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| Landlubber duties: collecting firewood to cook dinner on. |
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| Vegans look away now. |
I then went off gathering driftwood for a cooking fire and Steve prepared today's catch and some chicken and vegetable kebabs and we had a barbecue on the rocks beside our anchoring pool and watched the seemingly endless sunset over Sognefjord. Bliss!
Sunday was boiling hot again, so we had a leisurely start and an even more leisurely sail downwind through some lovely channels and pools to another super little anchorage at Vikingevågen just North of Fensfjorden.
Sailing through these little channels between islands is amazing. You can be 25m off the shore in 150m deep water, the pilotage is challenging but fun as the hidden rocks are mostly well marked, and there is plenty of other traffic on the water, all of whom wave to the tourists! We came under a bridge in some narrows with the sails goose winged out each side and a big fishing boat right behind us - getting the hang of this!
Steve and I were both in swimming again almost before the handbrake was on.
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| Don't worry - the insects ate all the jellyfish! |
The unholy trinity of midges, mosquitos and cleggs ply their trade in these parts of Norway, and we were feeding the locals for most of the night. Water melon and anti-histamines for breakfast!
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| Ho hum... just another dark and stormy night in a quiet Norwegian anchorage. |
Monday came on hot and windless which was ok as we motored through the fabulous tight and winding waterways of the Lureford - Randsund - Alversund Northern approach to Bergen.
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| Pootling along in the sun. |
After a couple of attempts at finding anchorages in little bays came up blank (they were very deep with sheer walls) we rolled into Litlebergen båtforening marina and Ataraxia took pole position at the head of the main pontoon.
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| At the head of the table. |
Steve made burgers and I barbecued them at a picnic table on shore.
The Bergen locals were on holiday and the sun had brought them out in droves. Norway is a great seafaring nation, and they take to the water at every opportunity so we'd had a great day greeting fellow sailors in every shape, size and age of boat.
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| Deckchair and newspaper - casual cool! |
Tuesday 30th July started with the "penitent's breakfast" for Steve and I. As we wound our way Southwards and Summer progressed the number of irritating flying insects increased exponentially so breakfast would be conducted with one hand on your toast and the other furiously slapping yourself about the head and neck.
We then headed the last few miles to Bergen, enjoying a sedate downwind sail through the traffic jam that is the approach to Bergen vågen.
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| Steve keeping an eye out for cruise liners sneaking up under the foresail. |
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| Beautiful historic Bergen is behind that pile of people tankers somewhere. Good luck finding it! |
Pete was on the dock and guided us into a primo parking spot in the heart of town, right on the market Square.
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| Two cod 'n' chips, please. Town centre parking in Bergen is easier if you come by boat. |
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| Bergen vågen in the rain. |
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| City centre parking |
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