Lofoten day 16 - Blog 13 - ENGLISH VERSION

Katarina og Hallstein på tur - Nå med SY Sana
Hallstein Moerk
Fri 9 Jun 2017 06:15

What a day...

It was impossible to blog during the stretch today. The weather forecast was 10 s/m (20 knots) from SE (for the uninitiated: there is no place called SE where the wind is generated and comes from, but South / East. The wind finds it boring to constantly approach from the same direction so it decides to keep it interesting, just like some of our hot topic politicians (ehem Trump). Anyways, the wind was surprise, surprise not as reported. Hats and high flew in all directions, fast and far (they weren’t amused). I bet that farmers along the coast had to tie down their cows and pigs so that they wouldn’t tornado over to the neighbors, or perhaps further (it would have been entertaining at least). We experienced 10 to 17 s / m with an average of around 14, blessing those with hair with a perfect slick back and those who can remember, a memory for life.

We sailed with 3 reefs on the main sail and a reefed jib and often logged 9,5 knots. Marianne and PG quickly learned how to drive the main sail in order to avoid broaches. We only had a small one. ‘No sailing for chickens’. We arrived at Brønnøysund and had just got down the sails when we got a slap of 19m / s (close enough to 10 sm?  YR, have you taken vacation?).

Those with good eyes can detect a tiny dot in one of the pictures. The dot is an eagle which is something we have seen several times on the trip. We’ve also heard a goat sing on a distant harbor, and twice on previous days have birds visited us on board to catch a little rest on Capraia before they stretch their wings and find their way home. Had they tried this today would they probably have ended up as asylum seekers at Grønnland.

 

Needless to say, there was no fishing today. A guy on the dock was giving it a go as we were getting in. He pulled up a fish and left it on the hook while he went to fetch water, and BAM, a seagull dives down and flies away with the fish, hook, rod and all. Perhaps a seagull baby was celebrating it’s birthday?

The weather was perfect today. The heat wave has come; a thin layer of wool on the boat was already a little too warm, and shorts and a t-shirt sufficed on land. 20 plus degrees celcius!

 

There will be barbecue spears with lots of green on the dinner table today. After a simple lunch we are definitely hungry (turns out it’s a little challenging to cook hot dogs in a stiff breeze).

Marianne and PG haven’t been scared off yet. In spite of the wind they seem to be enjoying themselves on board and they are doing impressively well on deck.

Hurtigruta arrived after we came and a group of gray hair and passersbys took pictures of us while we smiled nice and wide, which was wasn’t too difficult today.

Now I’m hearing rumors of a small G&T before dinner, so maybe it's best to say goodbye now so I don’t write anything offending my seriousness. No more blogging for today!