The start of the fjords

Moorglade's Voyage
Ted Wilson
Thu 15 Jun 2017 17:24

Our position is 58:12.830N 06:34.853E

Distance covered 18.8 Nm

We waved farewell to the Kumpel crew the next morning and headed for another piece of coastline regarded as “dangerous and exposed”, Lista. It was bright as we once again threaded our way round the rocks but once we got into clearer water fog descended. At times the visibility was only around 200m and I was in dread of coming across a small boat full of fishermen, too small to show up on radar until it was too late. As it was we heard foghorns from big ships but only “saw” them electronically. We chose a route close in shore, where the big ships wouldn’t go, but that exacerbated the risk of small fishing boats.

    Leaving Farsund

The “exposed and dangerous” soubriquet is warning of sea state and confused wave patterns, but at least we were spared that as there was little wind and a flat sea. As we closed the point of Lista the fog cleared and wind came in. We were able to motor sail the final part of the passage until it was once again time to pick our way through the rocks and small islands as we headed for Rasvag on the island of Hidra. Hidra is at the bottom end of Flekkefjord and the scenery was becoming more as people imaging Norway to be than we had experienced on the East and South coasts. We were soon tied up to the tiny guest pontoon, which has room for 2 boats on the outside and further in room for another three of four. I believe rafting is considered normal at the height of the season but in Norway summer doesn’t begin until the 23 June, so apart from In Transit, another small Norwegian boat and a German we were alone.

    

Listahamn  and the point at Lista– visibility still not great

  Closing the coast of Hidra – the way through is hard to spot

  Tied up in Rasvag

   The harbour at Rasvag

The narrow entrance. The wider gap to the left (in the pictures above) is too shallow

We intended to stay for Friday as strong winds were forecast, so we thought we would have a short walk. Tor’s wife recommended a route she had taken when walking their dog, which apparently went to a viewpoint and only took half an hour, but we must have taken a wrong turn as we floundered about in the woods, taking twice as long as half an hour, and never found a view that wasn’t blocked by trees.

The view before we got into the trees