Sitting on the boat in Rorvik. a long way from Bergen and a long way from good internet connections. This is why there haven't been any updates for a while. My story and we're sticking to it!
We (Sally and I in case you were wondering) left Flam at 0300 to catch the ebb and motored out of the Harbour flat calm MB ride until about 1030 when the wind started to blow a force 4.on the nose. Not much fun for the rest of the day but at 1730 we dropped the anchor in 10ft in a very nice peace full bay called VagsVegan. Went sleepybys after a drink and,,,,,, the skys opened up with a deluge and a bunch of wind. No problems as Bruce was stuck good and proper in the mud.Sooo rolled over and slept like a little lamb. (don't really know how little lambs sleep). Awoke at 10ish on July 3/14 and got underway at 1115. Had to use the motor to break Bruce out of jail as the crew just wasn't strong enough. Motored out into the main fjord and at noon shut the motor off(don't like the term Killed the engine anymore so try not to use it and I think the new one understands English so do have to be care full) Raised the sails all two of them, the little main and the BIG Genoa and away we went at 6.5 to 7 knots ( now knots for you who don't know and youz who do will just have to bare with me as I'm the writer or you can skip this part and jump to the next bit.
Which of course hasn't been written yet so there really is no point on jumping fore word.
Anyway Knots were and still are in some cases a way of telling your speed through the water. What one does is have a very long string with knots tied in it at measured length and with a triangular board tied to the end and a means of telling the time. Once this is all set up you toss the wood bit over the side making sure the other end of the string is tied off or held onto for the obvious reason. then as the string slides gently through your fingers you count the knots as they pass by in a given time and viola after some simple math you know how fast you were going when you tossed the log but not how fast your going at the moment. Or you could just look at the speedometer.
Ok whose still with me? Sally?
We sailed on and on until we reached secret anchorage 32 dam should be #2 big fingers.Helle Hamn water was too deep for the crew so we decided to try out the Norwegian custom of just sliding up to a somewhat vertical rock and tying off to it. So we put all our fenders over the Starbord or right side (Yes we did tie them off to the stanchions) and sidled up to said rock and Bobs your uncle(Not mine but probably some of you have an Uncle Bob) We were nicely tied off and secured and comfy The kelp actually works as a very nice cushion. Went walk about and dinghy about and I caught a bunch of Mussels,clams and winkles and we had Seafood Pasta for dinner.
Friday July 4 2014 HAPPY BIRTHDAY to those ingrates who didn't like paying their fair share of the tea tax. We arose at the leisurely hour of 0800 and managed to get away by 0830 for our next destination. At 0949 we shut the engine off hoisted the sail and away we went at up to 7 kts(short form for knots) arriving at Floro (not the real name but I don't have a keyboard that can do the funny stuff with O'ss) at 1300. We got secured and had hot dogs or as they're know here Polsk and Lumpas then went walk about and did some shopping. We returned to the boat with our hard earned goods and never went out again as the heavens decided it was a good time to drain the pool and we were at the end of the hose! So then we had Cauliflower and cheese for dinner and even turned the furnace on for a while.
We left Floro at 0800 and headed of to a place called Selje which has an abandoned Monastery on it.The old time monks were pretty smart they snuck away from England and built the Monastery right in the backyard of the vikings where they knew the vikings wouldn't think of looking for them.. We motored the whole way there and into the little harbour only to find a cruise boat/taxi tied up in the middle of the only pontoon and a bunch of tourists clambering around the ruins or sunbathing on the rocks like a flock of seals. We couldn't land so settled on some photo's and left for the Dreaded rounding of the third miserable nasty headland called Stat,Statt or Stad depending on how well the map maker could spell.
How bad could it be?
No wind, flat sea, blue sky, not a cloud to be seen and shorts and t shirt weather except of course for the sunbathers at Selje.
We rounded the first half and could see the second half and a bunch of small boats out fishing We've got this one made I thought to myself, didn't want the gods hearing me. Well the buggers can read minds especially that Thor fellow and his side kick the wind god.
No sooner had we made the halfway or point of no return they,the above two deities woke up saw us and BAM 40 KNOTS off the mountain and into our a Genoa which promptly jammed and wouldn't furl just as we were trying to get out of the way of a freighter that wanted the same piece of water we were in.Which by the way was only about 300 feet wide between the rock and a hard place. We headed off to shore managed to get the sail furled as said freighter passed by us and the captain at least gave us a friendly wave. We round the cape and had a nice sail to Brinsinghaug where we tied up to the nicest quietest most comfortable pontoon in the whole world.
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