3. Alone to Falmouth.

When we got to Newhaven, Tom had to return to Norway. From there I continued alone. Had a lump in my throat when I thought about the traffic and the fog. Decided I would sail a day or two and then go to shore and rest for a while.

When I left Newhaven I was hit by fog that lasted the entire day and night. I think the fog was worse than the storm I went through, I had to stay up all night watching for other boats due to all the traffic in the English channel. Have to get a radar as soon as possible.

Lighthouse and foghorn, first time I heard the foghorn I thought a ship was approaching, and that the horn was a warning me to stay away. In panic, I looked in all directions an expected in any second that a large tanker would crash in to me, my heart got quite a workout...

The fog lifted the next day, no wind and I had to go by motor to Isle of Wight to a place where it said on the map there were places to tie up the boat. Arrive there and found a buoy near the beach that I tied the boat to. Crashed on the floor to finally get some sleep, and was abruptly awakened by a fisherman three hours later. He was there to get his lobster pot that was tied to the buoy OUCH! Took a while to get the boat untied, the fisherman shook his head and rolled his eyes the entire time, took me an entire hour to get my anchor unstuck. Felt like a freak show to the people watching it all unfold on the beach, left in a HURRY… :)

Arrived in a marina on the other side of the island, lots of expensive boats there. (See picture of the boat next to mine) Was assigned a location, not much room , two people tried… to help me with the ropes, ended up crashing into another boat. The weather was great so all other boaters were sitting on deck watching it all unfold, pretty embarrassing… Luckily there was no damage to either, my Norwegian pride got a bit damaged that’s all… decided to spend the rest of the day in my cabin, was my birthday and all, very lonesome – worst birthday party EVER !!! :)

Isle Of Wight.

Lots of traffic in the English Channel, saw up to 10 boats at a time in addition to all the fishing boats.
Realized that all the fishing boats like to be ahead of me so that I had to yield to them, think they did that to annoy me.... There is only me here but for some reason they place themselves, so that I have to turn all the time...Of course there was a fishing boat ahead of me again, to the right, so I decided to get up front in the boat so they would realize that there were nobody steering the boat. They started yelling at me to turn, but I pretended not to hear them. They started waving their arms but I just stood there watching them. After a wile they raised their gear , yelled a few profanities at me and let me pass without me having to turn my boat. I was impressed with my tactics, wanted to show them a “select finger”, but figured out that they would probably board me and beat me up. Spoke with people in Falmouth and understood that fishermen like to irritate sailors

Another Sunset.

Finally in Falmouth.

Some people are extremely friendly, a couple I met helped me with boat repairs, shuttled me around town and even helped me with repairs in the boat. Allan is 60, partied like a 20 year old :)

Wanted to have lights, antenna, and Windex in the top of my mast, and a lazy jack for easier lowering of the. Here a professional mast climber is lending a hand. The boat is almost ready for the next leg of the journey.

2. Storm in the North Sea

Departure started well.

After further preparations in Arendal (south coast of Norway) we finally left for England. The forecast called for 12 m/s wind but we figured it would pass.




Big waves.

Video

Wind picked up the first night. We took down the mainsail and the autopilot kept the boat in the right direction. Wind was between 16 – 20 m/s. We decided that if the wind picked up we would put out the brake anchor and bar the hatches, fortunately we didn’t have to.

The vessel and equipment handled the weather a lot better than the sailors, I got seasick and could not eat or sleep while the storm raged, time passed by at a snails pace.

I woke up in the middle of the night with a rather large BANG ! ! ! I jumped up and screamed out to Tom to find out what happened, could not find anything wrong. We ran to the front of the boat to find out if the boat was taking in water and found all our equipment soaking wet, we threw everything to one side and expected a large leak, imagined setting out the liferaft and watching the sailboat sink. We checked the entire boat but could not find a leak anywhere. After we calmed down a bit, we found out later that the front hatch was leaking and the waves must have got the water in. What exactly hit the boat we don’t know - could have been a log or a whale.

In the midst of the storm a large tanker ship stopped about 300 M in front of our boat, did not want to wave to them in case they thought we needed help, did not want to start a rescue situation. They finally left after a little while; I wonder what they were thinking.

Everything up front soaking wet.




After the storm we had great wind, 5-7 knots all the way.





A lot of gas rigs north of England, zigzagged through them. Radioed to one of them and asked them to call home to let them know we were still alive :) They normally did not do that but made an exeption to accommodate two crazy Norwegians.

The best observation during the trip was made by Tom, he thought the reflection of the moon was a sailboat with lights in the mast.

Had a surprise visitor, figured the gull hit the sail and fell in through the front hatch. Though briefly about having the gull for our supper.... We set him free.

White cliffs of Dover

Finally in Ramsgate, not far from Dover. Took us five days so we figured a little rest and a few beers were appropriate.

The septic pump failed in the North Sea, the tank was half full, the railing was our only way to… We agreed that we would give each other privacy while we were doing our “duty” :)

Tom agreed to replace the septic pump in England, I think he regretted that decision, have a close look at his arms…

1. Preparations and Departure

Preparation:
Decided before Christmas to buy a sailboat and sail to Canada to pick up my brother Rune, Vikingbiker, who is biking around the world. I bought just about every book on the market about sailing, navigation, explorers etc. These books were read 24/7 in addition to contacting other sailors by phone and e-mail. At work, I spoke to a Swedish co-worker, that had built 10 sailboats, just about every break. I got in touch with a sailor on the internet that recommended a route, England, Azores and then Canada, this was recommended to avoid face wind and icebergs. I wrote my boat license at Arsile in Tjoeme (Norway) had a great teacher (Lars). Only one mistake on the final test, pretty proud :).

The Vessel:
A 31 foot Alo 96 was purchased in Stavanger after some shopping around, I wanted a boat with standing room in the cabin, and a large rear deck. The boat was appraised at 50.000 but after giving the owners an offer of USD 25.000,00 the boat was mine. The boat was not well maintained and required a fair amount of work, my carpentry skills came in handy, and a purchase of some extra equipment before it was ready for the water. My friend Tom joined me for the maiden voyage from Stavanger to Arendal on the Norwegian south coast. Went to look at the boat a few days later and the boat was covered in 5 ft. of snow.

Equipment:
Was surprised to learn how much equipment I needed for a long trip. Items like: Sailomat (autopilot), Radar Equipment, Emergency locator, life raft, survival suits, extra battery driven short wave radio and GPS in case of electrical failure, emergency bag with first aid equipment and flares, floating anchor, ssb radio, wather radio and…. and ….

Tom is installing the radar reflector.

Departure:
Daniel and myself finally hit the water April 2, our first leg of the journey went like a charm Toensberg to Arendal in 12 hours. Daniel got seasick during the night, last nights supper gone in 5 seconds :0.

Finally...

Daniel stomach adventure.

Daniel