7. BODØ TO LERWICK (17 – 25 July 2013)

We are now in Lerwick, having made our way here from Bodø in Norway, where we published Post 6 soon after arriving there.

Progress to date since Ipswich

Our route back along the Norwegian coast from Bodø to Ålesund is outlined below. From Bodø we switched from ‘cruiser’ to ‘passage’ mode – in other words our objective from then on was to get back.  Since Bodø we have covered 750 miles in under nine days – not bad going, particularly since a gale forced us to stop in Sætevik for a full day.

Route: Bodø to Ålesund  

After fuelling, watering and provisioning in Bodø, we stayed the night on the self-service fuel pontoon (well, it was free!) before getting up at 0530 and departing on the start of our passage back to the UK.  It was not practical to travel outside the skjægård against the wind and waves, whereas within the protected, albeit twisting, waters of the inner leads it was possible to make reasonable progress south. Regrettably it rained for most of the day and low cloud and mist totally obscured the scenery.

Poor visibility on first day of return trip to UK

Towards evening the weather began to clear and it soon became positively balmy. We therefore pulled in for the night into a beautiful landlocked pool at Hansøya on the west coast of the island of Renga.   Our anchor dug in first time – not always the case. 

Chart-plotter view of Renga anchorage

Before supper we sat in the cockpit and enjoyed a cold beer.  Not a person or house was to be seen. The only sound in the anchorage was the melodious tinkling of bells round the necks of sheep grazing in the surrounding hillsides, while overhead half a dozen sea eagles treated us to a memorable aerial display.

Sea eagle in flight

We got up early next morning, weighed anchor and then headed south to take advantage of the good weather while it lasted.

Helen raising the anchor

Although a strong southerly wind was forecast for late afternoon, the morning was as picture perfect as we’ve had on the whole trip – bright blue sky with incredibly good visibility.

Idyllic conditions

We soon passed the tiny uninhabited islet of Vikingen.  An old symbolic wooden “Gate into the Arctic” and a more modern metal globe monument stand out on this small island on the Arctic Circle.

Old and new monuments on the Arctic Circle

Further on we stopped and drifted over a seamount where Mike simply dropped a lure and caught two nice cod within five minutes.

Supper

By mid-afternoon, as forecast, it was pouring with rain and the wind had gradually increased to a Force 6 “on the nose”.  As we were making little or no progress, and it wasn’t much fun, we stopped early at Sandnessjøen on the island of Alsten where we docked on one of the new guest pontoons.  The town is an attractive and busy commercial and industrial centre.  It's a good hiking base backed by the famous Seven Sisters mountain range which we saw on our way north. Low cloud now totally obscured any view. Hardy hikers can cover all seven summits in a day. Two hours later Horst on Puddleduck arrived. Again, he took no persuasion to join us in eating the day’s catch.

Pan-fried cod

We were soon advised by an apologetic harbour official that, while we were welcome to stay (free) on the pontoon for the night, we would have to leave by 10 a.m. next morning because the town was holding a four-day classic boat festival, and every space in the harbour had been reserved and paid for.   This was no problem, as we were not planning to stay.  On our route south from Sandnessjøen next day we passed a number of old boats on their way to the festival.

Classic boats on their way to Sandnessjøen Festival

As we were making good progress south and were trying to optimize our distance in that direction whenever the weather permitted, we kept going all day and had supper on the move. Helen used the fourth fillet of cod to make Mexican fish tortillas, with rice, peppers, chillies and sweet corn.  There was enough left over for lunch the next day.

Mexican fish tortillas

The wind increased significantly as the afternoon progressed.  It began however to have a northerly element in it and we were therefore able to continue making good progress sailing south. We eventually covered 82 miles before stopping at midnight at Skeihavn on the east coast of the island of Leka.  It is a neat little well-protected mole harbour.  Leka is interesting in that geologically it is part of the Caledonian Range that runs from Scotland up the coast of Norway to Svalbard. It also has twenty-one Stone Age paintings, forts from AD600 and Norway’s largest Viking ship burial mound. 

Skeihavn, Leka

Peter and Jeannette from Holland (whom we first met in Reine in the Lofotens and with whom we’ve kept in contact) were, as we were aware, already in the harbour, although, given the late hour, they were quite understandably asleep! Next morning we left in convoy with a northwest wind behind us.  Once through the narrows at Rørvik we had a great sail across the open waters of the Folda to Sætevik on the mainland. 

 Island Drifter under sail

Since yet another gale blew through next day we stayed and waited for the winds to change to north as forecast. It rained hard all day and the surrounding hills were blanketed by low cloud. As a principle we took a walk to look around the place and climbed one of the nearby hills to get a better view.  There wasn’t a great deal to see!  Sætevik is a sparsely populated hamlet with houses scattered haphazardly around.  Its harbour supports several small fishing boats. Rorbuer (holiday cabins) for families and anglers are dotted around the hamlet and harbour.   On the two evenings we were there, Jeannette and Helen took it in turn to cook supper.  

Sætevik hamlet and harbour

Next day we went our separate ways. Peter and Jeannette have longer than we do to get back to Holland and are still in cruising mode.  We grasped the opportunity given, now that the wind had turned to the north, to go outside the skjægård and make our way due south in open water over the next 36 hours for the 200 miles or so to Ålesund.  To begin with, in lighter winds, we motor sailed, but once the wind started to increase, we were able to pole out the genoa and sail downwind the rest of the way.  At times we were well off the coast, although we could always see the snow-topped mountains on our port side.  

 Island Drifter sailing downwind

 

Sid [Steering Island Drifter], our Hydrovane and trusty third member of crew, who has not been properly exercised during our time in Norway, appeared to thoroughly enjoy taking over the steering of the boat in open water.  A Hydrovane is really an open-water tool.  In the confines of the inner leads steering is best done with our electronic Autohelm or - if absolutely necessary! - by hand.

Helen adjusting Hydrovane (Sid) 

We reached Ålesund late evening and found a very smart empty quay to stay on.  We ‘failed’ to translate the Norwegian notice that stated that it was reserved for a corporate entertainment group. Everybody else was rafted up three or four deep on the other side of the harbour. We stayed overnight and next morning sorted ourselves out for the crossing to the UK. No one was fussed about our presence.

Our smart pontoon in Ålesund

The forecast indicated reasonable weather for the next three days: light variable winds to begin; thereafter South East F3.  OK – but we realised we could end up motor sailing all the way across to Shetland.  Percy has, however, worked without any problems since Bodø.  There we had jury-rigged the fuel system by running a clear pipe directly from the smaller starboard fuel tank to the fuel pump on the engine (thereby bypassing the pre-filters and fuel pipes from where it is clear that air must have been sucked into the system).  We also had three cans as back-up, enough in total to just about cover the 250-mile crossing from Ålesund to Lerwick.  If necessary we could always jury-rig the larger port tank or decant diesel from it. 

Percy’s jury-rigged fuel system

In order to jury-rig the fuel system we had to remove the engine-room door and therefore empty the cockpit locker in order to avoid the contents falling on to the engine (not clever).  As a separate exercise we had already taken down the headlining in the saloon, hoping to find the source of a leak from the deck. As a consequence the living space inside the boat has become somewhat reduced but there is no alternative.

 Headlining removed to search for source of leak from deck

Before leaving Ålesund we toasted Neptune – just in case…

Helen toasting Neptune

Initially, as forecast, there was little (if any) wind and the sea was calm. The downside was that a sea mist reduced our visibility to under 100 metres – even though the sun was trying to burn its way through.

Very poor visibility even though 
the sun was trying to burn through

We sat below and navigated by radar and chart plotter. This worked well but the technique requires one to have confidence in oneself and the instruments.  In any case, it was a pretty pointless exercise sitting in the cockpit since we could neither hear (the engine was on) nor see anything. We’ve been thinking about installing an AIS transceiver now that initial teething problems have been overcome and the cost reduced.  It would at least ensure that larger ships are aware of our presence. We believe that their radar equipment does not always pick up yachts, particularly in rough weather - and indeed, it's not always manned.

Radar screen: note proximity of overtaking boat, 

which could only be seen on radar

By late evening the fog lifted and the sun was out. We even had supper outside. At this latitude the sun set at 2250 and rose again at 0420.  It could, however, have been only just below the horizon since there was a sunset/sunrise all night. It was never dark, just barely ‘dusk’.

Sunrise while crossing to Shetland 

During the following day the sky was blue and the sea was amazingly calm for the middle of the North Sea! 

Motor sailing in calm conditions in middle of the North Sea

The wind did change direction and increase slightly as forecast and it was, arguably, just about sailable.  Being in passage mode we chose to carry on motor sailing at a good speed rather than taking an extra day or so trying to sail.  

Halfway across we passed through the middle of the Thistle and Brent oilfields ensuring that we kept the statutory mile away from each rig – and there were a lot of them. We had no desire to be buzzed by one of the many guard boats that protect the rigs and are manned by crews who must be out of their minds with boredom.

Oil rigs mid-North Sea

We eventually arrived in Lerwick at 11 a.m. after 260 miles. A quick, easy passage and, given the excellent weather, a very pleasant one.  We refuelled next to an enormous floating “hotel” for workers on the new Sullom Voe oil field – work on which will continue for the next two years.  The ship was downright ugly. Only later did we find out that it was formerly a prison ship.   There are two other such ships anchored near by.  A lot of people!

 Prison ship now reincarnated as a floating hotel 

for workers on Sullom Voe oil field expansion

Given the number of boats in the harbour, significantly greater than when we passed through in May, we had to raft five out in the small visitors’ harbour.

Island Drifter rafted out in Lerwick’s visitors’ harbour

The current forecast suggests that we may be able to make Peterhead in one go if we leave now - which we are going to do! It is a further 600 miles, as the seagull flies, to Ipswich.  We're still hopeful we'll get back there by the end of the first week of August.