Norway Crew hit Haugesund and Then Find Peace at Anchor

Ahoy down there!

Dirty Tricks and Free Climbing Mate

The Intrepid crew of Challenger 1 have leisurely made their way North with Bergen their final destination today. Here’s the latest instalment from the boat.

Tuesday 6 June

With the two teams reunited for the whole day, there was great competition for the helm particularly during the period of sailing. At one point at least seven members of the crew were spotted lurking by the helm waiting to take command of the wheel, if not necessarily of Challenger. There was evidence of “dirty tricks” in order to gain helm advantage.

Gary took himself off up the mast, ostensibly to perform some small maintenance task, but in reality to show off more of his free-climbing skills whilst in possession of a camera. (He did wear a safety harness, it should be noted.) His admiring crew assembled below on deck for photographs. No sooner had he returned to the deck than he hoisted the Yankee single-handedly. It was magnificent to behold: we felt humbled.

The truly excellent quality of today’s lunch requires mention. A marvellous meal of baguette hot dogs adorned with sautéed red onions greeted us as we came below. The sausages did not seem to have suffered from their return trip across the Atlantic; indeed we feasted like kings – it was memorable.

Given our Watchleader praise for the charms of Haugesund, a town he visited last year, it has to be noted that the approach was not particularly picturesque. Our resident structural engineer was however interested in the various cranes and other erections just before we arrived at the quay.

Intrepid Norway Crew assisted by Viking Women

Alongside in Haugesund

The quay itself was charming, however no sooner had we put our lines ashore than we had to move the boat to make way for an incoming ferry. We were assisted in this task by a couple of Norwegian Viking women on an adjacent vessel who were enroute to a Viking festival.

As always, the usual suspects managed to locate an Irish bar – the Irish Viking on this occasion – where they were greeted by a real Irishman and some questionable Viking décor. They felt so at home that more of the group were persuaded to visit later in the evening.

With regard to fishing it has to be reported that today provided another poor performance. No fish were caught for the second day running. We live in hope for tomorrow.

Wednesday 7 June

It rained today. And then it rained some more. And then even more. The watch system was reinstated to give the crew respite from the elements.

We arrived at our anchorage for our penultimate night together. What a truly beautiful and remote setting. Without doubt the perfect end to an otherwise wet day. The anchor was dropped and lines taken ashore in the dinghy.

A small incident with a sapling notwithstanding it was a textbook example of boat handling at close quarters.

It is with some regret that despite our best efforts no fish have yet to be attracted by our lures and hooks, the line having been out for most of the day. The pressure is now seriously on to catch something, anything, on our last day.

Chris and Max

If you would like to come sailing with us either in Norway or back from Norway then we have two trips to choose from in June.  There are still spaces available.  Have a look here for more details

Posted by: First Class Sailing