August 4th – August 11th – Lofotens to Lerwick – downwind with the Vikings

Final view of the Lofotens

Aries in action

stormy sea

Reduced staysail

He came to have 'a wee look'

substitute staysail

Larry in Lerwick

We left Rost about 2 pm on Thursday August 4^th with a reasonable forecast of strongish NE winds for the next few days and sunny weather. As usual we had been unable to obtain a Norwegian maritime forecast for as far ahead as the trip would take.

We hoisted the main as well as staysail and jib and tacked downwind until we were clear of the last rocks of the Lafotens; delighted to be under full sail we were aiming to take our time and have a quiet geriatric trip without time pressures....  In the end we had an exciting high speed downwind run which reminded us that Robert once referred to us as ‘hair shirt’ sailors

The views behind us of the Lofoten Wall were magnificent and it was warm and sunny. As we came out from the Lofotens the wind increased in strength and the sea became more lumpy so we took down main and jib and ran downwind on the staysail.

When I came on watch at 1 am on Friday morning C had got Aries, the self steering gear, working and  set up so that we could operate it from the doghouse with the doors closed – which was fantastic because with a NE wind blowing down our backs it was potentially very cold. From then until 9 am on Wednesday morning Larry was sailed entirely by Aries going for hours without any adjustment and we seldom went out of the doghouse.

When we finally got a Norwegian forecast it gave no indication of sea state and suggested that the wind would increase and then become more  gentle in a fairly standard pattern. By the next day we were getting both Navtex forecasts and weatherfaxes which enabled Christopher to track very accurately what was going to happen.

The wind was never less than Force 5, was mostly 6 or 7 and for about 24 hours was Force 8. The sea was quite the roughest we have encountered including in the Atlantic with waves from all over the place and even at the 6/7 level had the characteristics of a gale. After a couple of days of sun it was overcast and we had a few heavy rain showers.

We made good speed achieving a new record for us and Larry of 120 miles in 24hours. We had thought we might get to Lerwick on Wednesday but on Tuesday morning the wind went NW for 24 hours and the seas took a long time to recede so we only did 52 miles that day.  

The staysail did fantastically well but several of the hanks which attach it to the forestay became detached and eventually the sail tore - amazingly Aries continued to work just as well on the reduced staysail. We must, however, have looked a little strange and as we were passing through the Viking oilfield one of the oil rig guard boats came over as he put it ‘to have a wee look’!

Also while in the oil rig area we encountered an oil rig supply ship – we were quietly passing astern of him when he came on the radio to say we had to alter course at once as he was towing cables 4 nautical miles long! And what’s more in 15 mins he was going to turn and come back towards us! C immediately went into the cockpit, started the engine and drove in the direction required for half an hour until we were called again to be told we could resume our course.

By 9 am on Wednesday the wind was Force 4 northerly and the seas had subsided. We took down the remains of the staysail and hoisted the main, the jib and the spare small jib and set off on a broad reach still heading directly for Lerwick. We had a lovely sunny day with excellent sailing and reached Lerwick at 3 am on Thursday morning after a very fast passage.

We need to move from here to Skeld, where Larry, is to overwinter and are waiting for a good day.