Thursday 16th. July To Bolga 66.48N / 13.14E
Distance: 31,2nm Marina fee :kr 60 + 30
Bolga
A friendly and most recommendable harbour with salmond production, farms and a local shopkeeper, postofficekeeper acting as tourist office. A three hour hike with the children through a cave exit on the north shore, Bolgaborra, with 15 sea eagles (haliaetus albicilla) above our heads, then round the island to the “ruggestein”, a rock of some 40 tons, which even the children could rock back and forth.
Met veteran singel Swedish sailor/journalist Kristina Karlson in “Artic” who has moved to Fanøy outside Sognefjorden to be able to sail and fish year round .

Bolgaborra Ruggesteinen
Friday 17th. July To Rødøy 6126.40N / 13.03E
Wind : Westerly 3-6 m/s Distance : 12,7 nm
Time : 4 hrs. Marina fee : kr 125 with electricity
A pleasant cruise, fishing and catching several cod, saith and red snapper.
Cleaning, filleting and salting the fish on the pier givng plenty for a large portion of fish cakes and fried fish for at least 2 dinners. Saw and felt a motor boat mounting the pier just aft of us., the captain having gear problems.
Pier crawling The days' catch
Rødøy is always fine to visit because of the scenery, walks, food and freshly baked bread delivery in the morning .
Saturday 18th. July To Stokksviken, Onøya 66.22N / 12.50E
Distance : 19,6 nm Marina fee : Anchorage, no fee
We found a deep secluded bay with a sandy beach, good anchorage and hills to hike, perfect for both children and adults. Fishing from Siller Lass in the evening gave two well sized cod within a few minutes.
Eagles in plenty all around. .Fantastic scenery.

Stokksviken - can we anchor up here? Bay from the hillside
Sunday 19th. July To Nesna 66.12N / 13.01E
Distance : 12,4nm Marina fee : kr 100
An easy sail southwards. The local boat club gave us a warm welcome to the marina, excellent facilities.. Delicious meal of lightly salted cod fillet from yesterday, ovenbaked with garlic, ginger and other spices and herbs before the crew Bernt, Gabriella, Joakim and Thea started packing for an early start back to Bodø next morning.
Monday 20th. July To Sandnssjøen 66.01N /.12.38E
Distance : 14,1 nm Marina fee :kr 50 + strøm
Motoring to Sandnessjøen after following Bernt and family to their boat back to Bodø. Moored next to SARS “Skuld”. Chat with retired skipper Kjell Johansen who was skipper on Skuld when we joined them for a sea operation out of Bodø in 2004.. Exchanget harbour information with Johan from “Anke”, and Arthur from “Kos”, both radio amateurs like our skipper.. Next morning briefing our new crewmember Rannveig from our hometown Kongsberg.
Sailing from Sandbessjøen
Tuesday 21st. July To Strømøy 65.33N / 12.14E
Distance : 52,2 nm Marina fee: kr 50
An excellent, sheltered harbour organized by Brønnøysund boat club, no electricity but plenty of blueberrys!
A long trip into the Visten fjord national park . Narrow side fjord and unsucessfull anchoring in the too deep water and too much wind but fine nature all around.
Strømøy harbour
Wednesday 22nd. July To Vennesund, Kvaløya 65.13N / 12.00E
Distance : 26,5 nm Marina fee : kr 100 + 40 for elec.
The good weather continues and we sail then fish just south of Torghatten. Good haul of cod and saith, perfectly cleaned and filleted by our captain.
Vennesund is a ferry station on the coast road with a newly restored old building with toilet facilities etc and bothe rooms and camping hut for hire and a restaurant. German fishermen renting cabins and boats coming in with a 15 kg breiflabb (monkfish). Standard on the whole could be better, but an OK sheltered harbour.
Thursday 23rd. July To Rørvik 64.52N / 11.14E .
Distance : 31,6 nm Marina fee : kr 120 incl. elect.
Fine jib sailing from Vennesund in southerly gusty 30 knots wind.. Temperature increasing from the usual 12 degr to 20 degr. Summer is coming at last? Festivities in Rørvik with Tivoli and concerts. Sailed south of Torghatten to see the hole through the mountain.
Torghatten
Friday 24th. July To Abelvær og Utvorda 64.35N / 10.57
Distance : 22,7 Marina : kr 35 -pontoon, no water or elec.
We stopped at Abelvær to follow up our connections from our previous trip North. Had a friendly chat with Tore Øyehals who told that the business he started in 2004 for new seafood products had met too much competition and stopped production.

The modernised shop and cafè Recycled rowing boat!
Abelvær is a cosy little coastal settlement, which has been owned by the Brandtzæg family for 8 generations – see abalvar.com Many improvments and renovations had been made and Abelvær Gård has been awarded the Olavs Rosa for the preservation of building customs, trading and history from the 1800s
Utvorda. Harbour has a pontoon now, more activity with Norwegian and foreign holliday fishers and a camping site. A German fisherman came in with a ling weighing 10kg. Utvorda is perhaps best known for its local chef who serves particularly good food from “Utvorda Spiseri”.
Proud fisherman -10kg ling Utvorda harbour in fog and rain
A hike along the nature path to the fortress, built by the Germans as part of Festung Norvegen during the second World War, is both interesting and informative. We saw among other things, 10 and 15 cm gun positions, remains of radar and comand center, remains of Russian prison-labour caamps and tunnels for ammo storage.”Festung Utvorda” was huge and intended to stop allied troops from enering the Namsos district. Like they did in 1940.
Oven baked white fish
Spread fresh or lightly salted fillets over a large,greased ovenproof dish
Chop garlic and chilli over the fish, along with pepper (salt if necessary)
A few slices of tomato and cucumber give extra flavour and colour
Drip some lemon juice and olive oil over
Bake for 10-15 minutes at 200deg.C until the fish is just cooked. Serve with a sauce made of melted butter and chopped eggs to enhance the taste.
Baked fish dish
Saturday 25th. Stoppover in Utvorda – fog, heavy rain and wind up to gale force.
Hot drinks aboard today
Utvorda harbour will be extended and improved before next summer by the owner family Grande, who also manage the popular Sjøbua Spiseri.
Sunday 26th. July To Sætervika 61,24N / 29E
Distance : 26,7 nm Marina fee : kr 100 incl.elect.
Rain and fog made our choice of route easy. No sail out to Villa and the outer islands but an intricate trip inshore craving exact navigation - rather exciting.
One point to note in Northern Norway is the use of VHF for weather forecasts and important communication, quite different from Southern Norway with misuse to a certain extent.
Sætervika is Ok for an overnight stop, facilities nothing to write home about.
Monday 27th. July To Stokksund 61.02N / 10.04E
Distance : 29,4nm Marina fee ; kr 125
Fine summer weather now, inviting for a fishing break. Pleasant company of other sailors and baked fish for dinner - a catch of 10 saith and a redfish. Fine facilities. More sailing boats here than we've seen for a long time.
Part of Stokksund marina
Tuesday 28th. July To Mausundvær, Frøya 63.52N / 08.40E
Distance : 43,2nm Marina fee : kr 50 + 50
An exciting sail to one of the outer island archipelagos north of Frøya. A predominantly fishing harbour with helpfull, friendly and interesting local people. Pub and restaurant "Sjøblomsten" fine for an evening chat. Met other sailors who had walked across the bridges from Aursøy, another guest harbour in this island group. Bought 15 clams picked at 25 meters from a local diver.
All these outer islands and fishing communities are highly recommendable for sailors.
Calm evening in Mausundvær Clamshells alive
Wednesday 29th. July To Fillan, Hitra 63.36N / 08.59E
Distance : 29 nm Marina fee : kr 100 incl.electricity
Fillan, Hitra has a new guest pier to port side after passing the lighthouse.
A fine sail most of the way from Mausund to Fillan. Hitra windmills seen from several directions. Met on the quay by our friends Roger and Hilde, we first met at Utvorda and later at Brønnøysund boatclub. Had an immensely interesting tour of Hitra midle school where Roger is the principle and a very creative manager. This school has a maritime profile and even an original lighthouse in the playground. All the youngsters pass the junior skipper certificate to enable them to tackle boat life.. This school ought to be a model for many others because of all the equipment, cantine service giving the pupils a midday meal every day, and inovative teaching principles.
Fyrlykt nr. 4 fra Valholmskjær
We were taken home to Roger and Hildes beautiful home on the north shore of Hitra for a dinner of roasted wild lamb, berries with icecream and Hilde's special caramel sauce.
Thursday 30th. July To Kristiansund 63.07N / 07.44E
Distance : 58 nm Marina fee : kr 150
Sail down the Trondheimsleia to Kristiansund after bidding farewell to our favourite crewmember Rannveig. After 9 hours of sailing , entering a crowded harbour in Kristiansund and studying weatherforcasts for Hustadvika, our next challenge and one of the many weather critical stretches on our coast. Marina facilities are good.
An intense low with galeforce winds in Kattegat was creating havoc down south with two major shipwrecks. This devil is moving northwards in our direction. Will we able to cross Hustadvika before
this low reaches our area?
Friday 31st. July To Tornes 62.50N / 07.02 E
Distance : 38nm Marina fee : kr 100 incl. electricity abd shower
Leaving Kristiansund 0800 for a five hour sail through Hustadvika and Stopleleia, passing the huge North Sea gas terminal Ormen Lange and entering Tornes yacht harbour to meet Ole Nekstad, owner of our previous HR 36. Just as we enter harbour , the front moves in with heavy rain. Good timing! Another gourmet dinner with Randi and Ole in their beautiful home up in the hills. What have we done to deserve all this hospitality? Ole and Randi are a fascinating couple with unusual work experience from Jan Mayen, Greenland and Africa. Discussing a possible visit , weather permits, to Randis birth island Saeterøya just south of Bjørnsund the next day.
Ole's self made grill house and furniture
Saturday 1 st. Aug To Sæterøya and Finnøya 62.48N / 06.30E
Distance : 15,2 + 1,5 nm Marina fee Finnøya : Kr 100 .
We have travelled a total of 1740 nm so far.
Fine weather gave us the opportunity for lunch on Sæterøya, a charming little island with only 4 houses and some "wild" sheep. No one lives on the island now but Randi was brought up there and had to row over to Finnøya to attend school. Afternoon over to the recently extended harbour with a very narrow entrance. The facilities are excellent and include a kitchen and lounge in addition to a grill and seating outside the building.

Finnøya is interesting because of the activity and ingenuity. Finnøya Motors were built there and other factories produce gears, propellors and winches for the global market. Fishing and farming thrive.
Visited a farm with over 100 animals, a robot for milking the cows that could wander free in the barn, decide when they wanted to eat, to rest, to get their back scratched or to be milked. Even the small calves helped themselves to fodder and waited patiently in a queue for milk from an artificial "cow".

Sunday 2nd. August To Ålesund 66.29N / 06.09E
Distance: 24 nm Marina fee : kr 150 incl. electricity.
Moored up in the town harbour alongside Najambo from the Netherlands, with a very friendly crew. Fine weather and a relaxing day before an early start to sail round Stad next day. The main holiday period is now over, plenty of space in the marina which has new rules in case of fire. A 4 meter zone is kept free between boats moored to the quay. Ålesund, the Jugend town, is always well worth a visit.

Scenes from Jugend town Ålesund
Monday 3rd. Aug. To Silda 62.01N / 05.12E
Distance : 47 nm Marina fee : kr 100
Silda harbour
Seven hour sail in relatively calm, warm weather, and one hour fishing. Fried mackerel for dinner! Moored up in the northern harbour but walked over to the southern, shallower one, with a restaurant, in the evening. One boat , Carpe Diem, ( see: www.travelabout.no) came in with lots of fresh mackerel. We salted one portion ready to smoke and marinated (“soused”) another portion to be eaten with boiled potatoes another day. Mackerel isn’t popular with everybody but we enjoy it served in different ways.
Soused mackerel
1 kg mackerel cleaned and gutted
1 tbsp. Salt in 1 l water
1 dl vinegar
1 onion chopped
Chilli pepper, garlic and pepper
Fresh herbs, if any aboard, according to tatse.
Cut the fish into 3-4 pieces if large
Boil all the ingredients for 10 min. to make good stock
Add the mackerel and simmer until just cooked 5-7 min
Allow the fish to cool in the stock and keep cold until use
Serve chilled with boiled new potatoes, cucumber salad, grated carrots and sour cream
Silda is a small scenic island with few permanent inhabitants but many of the houses are used in the summer.
Tuesday 4th. Aug. To Dingja 661.+1,5N / 05.03E
Distance : 73nm Marina fee : kr 100
Impressive Hornelen Active Ship yard
Start 08.00 for an 11 hour sail in good sunny sailing weather. Varied nature and scenery - mountains, like Hornelen, dramatic islands and narrow fjords, shipyards and industry too.
Dingja has a store with post office and harbour facilities. Fine stopping place before or after crossing Sognesjøen. Fine bay nearby with a beach for bathing.
Entrance to Dingja and evening sun
Wednesday 5th. Aug. To Strusshavn 60.24N / 05.11E
Distance : 47,1 nm Harbour fee . Kr 100 incl.
Checked the tides and timed our departure to have the current with us in through Fonnesstraumen, little current in Lure fjorden and the current with us out through Alverstraumen. Motoring all the way to Flatøy, then south to Strusshavn, 8 hrs altogether. Careful navigation is necessary, especially with attention to bridge heights. The course is well marked as the fast ferries travel here.
Strusshavn on Askøy, is a good sheltered harbour known for the production of Viksund boats nowadays. Earlier it was used as a quarantine harbour for foreign ships suspected of carrying the plague. King Kristian IV commanded that rings to aid mooring ships should be fixed in the harbour in 1663.
The harbour today is well equiped with a fee that covers everything, showers and laundry included. Grocery shop 300m.
Thursday 6th. Aug. To Bekkjarvik 60,00N / 05.92 E
Distance : 27,1 nm Marina fee kr. 100
Bekkjarvik is a busy harbour in the summer.
Bekkjarvik harbour
Bekkjarvik itself is a cosy little village with white painted villas, a speed ferry to Bergen and a variety of good shops sentrally placed by the quayside. A village showing signs of wealth, as many other places on the west coast.
Friday 7th. Aug. To Skudeneshavn
Distance : 49 nm Marina fee kr. 100
Entrance to Skudeneshavn Topspot in harbour
Left Bekkjarvik at 6 am. Short stop in Haugesund for provisons then to Skudeneshavn, a historic and well kept old fishing village. We remark again on the affluence along the western coast – generated by offshore activity, salmon farms, fishing and related industries. Houses and surroundings in good shape but marinas filled up to capacity with large cabin cruisers and sailing boats over 40ft.
Lay longside gainst “Topspot”, with friends from Scotland who enjoy the luxury of all the marinas in Norway with water, fuel, electricity and toilet facilities, something only found as yet in a few places on the west coast of Scotland..
Saturday 8th. August To Tananger 58.56N / 05.34E
Distance : 19,3 nm Marina fee . kr 100
Heavy rain and thunder expected so we chose to stay in Tananger before a longer trip around the South tip of Norway next day. Sailed through the sound at Kvitsøy near the coloaasl radio masts. The local hotel was hosting a wedding reception so couln’t serve the dinner we hoped to treat our family to! They returned the invitation and we enjoyed a delicious roast beef dinner with Aud Ingri and Ketil at their home.
The harbour itself is surrounded by offshore industry and not exactly scenic but is OK once you get to the piers. Facilities OK, shops relatively nearby and a good quayside seafood store a few minutes walk away.
Kvitsøy masts in thundery weather
Sunday 9th Aug. To Farsund 58.05N / 06.48E
Distance 81,5 nm Marina fee - kr 0,00
Farsund marina is one of the few taking no fee for visting boats, is very good and well sheltered and very popular with sailors. We came in at 9pm after a long day at sea. Our stay was short as we left early next day but met up again with Jorun and Rudolf on their Dehler, Dollaer IV. 10-12 sailing boats in the marina, many foreign (from The Netherlands, Germany, Swedeb and Britain)
Monday 10th. Aug. To Kristiansand 58.08N / 08.06E
Distance 47,1 nm Marina fee kr 220
Easy sailing round Norway's most southerly point, Lindesnes.
Lindesnes lighthouse
Were welcomed in by Christine and Pat on Victrix and spent a pleasant evening with them comparing experiences. They had spent three great weeks in the Lofoten area.
Summer isn’t over yet, the temp. is over 20 deg. And sea water is nearing 18 deg. but few guest boats are to be seen in harbours like Kristiansand . Maybe a stiff harbour fee is the reason for so few visitors? Why does the community spoil the effect of statues by placing garbage containers beside them?
Tuesday 11th. Aug. til Friday 14th. Aug
We “holidayed” the last few days, sailing first to Lure kilen, Blindeleia along with Victrix. A beautiful small anchorage with excellent holding bottom. Noticeable difference in the weather since leaving Tananger and we make the most of it, sailing when we can.
Next day to Arendal with a most interessting stop for a chat with Leif Svalesen, the diver responsible for discovering the wreck of “Fredensborg I” which sank outside Tromøye in 1768. Leif has more or less dedicated his life since 1972 to first find by research, the position of the ship, organize dives, keep contact with the authorities, then travel both to the West Indies and Ghana to fill out the historical details, Aust Agder Cultural Museum has a magnificent display of artifacts from the ship and a description of the ships last journey.
Leif Svalesen has also taken the initiative to restore the remains of Fort Fredensborg in Ningo, Ghana and the Danish government has now taken over the responsibiliity for this.
Our interest in the project stems from the fact that Jon Eriks tipoldemor had a brother Christian Wilhelm Düntzfelt. His company had up to 17 ships sailing in the slave trade triangle and one fo them was “Fredriksborg II” , built in 1777 , and very similar to “Fredensborg I”

Artefacts from Fredensborg I taken up from the deep Arendal guest marina
Arendal guest harbour with a lot of wash, was disappointing. No other guest boats staying , some even left after the foto was taken, because of the high marina fee, kr 250.
Thursday in Høegs mooring, Risør after a 31 nm sail, again in good sailing weather apart from a really heavy shower in the afternoon. Swim in 18 deg. On arrival then dinner with Kate and Nils. This has become more or less a tradition at the end of our summer expeditions, very welcome to us!

Heavy rain flattening the sea
Friday with a good weather forecast and Saturday with substantial rainfall expected, we decided to sail to Åsgårdstrand. Fantastic last day sailing 65nm, partly wind 12 m/s, Siller Lass performing almost as a racehorse!

Back at Åsgårdstrand The final late evening dinner this expedition
This logbook finishes here more or less. We managed to steer clear of the oil spillage from “Full City” wrecked on the rocks near Langesund, in a storm 2 weeks earlier, causing dreadful pollution along the coastline.
To sum up:
We will have have sailed 2400 nm. 87 days at sea and 77 different moorings or marinas and some wonderful remote anchorages.
We had motored or motorsailed more than 70% of sailing time, more than we wish because the wind has been contrary most of the time and we had a time schedule to follow.
Our wonderful Hallberg-Rassy 37 has been in excellent shape all the way. Touching rocks once at the narrow Nesna harbour entrance with minor scratches to the lead keel. Otherwise no mishaps.
Our Yanmar 50 HP engine has been drinking 2,5 liters/hour average,- which is very reasonable! Our furling main with vertical battons has functioed without snags.
We used, for safety and easy handling, only our small (ca. 20sq.m) hard weather jib. Several exciting genaker stretches. Easy handling with a snuffing sock.
We have experienced a lot of sunny weather, only three-four portbound rainy days. Cold northly winds, particularly in May and June.
Water temperature mostly 9-12 degrees, limiting swimming to 10 second dips!
Made many new friends onboard and ashore. People in general were interested in our senior expedition and our website. We have seen Norway from a new perspective. We have learned to fish on the right “hills” getting a good catch two hours before high tide. The young ones loved fishing and eating Normas shipmade fish cakes.
All in all a wonderful way to spend a summer!
15.08.2009
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