At this point we have traversed the North Sea between
Scotland and Norway twice so we have some experience and perspective that we
would like to share.
I will start way back on July 8th on a beautiful
morning tied to a dock in the Caledonian Canal.
We had sailed Loch Ness the day before and we had a lot to do with our
goal of starting across the North Sea this day.
We woke up early for us these days…around 6:30 AM. We were in a private slip because we
couldn’t find any public spaces the night before. This slip had a spigot with a hose nearby so
I took the opportunity to fill our water tank, mostly for ballast reasons, as
water is pretty easy to come by in this part of the world. It was a beautiful morning with bright clear
skies and warm enough for short sleeves
(are we really in Scotland?). The
whole family walked down to use the facilities nearby the gates for the next
lock and then we checked in with the lock operator who had just arrived. He said we could come 'straight away' so we ran
back to Midwatch, started the engine, cast off the lines and headed for the
first of six locks and two swing bridges that bring you down into Inverness. It was all down-hill now and by this point,
Kim and Anna really had things down with how to handle the lines and boat hooks
so the process went very smoothly for us.
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| A family of swans on the last bit of Caledonian Canal on the approach to Inverness |
Near the end of the canal there is a very nice marina where
we stopped and topped up our fuel tanks, filled out and faxed our exit
paperwork to the government and made a last trip to the grocery. The grocery in Inverness was probably only a
mile away but our knees were nearly gone by the time we got back to Midwatch
considering all the milk and cheese and yogurt, eggs etc. we were carrying in
backpacks, and Finn too!
By now the day was getting a bit late and we had minutes to
get to the last gate…the sea gate for the last drop of the day. Amazingly, there is no dock of any kind once
they let you out. You are just in the
sea. We hadn’t any time to prep the boat
for going to sea but fortunately the sun was out and we had some hours of
relatively sheltered driving in the Firth before we hit open ocean. So we were very busy stowing food and anchors
etc. etc. We also had a pint of the best
ever ice cream, Mackie's Honeycomb, that had to be consumed then and there for lack of a
freezer. Kim and Anna did the bulk of
the navigating and driving as the wind was hard on the nose and the channel was
narrow. After 12 miles motoring through
the channel we could finally put
the sails up, but the wind was still in our faces (20 kts) forcing us to tack
back and forth for hours to get into the North Sea. The tidal current is strong here as well,
fortunately it was with us in the channel, giving us as much as three knots of
boost but, of-course, it turned against us once we started sailing.
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| Lunch |
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| Anna
motor sailing on a beauty of a day off the Orkney Islands on the North Sea |
The sailing was pretty good, the current, however, really sucked
so forward movement was tedious but there was no swell in this area of Scotland
called the Moray Firth. It was still light
at 11:00 PM so we could make out a castle on the shore and then the wind changed
direction enough so we could sail in a more northerly direction and a bit away
from land. At this point in our journey,
the plan was to make an effort to sail off-shore direct all the way to Lofoten,
Norway….that’s way north. From there we
would travel south along the Norwegian coast visiting friends and sites along
the way. This route north would take us
along the Orkney Islands and then the Shetlands and then a long open stretch to
Lofoten. The passage would be about 760
nautical miles north…pretty ambitious!
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| Kids on passage equals movie time! |
The following day, when we were off the Orkney Islands, the
wind died completely and we motored most of the day. That night the wind picked back up and we
sailed north and then east and then north until we were in sight of the
Shetlands. The conditions, however, had
become quite foul. We had fog and rain
and swell and short steep waves. Kim,
Anna and I had definite sea sickness problems…thankfully Finn was fine. The wind shifted yet again and a check of the
forecast meant we were faced with a decision.
Tack to port and go in to the Shetlands and wait for fair weather for
the run to Lofoten or stay on the starboard tack and head direct to the nearest
port in Norway (Bergen) about 180 nautical miles away. A big opening in the oil fields here carried
some weight in this decision as well. A
quick family vote was cast and we turned right and headed to Bergen. I think we would all make that same decision
again but what a miserable trip it was.
The wind and seas built
continuously through the next day and a half.
It was brutally cold and rainy.
The heater blew out once I think from wind or a wave blocking the
exhaust so we didn’t run it until it got so cold we didn’t care if it broke because
we needed the heat so badly. While on
watch I spent most of the time lying on the cabin floor watching the radar
screen because it sucked so bad sitting in the cockpit. About 30 miles out of Norway the wind and
waves picked up to the point that the auto pilot could no longer handle
it. I could see land and I knew we just
had to get there as soon as possible…we did not want to be out here for another
night in this crap. I suited up with all
my gear and put the big blue gloves on and strapped myself in behind the
wheel. The conditions were just flat awful. I found it best if I stood while steering and
that’s what I did for the next 5 or 6 hours.
Kim courageously offered to help but I felt I could handle it and I did
not want to subject her to this beating.
When the waves broke over I just shouldered in. Strangely, the water felt kind of warm. I guess partly because it was so cold out and
partly because the gulf-stream dead ends here keeping the water amazingly warm. A couple hours at the wheel and my sea sick
symptoms disappeared so I actually felt better.
There seems to be a high that comes to the body when seasickness
symptoms abate. At this point the skies
were clearing a bit and the mountains started to become clear with glaciers on
top reflecting the setting sun, a truly awesome site. I thought “This is how it has to be to reach
Norway by sea…I must go through this right of passage”. Though my arms and shoulders were aching and
I was shivering from the cold I used that last bit of adrenalin to steer us
through the rocks…we made it!
Around one bend in the rocks and
it was smooth “lake type sailing”…a tremendous relief. The time was just after midnight and it was
Kim’s birthday, July 11th.
The kids were asleep and we congratulated each other on our success as
we sailed slowly up the channel. I have
experienced a number of moments on this journey that I thought were the best
moments of my life and this was certainly one of them!
OK…let’s fast forward through our
time in Norway and have a second look at the North Sea on our passage back to
Scotland. The date is Tuesday, August 20,
and we are tied to a private dock in a sheltered cove on the beautiful island
of Bømlo located between Bergen and Stavanger.
There is a lot to tell about this amazing place and the wonderful people
we were visiting that we will share in a more dedicated post soon.
The weather looked promising for
the bulk of the passage from Bømlo to Inverness. As
the crow flies, we faced about 325 NM to the southwest. The wind was forecast to be a bit on the nose
early and then heavier coming in about 4-5 days. We generally figure on making 5 kts which
gives us about 120 NM in 24 hrs. This
was our window.
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| All prepped and ready to leave Norway |
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| Heading out the first channel on our way to the sea |
In preparation we ran the Honda
generator for many hours to charge the batteries. We cannot hook up to shore power in Europe
because the voltage and cycles do not match our U.S. equipment so we keep our
batteries up using our wind generator, engine alternator and Honda generator. I filled the batteries with DI water, greased
the rudder shaft, vacuumed the carpets, topped up the drinking water tank and
changed out the raw water impeller for the engine (there’s a long story that I
will share later). Kim took care of
groceries and the kids played with their new friends. We had lunch and said our goodbyes and headed
out.
North Sea, Bømlo in the background, bound for Scotland
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It was sunny and pretty warm
while we motored through the nested coves and rocks that protect the harbors of
this special island. We passed a fish
farm and set the main sail before we hit the swells of the North Sea. Unfortunately we could not steer directly for
Inverness as the wind was on the nose so we spent our first night tacking back
and forth making for slow progress (also remember the gulf stream is against us
here). I think we sailed 60 NM to make
good only 40 NM towards our mark. The
island of Bømlo has a huge mountain on it so I could see it for a very long
time…even after sailing away all night.
This was all a bit defeating but this is sailing…you just keep at it.
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| Sail training ship…very cool |
The wind was not terribly strong
nor the waves particularly rough, but that morning on Day 2 Kim and I were both
noticeably seasick…not puking but thinking about it for sure. I think I can see a pattern now, I can
and do get seasick. It usually starts the second day for me. Many passages are 24 hours or less so I
didn’t think seasickness was an issue for me but, in fact, it definitely
is. At about 1:30 PM on Wednesday the
wind pretty much died and we found it necessary to use the engine. Soon thereafter we ran out of propane for our
oven (bad timing) and I decided I better take the opportunity during this
relatively calm condition (small waves but big swell) to go forward and work
in the anchor locker to change the tank for a full one. I came pretty close to blowing chunks through
that process. I would work for a minute
or so with my head in the hole and then lie down on my back to compose myself
for 5 minutes. It took me almost a
half-hour to complete a 5 minute task.
That’s how it is out here.
At 7:30 PM, I was inspecting the
boat and found that our roller furler (located in the bow which rolls the genoa
up) was cock eyed. I retrieved a wrench
and fixed it…hadn’t had any issues from that since the boat was near Bermuda.
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| Sunset…we had a full moon that night but the pictures didn’t come out |
What little wind we had finally
clocked around from the Northeast…we ended up motor sailing (sailing with the a
little help from the engine) with the wind at our backs for almost two
days. This was good and bad. Everyone’s seasickness left and I think Kim
ended up having one of her best passages ever, but the constant engine noise and
burning of diesel fuel really gets annoying.
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Approaching an oil rig near sunset
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A floating city it seems…there are dozens of these that can
be seen in the distance
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Our path took us through the
North Sea oil fields which are really quite amazing and interesting to
witness. It seemed fitting for us to
see, up-close, the source of wealth that makes Norway tick.
As we approached Inverness on
Thursday we started to evaluate the situation.
Should we maintain our speed with the engine or back off and sail
slowly. The weather report said heavy
wind for the weekend and then we remembered we needed to get through customs
and immigration etc. If we were too late
we might be stuck in Inverness until Monday.
We also remembered the long distance we needed to travel up river to
reach the sea lock. At the wrong tide
the counter current would cut our speed in half. I don’t know how, but Kim remembered we had a
brochure from Scotland that gave the tides for that spot…she dug it out and it
showed we could ride the tide in on Friday if we got there in the morning and
that it would be high about 2:00 PM. We
ran our calculations and added a few more RPM’s to the engine. The push was on. About 5:00 AM on Friday morning we could see
land and were flying along at over 7 kts.
Suddenly the wind increased to over 25 kts and
we scrambled to get the
engine off and reef the main. I woke Kim
and got her on deck and swung the boat in to the wind to heave-to when I heard
a snap and a crash. A shackle had
snapped or something and the main sheet was no longer attached to the boom. The boom was swinging freely into the rigging…”Oh
SHIT”!. So, plan B was employed. We dropped the main and continued with just
the genoa. An hour later the wind died
and we burned diesel the rest of the way.
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| Note the main sheet laying in the cockpit and the flag straight out! |
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| Bottlenose Dolphin family |
Thanks to Kim we timed the tide
perfectly and rode it up the river on a steamy August day towards the Sea Loch
in Inverness. We passed forts and
beaches and got some amazing views of a rare type of Bottlenose Dolphin that
lives only in this small area. They jump
and summersault and spy hop (stand on their tales to look around) and slap
their tales in some form of communication.
They number less than 200 individuals in this population centered in
Scotland’s Moray Firth. Very special
indeed!
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| Making
pumpkin cake in the Moray Firth approaching Inverness from the sea |
We called the Sea Lock operator
on the VHF as we approached from a nearby bridge and they were surprised how
quickly we made the lock. The current
was over 3 kts pushing us to 9 almost 10 kts.
Midwatch was safely in fresh water by 2:30pm on Friday with plenty of
time to get through customs and settle in at a nice quiet dock for the night. We burned a lot of diesel fuel but the North
Sea was behind us. Spirits were very
high!
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| Bob elated to have the North Sea behind him! |
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| Our tracks: the high road was Inverness to Bergen, the low road was Bømlo to Inverness |
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| Note the oil fields, quite a slalom course! |
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