The waiting was finally over and last night 'Sea Stallion' set off at the stroke of midnight. The weather forecast predicted good easterly winds, and there was a sense of expectation at the long crossing ahead. Rowing in the twilight we made our way through the Norwegian fjords passing a number of small villages in eerie silence. Solvej, one of the two cooks onboard, said to me 'we were sort of sneaking out in the middle of the night'. Here and there we saw people coming out from the few houses and you could actually see the black figures. They must have thought ‘wow what is this, something from outer space or history coming back from a thousand years ago?’ I had volunteered to spend the night on the ship and was soon sweating from the numerous layers I had on under my survival suit. This far north the sun never really seems to disappear and there’s always a lingering band of light on the horizon which confuses your sense of time.
Hard rowing at night
After two hours of rowing the ship reached the open sea and set sail, although the wind was not expected to pick up until the early hours of the morning. Many crew members took the opportunity to grab some sleep whilst they could. As the temperatures dropped tea, coffee and soup were passed about for the crew members on watch. The only sounds were the crunching of biscuits, the flapping of the sail and the snores of the sleeping majority. I became very thankful of my overdressing; you become very cold on the open sea when simply sitting and waiting. Some members of the crew also began to feel the cold too, even hardy Erik: 'I am feeling a little bit chilled actually. Probably just from the rowing earlier which makes you a little bit sweaty and wet.' I found out later that it is Erik’s 61st birthday today, a fact he kept hidden from me until someone let me into the secret.
As dawn broke there was still no sign of the promised wind and the ship was simply drifting, a mile or so from the coast. One of the crew, Axel, told me ruefully – ‘we’re sailing 0.1 knots I think and its practically staying still here. We were hoping that we could get out here and catch some eastern wind but it hasn’t shown up yet.’ If the winds didn’t pick up soon the crew might be facing the possibility of heading back to Norway and waiting, a prospect that no-one wanted to think about. I headed back to the support ship 'Cable One' before breakfast to have a hot shower and a rest. When I awoke I heard the bad news – the forecast had changed and now there was a gale heading from the southwest. Carsten the skipper faced the unenviable decision: turn back and shelter in the fjord, or be towed across the North Sea to Orkney.
'Sea Stallion' under tow
After a meeting and much agonizing, Carsten decided that 'Sea Stallion' should be towed across to Orkney. It may seem like defeat but the alternative would have been to wait in Norway, possibly for many weeks. 'That’s what the Vikings would have done.' says Carsten, 'but we are not Vikings - we have a time schedule.' The ship has to get to Dublin, and the crew have jobs and homes to go back to. They want do as much sailing as possible during their 6 weeks on board. There’s also important research to be done on the ship and that means sailing it, ideally in the waters in which the original Viking ship sailed. 'We think that it’s a better alternative to tow now and then we miss the North Sea but we still have a chance to sail the ship in its home waters from the north of Scotland to the Irish sea. Really this area has the most challenging sailing.'
The crew understood Carsten’s decision, but that doesn’t mean they’re happy with it. There’s a lot of disappointment at not being able to sail the North Sea. Then again, no one would have wanted to get blown back to Norway to spend days more waiting. So reluctantly the ship took a tow rope from 'Cable One' and set off for Orkney.
We’re now out in the North Sea and it’s still strangely calm – with only the gentlest of swells. We’re scheduled to arrive in Orkney Tuesday afternoon and then the real sailing can begin – or so everyone hopes.
