The weather forecasts for today had seemed to indicate that we would be spending another day in Peel, on the Isle of Man. However it seemed Carsten was determined to make the crossing to Ireland whatever the weather and the crew were up early for their daily portion of porridge. As we set off in glorious sunshine we were given a warm send-off by the locals, and many were sad to be leaving this small island in the Irish Sea. Triona and Erik told me that they would both be back at some point in the future, so the Isle of Man made an impression with the Vikings.
Climbing to fix the sail
Contrary to the weather forecast there was a brisk breeze. Soon out of Peel Harbour the sail was raised and we began to make good progress, but it soon became clear that there was a problem with the sail. One of the ropes had become loosened and so a brave crew member clambered up the sail and attempted to fix the problem. Hanging from the sail 15ft above the deck it was no easy task, but the crew member in question is a climber and seemed to take it all in his stride. However he hasn’t been training for a year or so and told me breathlessly that he was exhausted when he finally shimmied down the side of the sail - all in a day’s work on 'Sea Stallion'.
With the sea flat and the sun shining it was a million miles away from the dramatic events of Monday. Glenn told me that he was enjoying the calm sailing, but was glad to have been through the experience earlier in the week. Many seemed to agree with him and feel that the rough crossing more than made up for the North Sea.
Fixing the sail at sea
With a temporary, modern, rudder strap in place after the original broke in the high seas of Monday, 'Sea Stallion' seemed to be handling well. However, at the other end of the ship Edgar was working on a replacement – he had decided to replace the wood and iron bolts that had resulted in the previous straps breaking with two lengths of rope, which he was stitching together with thick twine. He told me that ‘in an experimental archaeology project such as this, we often have to guess at how the Vikings would have designed things like `the rudder strap’. One of the ship builders on board is also working on another replacement, based on the old design, but Edgar assured me that is was not a competition!
As the day wore on the seas began to pick up, the wind slackened and so progress became slow. The waves started to get quite rough – particularly when the wind and tide were moving in the opposite directions. It wasn’t quite to Monday’s level but enough to make 'Sea Stallion' roll around quite a bit. The situation was a lot worse on the support vessel 'Island Fox'. Being much smaller it suffers more from the swells and much of the afternoon felt like a very long rollercoaster ride.
As evening falls 'Sea Stallion' is still sailing. It is estimated that we will reach the Irish coast sometime early tomorrow morning. Exact destination, as yet, unknown.
