Passage Report: 81
Lindesnes to Oslo
Signs of oncoming winter: shorter days. Gone is 0400 dawn, emerging light is 0600.
In 8m, a forest of long spaghetti like, watery weed seeks the light. No more the broad leaf of northern Norway. Its tentacles wrap the anchor and chain.
Skipper starts "Lofoten boats" - a large pastel. Later treks the island peaks.
Purple heather covers the island. Last colour of summer. Skipper sketches "Pink Mountain" - pink streaks the white, grey, granite merging with the purple tints. A white swam elegantly swims the waters edge.
Sun warms the day. Skipper enjoys a short swim.
Sahula again transits the Blindleia - long, narrow intra-island channel. Summer houses, seemingly occupying each inlet, rock, island, stand ghost like, curtains drawn, flag flying, chairs arranged, boat moored, immaculate.
Sahula anchors in Ny Hellesund bay (8m).
Skipper, in dinghy, seeks a shop:
"...there is no shop, only in fjords, too far in such a small boat... nobody is here. For three generations, people lived here...trading ships used to winter here... see the bollards still in the rock... now only holiday homes. It is a very short summer (June, July), like a gate closing, August they leave. Not like Sweden... no homes on islands like here...quite quaint really... a man comes out and keeps an eye on them, each week...I leave tomorrow..."
Henrik Ibsen - poet, playwright lived in Grimstad. His workplace (pharmacy), desk, home, is a museum.
Sahula berths at the "guesthavn" - 150k off season, 300k in summer, shower 30k. Three yachts are occupied, off season, by local university students.
"... we finish next year, the oil companies always want engineers..."
Museum is closed (winter). Olav, manager, provides a personal tour. Ibsen wrotes plays for Ole Bull's theatre.
Sahula berths in Arendal's "Pollen" - inner city harbour, alongside the concrete, tyre hung, wall. The art gallery is open off season, Tuesday to Friday; it is Saturday.
"You have sailed from Australia - I studied in Bendigo in Victoria - outdoor education...I am now in the army..."
Sahula passes through the narrow channel through historic, Lyngor island village to anchor in an inlet (8m). Skipper dives to remove "tentacle" weed wrapping the propellor. Fishing lines hooks seaweed, rocks and breaks.
"...there are only 60 people here. It is end of season, today. I have no bread till next year...they live in Oslo, inherit the houses, usually share them. I do differently, I come from Oslo and live here..."
A dull click, the anchor winch fails. Skipper presses the button again, again - nothing... thoughts "what if..." "It" is not the circuit breaker - is there power at the winch? Anchor chain is heaped on deck. Skipper awkwardly, painfully, curses the electic motor's location - a loose, underdeck, switch wire - relief - it works.
Sahula sails under warm, clear skies and aft quarter wind to anchor off Jumfruland Island (8m).
A gale drenches Sahula. A lay day: starts "Lofoten Peaks" in pastel and a walk ashore.
Fine, cloudless dawn, Sahula heads offshore to sail to Oslo Fjord. Approaching the channel, Tanya refuses to start, then does.
Few things test a sailor more than engine failure - "what if?"; "how?" In an unfamiliar country - langauge, cost, expertise... combined with anchor winch "misbehaviour" dictates caution and a marina.
Sahula berths in Vallo marina. Tanya is fine. A NW'ly blows down the fjord. Sahula motors to Oslo.
Passenger ships and large ferry's speed by.
A Norwegian Customs (Toll) boat queries Skipper and leaves.
Sahula anchors in Havna Inlet, Snaeroy Island in sight of the city. Suburban modernity overlooks Sahula - dogs bark, children play - Sahula is again in the "real" world.
The next day a move to nearby Langarasund Sound (Bronnoya Island) amongst the many Oslo yachts and motor launches enjoying a weekend lunch. Oslo friends (met on their 7 year circumnavigation, in Indonesia) bring their yacht to join Sahula.
Sahula moves to friend's Nesoya (island) marina. Skipper enjoys again a hot shower and superb Norwegian hospitality.
Birthday skype rendition of "Happy Birthday" to twin daughters who remind Skipper of Fathers Day.
"Dad, isn't the anchor winch critical...?" Skipper contorts into the anchor locker, reaches upside down, blind to clean the winch electrical connections. "Electricians charge over 1000 k an hour, this is an expensive country..." Winch induces frustration till it goes. Skipper is bruised, blooded but relieved.
"I have an Oslo friend in the north...trapped in 60 knot gales... no, you where right to come south in August..."
Friends drive Skipper to visit the winter ski jumps and cross country trails. Many are in "winter" training, skiing on wheels.
Henie, famous Norwegian figure skater and art collector, married wealthy ship owner, Ostand. They built the Henie Ostand Art Gallery - architectural excellence (gallery "excellence": views, framed from inside, are themselves art) housing a superb collection set in sculptured harbour parkland.
Skipper visits an Oslo boat show. "Beautiful boats, but I wouldn't want to be at sea..."
Sahula moves to Herbern Marina (400k) at the Akka Brygge (old harbour) in central Oslo - "field of the gods" - a modern, bustling, wealthy city.
Australian crew arrives for two week stay. Sahula relishes the female aboard.
"I paint not what I saw, I paint what I see..." - Edvard Munch. "The Scream" and other works epitomise this philosophy at the National Art Gallery. A second "Scream" is at Oslo's Munch Art Museum.
"Fram" museum contrasts with the Viking Museum.
The former, houses Amundsen's ship. Designed by Norwegian naval architect, Colin Archer to lift above the crushing ice of Arctic and Antarctic exploration - canoe stern, rounded underwater, massive timbers, retracting rudder and propellor.
Three viking ships - ancient (900 AD - recovered from burial mounds.), light, "clinker" built, aesthetically sleek, rowed, sailed, Atlantic going. Skipper wonders at their bluff nosed, bulky, successors that dominated ship design in subsequent history.
Huge, ("horizontal skyscapers") passenger ships and ferries come and go.
Skipper and crew wander Oslo's byways into the "immigrant quarter" - hustling, colourful, markets - through the "diplomatic quarter" - stately, elegance - around the Royal Palace.
Rising crime rates, street begging, social welfare, are frequently attributed to "... too many immigrants... if they can't get a job they should leave..." politicised in a rightwing "anti-immigrant" party.
Vigiland Park, home to Norway's pre-eminent sculptor's bronze life statues, create a unique, outdoor setting.
Oslo Opera House - Norway's modern architectural icon - spectacular, white, angular - stands dominant over the harbour - a massive monument to Scandinavian design.
Clearing weather, Sahula prepares to depart, south, for Goteborg.
Next Report - Oslo to Goteborg.
David
12/9/12
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