30) Trollfjord to Svolvær to Hamarøy to Nordskot

Grey morning in Trollfjord, no sun, so another day without summer. On the way to Svolvær we saw this coming to Trollfjord. Looks a comfortable way to travel and with excellent viewability. It may be electric, it was quiet enough, there are several tourist vessels and ferries now with electric propulsion.

Uneventful the rest of the way to Svolvær, with the famous statue at the harbour entrance of a fisherman’s wife looking for her husband. Further in were long rows of the frames used for drying the vast amounts of cod caught here in the Vestfjord in the early months of the year.

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Svolvær guest harbour was over-full, with motorboats tied up two-abreast, contrary to covid 19 rules, and absolutely no space for Josin. So we tied up to the harbour wall, high, next to a ladder to climb ashore. Not pleasant. Went food shopping, read a little and then went to bed, intending an early start.

No. It was raining when I woke up, also for the second time, and continued until lunchtime, then a sudden clearance, blue skies, and a southerly wind. Oho! Activity in the harbour. Queue to get out. Outside the harbour entrance there were waves, big waves, so we motored to the shelter of a convenient island to hoist the sails, first main, then genakker. Whoosh! 10 to 15 knots of wind abeam and we had a rollercoaster ride across the fjord, rolling and pitching and enjoying it immensely. Wind gradually decreased until the movement of the boat was more than the wind could hold the sails filled. so we motored the rest of the short distance to Straumshavn, on Hamarøy, (68 06.4 / 015 22.3), and anchored in a well-protected bay in crystal-clear, icy-green water, bottom very visible. It seemed much closer than the depth sounder showed, 5,4 meters. Water wasn’t that clear and deluding, surely? Could the sounder be wrongly calibrated? Needs checking. Measured the depth with the most reliable method of all: A weight on the end of a piece of string. Just over two meters. But the keel is 1,6 meters below the waterline! Ah, humph. How many times have we nearly hit bottom in blissful ignorance? Half an hour later of pressing buttons on the chart plotter and trolling through all the menus, eventually revealed where to make adjustments. The sounder now reads zero with 20 cm of water under the keel. Since then, all waters have been shallower, some nearly nail-bitingly so. Haven’t touched yet!

Peaceful night and a wakeup call from the sun, bursting out from behind a mountain to the east. Shower. Breakfast. The forecast wind duly appeared and we up-anchored and left, hoisting sails just out of the bay.

Looking back, there was the famous “Hammarøyskaft”, of which I’d taken a picture on the way north without realising its significance.

Another glorious genakker sail south-along, this time with the wind on the quarter, and only the vestige of yesterday’s rollers on the bow.

Interesting weather conditions, each mountain had its own cumulus cloud as a hat, with old ones downstream:

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It couldn’t last of course. Before we got to goal for the day, Røsøy on the island of Steigen, it was back to motorsailing, then only motoring as the way in to the harbour was to the north. Disappointing. Only unoccupied tie-up was obviously a private slot. A short walk ashore revealed little of interest, so we left again and headed for Nordskot, which I knew. The guest pontoon is an “L”, with the long bit exposed to the westerly winds, and waves and wakes of passing boats, and the short bit more sheltered. An enormous sailing boat occupied the whole length of it. So now I sit here on the long bit and bounce. A young couple, in a 40 foot sailing boat, was dithering to leave in their inexperience, because of the wind pressing them onto the pontoon. SkipperJohn showed them how to use a “spring” a diagonal rope from bow to shore, and the engine and rudder to rotate the boat out at the stern, until they could back out with space to spare. Hoots of joy when they left. Good deed of the day. Dinner now, then read..

Alls well