From Gutvik to Vegstein, on Vega. (65 41.2N / 012 1.6E)
Woken up (lateish) by the Fast Ferry starting up its day, right next door, and churning up the water with its waterjets.
These fast ferries can be called the buses of the seas, do about 50 km/t, and get you there quickly. Ordinary ferries, at about 20 to 25 km/t, do the hard work and have always been part of island life. Carrying anything and everything, and with a simple kiosk where coffee and snacky food are in good demand.
From a drizzly start the day gradually improved with a light southwester, so mid morning we set off for destination(s) northward, motorsailing at a gentle pace. First place was Brønnøysund, (65 28.5N / 012 12.4E), but the day was still youngish, the guest harbour looked very full, and the breeze was picking up, so we continued, and enjoyed a wonderful brisk sail all the way to Vegstein, even keeping pace with two cabin cruisers who looked a bit puzzled. The wind was decidedly chilly, and it rained occasionally, and I was glad that I had turned on the heating well before arrival in the late evening, so I could thaw out.
A taptap on the hull even later revealed friend Britt, who could see Josin’s mast from her sitting room, and came down to welcome me.
Next morning, yesterday, wednesday 10 july, dawned (for me, lateish) with a gentle breath of northerly wind and blue skies. Amazing! Rather unexpected, and very welcomely warm after yesterday. Didn’t quite get to shorts level, but only one light jersey sufficed.
With a northerly wind, visibility is always good and although you can’t see it in the next pic, Lovund’s very characteristic mountain was on the horizon at 75 km. That lump on the left of the pic, Donna, is only 45 km away. That’s near the next anchorage.
Morning was busy with some domestics, chatting to the locals and eating waffles in the museum in the red building on the right of the pic. Local dialect is challenging, so after the first waffle I dashed back to the boat to put my hearing aids in. Louder dialect and more words caught.
Ever since one of my earlier visits, I have had my own Vegstein coffee mug, identifiable with a double reef knot round the handle, (thankyou Knut), and stored on a high shelf. Sad, it had gone, in a significant tidy-up I understand.
Later, more coffee and local carrot cake with Britt on her sunny veranda. Heard about her brother Johan, who had always been at a separate shed at the museum, tending old boat engines, some run-able, (I even assisted), but was now in the local nursing home, sadly reduced. We visited him in the evening bearing strawberries and vanilla cream, but it was sad. Life is inevitable.
Afternoon was spent at the World Heritage Centre, a really must-see. Tells the history of the local islands, especially the husbanding of the Eider duck, from which the nesting down has it’s name and fame as the best eiderdown filling there is. Eiderdowns still for sale, but at bank-account-emptying cost.
The evening brought “Mares tails in the blue, rain is soon due”, high cirrus moving rapidly north.
Yes, it is misty and drizzly this morning, forecast to dry up soon for us to be on our way again.
Alls well, if damp.
John
Josin's 2025 cruise 