Josin’s 2025 cruise, #14

There has been a short intermission, sorry! (More in a bit).

From Huftarøy to Mosterhamn to Tananger.

My hopes came true. After about an hour of motoring, starting late morning, the northerly wind came in and we genakker-sailed all the way down the (nameless) fjord to Mosterhamn. Mosterhamn wasn’t the goal for the day, but which became Plan B, as an enormous storm cloud very rapidly developed across the sky, and rumbled and lightning-ed and was very threatening. There were several other sailing boats in the harbour, all larger than Josin, with taller masts, and I reckoned that a lightning strike would hit someone else.
It rained only, large drops making rings on the water, but with very little cooling effect.

Next morning was thursday, 24th July, and it will be remembered.
1. Forgot to remove hearing aids before swim, and one fell out. So stupid.
2. Phone call telling me that my life-long friend from uni-days had passed.
3. Three phone calls from the house-alarm company, the first two to say that there was a technical problem, oh?, and the third to say that there had been a break-in, alarm activated and that there was someone in the house. And here was me enjoying a gentle sail towards Haugesund. The telephone glowed.

Alarm company and police came and did their thing, neighbours gathered and informed, and one, Rolf, bless him, kept up a running commentary via telephone and coordinated communication, one with policeman who took a thorough inspection and we could agree that there was noting of value missing. Phew!
Lock smith came and changed locks, leaving security again and a whopping bill. (By now evening and special rates).
I could relax.
Nasty experience, leaves one a bit wobbly, having had one’s private space violated.
Sleep illuminated and disturbed by break-in imaginations.
Early awake. So, what next? Trip home indicated? Yes. Best to ensure no loose ends, and start the “paperwork”.
Goal for the day was therefore Tananger, from where I could take bus/train home. Long way, 52 nm. Go. Engine on and purring. Breakfast on the move. Heading south-westward out of the fjord.
Strange indications on the AIS screen. (other vessels nearby). Turned out to be this:

Easy to see, easy to avoid, including the very long tow-hawser between tugboat and platform, and the one “pushing” behind, well, helping to steer.
Then turned south and a helpful wind, which lasted the rest of the day. Through Haugesund with a following current, 3 kt in the narrows under the bridge, and on, and on, and on, to Tananger in the early evening.
Night train from Stavanger had a “lounge seat”, leaving at 22:something, so a pause for a meal and a snooze before catching a bus to town.
You never sleep well on a train do you? But Kongsberg in the early sunshine was welcoming, and Norma was kind enough to fetch me and my food-shopping. Kiwi was open at 7.

Home and an inspection first. Drawers open. Shelves emptied. Plenty of things strewn. He’d obviously been looking for small things easy to sell, and had only found and taken an old iPhone which I should have binned before. Lucky me!

It was friday, and fridays are coffee-and-cake days at 11 in our common house. So tales were told and relished and questions resolved.
Tidy up
“Paper”work. Telephone and iMac busy.
Change alarmcode.
Snoozes, to catch up on sleep.
The day disappeared.
Convivial evening with neighbours on Rolf and Turid’s terrasse.
Back to the railway station by kind Norma and night train back to Stavanger. Bus to Tananger.
Breakfast and more snoozes.
Bus 15 minutes to giga-shopping mall at Madla. Found what i needed. Bus back.

Next morning, it now being sunday, promised a northerly wind so we set hopefully off after a leisurely breakfast and found a breeze, not a wind, so it was a motor-sailing day in rather confused seas which confused the sails, to just outside Egersund where we anchored in good-holding mud for the night.

Alls well,
Back-to-boating-John