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Josin spent the winter on land at Mauseid Bil og Båt, near Ålesund, and was looked after by Harald, also to re-tie down recalcitrant tarpaulins which escaped at the edges in the winter gales.

I made several trips from Kongsberg to carry out the spring maintenance and make a few changes. It is nearly 600 km, rather too long for one day, so I stayed the night about half way at Toftemo Tourist Station, just south of Dombås. Traditional country-style, comfortable and homely. What was planned to have been a next-to-last trip in late April, wasn’t, because of the weather:

All was well inside however, and with the help of Josin’s heater and a borrowed fan heater, the temperature rose to liveable levels.
The final trip in the middle of May was with the car loaded with sails and inflatable dingy and bedding and cushions and other household clobber and essential un-obtainables, like Marmite, (thankyou Gilbert), and Marmelade, (thankyou Kari). Fortunately my car is a voluminous, squarish one, but it was full to the brim. Back home again to close the house for the summer and return by: kindneighbour (thankyou Gunnar), train, train, bus, bus, and walk. (Bag was very heavy with last-minute things).
Next morning, Monday, the last day in May, Harald finally turned up to polish the hull, and on the afternoon tide, Josin finally got water-borne, rather later than planned, but never mind. She floated, no leaks, Ha!

Gloom set in when it became apparent that the engine’s sea water pump was leaking at the shaft. Not much, but worrying. Volvo Penta’s workshop could assure me that they didn’t possibly have the capacity or the necessary spares to do anything before in several week’s time (this is our busyest time you see). Of course. Subsequent monitoring of the leak revealed that it reduced to a manageable drip.
Onward!
Moored for the night in the center of Ålesund to stock up with fuel and food, and woke next morning to glorious sunshine and a nice breeze. Promising! Auspicious!.
So, at 09:30, on 2nd June, we set off on this year’s cruise, goal: The North.

Josin about to leave Ålesund, (pic captured from a webcam, by Gilbert). Even the locals were bubbling about the weather. Turned out of course that the breeze out at sea was not that in the harbour. North, and we were heading NNE. Fickle. We had the genoa out for about an hour total, but the engine was on all the way, to Sandøy, (62 49.3 / 006 34.4). Glorious evening.

Next day the weather was about the same, but chillier, and although the sun warmed, I hadn’t put enough clothes on and got gradually colder. First sailor-mistake of the season! A lunch-stop was in order, at Askvaagen, (62 58.0 / 007 02.3), to re-clothe, eat, and have a snooze. Onward to Kristiansund, (63 07.1 / 007 44.0), all the way on engine. Boring, but lightened by an audio book in the earphones.

Today, a Friday, the square in Kristiandsund is filled with stalls selling new-baked bread, farmhouse cheese and cold meats. Samples. Yum! Purchases. Enough for days now! Still magnificently sunny, with a northerly breeze, and the forecast for tomorrow is about the same, so the rest of the day I’ll relax, and read, and snooze.

Alls well!

From JosinJohn 🙂