Happy Birthday!

Had to tear her apart

Marie Lovise was completely rotten inside. There were no other solution. I had to tear her apart.



After. Ready for sanding.



Before. Smelling and rotten.

Reef the sails!

He fooled around with her. Not sure if I liked what I saw.

I had a close eye on the windex in the mast top. We stayed so close up against the wind as we managed. He slammed around with the sails. I had to reef them.

The wind had built up and the sea roared. This was a bit more wind than I had hoped for when I set out to sea this morning.

In a sudden he rolled her over on starboard side, and before I managed to straighten her up the sea flooded in. I stared her up against the wind and she straightened her self up.

This was a little more excitement than I needed. I had gone to sea today to learn more about sailing in strong wind. And I did learn a lot. A lot more than I was ready for.

The wind weakened a bit. I cut some reef ropes and went up on the front deck. Reefed the main sail as I clunged to the mast. Happy with my work, I sneaked back down in to the cockpit.

I had to traverse the ocean between Ask¯y and Helleneset for three hours. I was windbound. The wind came right down the mountains, swept over the harbor and continued over the fjord before it hit me. And this time it brought with it some heavy rain.

The first ting I discovered was that my rain proof coat wasn't that rain proof.

Then I made my second discovery. When it's raining in a sailboat, then it's really pouring down. The water followed the sail back as far as it could. Then it released it self over me - continuously.

Then came a nice shift in the wind direction. With the wind in from starboard I could head for the port. We did fine. I clanged to the tiller and straightened her up against the wind as good as I could. We must have done max speed, which I have been told is seven knots on these boats, but it felt a whole lot faster.

All went well until we reached Bergen harbor. Then, in an instant moment of madness I thought I could sail her straight to the dock. Just sweep in and tie her up. I couldn't. It gave me another hour at sea. Crossing in the harbor was really frustrating. A big cruise ship lined up at one side at the dock worked as a windbreaker, causing turbulence. I gave up and had to admit that now were finally the time come to start the engine. To minimize the risk for a collision while I took down the sails I headed mid-fjord.

I went to sea at 0945 and was in port at 1500 hours. On a good day this trip takes no longer than to hours to complete.


A close watch on the windex.


The main sail is reefed and secured.

Set sail! - the upside down story

They must have been put in the same way they were taken down — I thought.

Looking in the sack, grabbing a part of the sail. Joined it to the rigging. – This doesn't look right at all. Why is this sharp part down here, I mumbled to my self. – Silly boy. You don’t know these things. Just snap it to the rigging. Don't think and every thing will be all right, I replied to myself.

Clear of the docks I killed the engine. Opened the lock. Grabbed the rope, and hauled. Up came the front sail, and all my suspicions were right. I had hauled the sail up side down. The sharpest part of the sail pointed down at the deck.

You could say I learned to rig the sail pretty fast - the right way this time.

I used almost two hours on the fjord to learn what all the ropes and locks and stuff were there for. I was pretty proud of my self when the wind grabbed the sails and we gained speed.

This was the first time I sailed. I have no sail training and no sail course. Still I managed to get the sails up. Sail for a couple of hours and bring her safely back in to harbor.

And for those of you who have a clear eye. Yes! It is a eZ publish partner t-shirt I wear ;-)

Bringing her home

Bringing her home was an eight hour ride on a calm sea. That’s not how you would like to bring home a sailboat.

Per was all geared up and looking forward to a long sail back home. When we arrived at Vabø the wind was gone. I had to drive back to a gas station and get 30 liters of fuel.

On the map John pointed out the best way to sail home. His wife and their grand daughter showed up to take a last goodbye with Marie Lovise. The kid was dressed in a pirates costume for the occasion.

We used about two hours just to get past Mongstad, the oil refinery. For a very short time we thought the wind would come back, but before we managed to haul the sails it had gone again.

I was in the stern handling the tiller, while Per had one eye constantly at the chart.

We passed many places I would like to go back to. Small islands, only inhabited by sheep's. Narrow straits, small bridges, and cabins on the beaches. Beautiful sceneries.

What I remember best from this trip, is possibly the eight hours of noisy humming from the engine.

– You've bought your self a lot of worries, Per said when we finally reached Bergen and our place in the harbor.

My greatest worry right there was that I wouldn't be able to sail here for a whole week. The weather forecast wouldn't promise wind for at lest a couple of days, and then I would be off for the eZ publish conference.


Per - not so geared up any more, after hours for engine.


First night at the new pier.

Going for the trout

– We must go to Hylkje, to night! I checked the aerial photos and there got to bee trout in the sea.

Hylkjebukta is a shallow water small bay with sand bottom. Fresh water pouring out from a small river. Of course there have to be trout in the sea.

Bjørn pretends to be an expert, but it was a friend at work that told him the secrets about this fabulous trout place. Bjørn lent my rod and this mate thought him fly-fishing - or at least how to throw.

Down by the sea. The fly makes a perfect flight. Goes through the air and hit the water without a sound. A perfect cast. Four meters from the rock Bjørn stands on. The trout's break the sea and snaps after bugs. In the middle of the bay. Far, far away from us. This goes on for an hour.

Nothing on the fly rod. So Bjørn switches to a common cast rod. One throw. Second throw. The steel herring blinks in the evening sun, before it ducks in to the sea for a third time. Rings spreading in the water. Suddenly — the row bends. Bjørn explode in excitement. The fishing line vibrates and Bjørn keep the reel spinning.



Fish and predator.


Fly fishing in the quite hour.


Fishy eyes.


Look at him! Bjørn is nothing but one happy grin.

Diving mud

Diving from Sletten kai today was like diving in mud. The sea was one brown soup of mud and algae.

I didn't sea Nina on my way to the bottom. Had to sit still on the bottom for over a minute. Then I spotted her stream of air bubbles. A black shadow in the algae soup came towards me. After signaling, every thing OK, to each other we continued down and out of the harbor.

We have dived this place before, and therefore expected a clean sand floor. Not this time. Some brown algae I don't know have taken over the sea floor. This is usually a good place to pick scallops, but this time we didn't find many of them. Probably because of the algae. Got a handful of scallops and didn't see much else. But the cold May sun shined at us on the pier, so we used pretty long time to get our gear together. Just enjoying the sun, talking, eating and packing the gear together was worth the trip. After a rainy winter this cold sun was overwhelming.


Dive buddy Nina with treasures from the sea.


Me relaxing.

Diving with the colossus

This gigantic Nephrops norvegicus waves its claws against me. I stop. This is nothing like expected.

This colossus probably measuring up at 15 fabulously centimeters. He is king of his cave, and ruler of the sandy sea floor in front of me. Backing in to his cave he whispers silently to me: – Float any nearer and I will make seafood of you.

This dive was a pleasant surprise. Nothing like expected. Shallow water and a muddy sea floor was what I had pictured. The pier, where we could park our cars close to the sea, were the only reason for us to chose this place. I, and my dive buddy Nina, had also grown tired of our usual dive sites.

We saw many different sea animals. Ling was the most common fish at this places. A little bit surprising, because we didn't dive that deep. My depth meter stopped at 23 meters. They have probably come up from the deep cold fjord to prey on small fish in the warm shallow water.

I recommend this place to those who have just started out diving. There is no nasty currents here, nor no danger of getting to deep. You just follow the berg down to your favorite depth. When it's time to descent, just fin in to the each and follow it upwards. There you can take a really lazy safety stop. Laying on a shelf watching small creatures crawl around you.

TIL MEG SELV: Foruten lange, så vi flere sorter eremittkreps. Noen av disse hadde lange, blå tråder. Forskjellige sjøstjerner, en sjøpølse, små krabber, kråkeboller og mange kolonier med store o-skjell.