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.