Ålesund - Molde
Up early and steamed out of Moljegapet, heading north along Nord Øyane. Near gale from north with very short head sea in the northern part decreased the speed drastically, so we went to Misundet where we dropped the anchor and relaxed for a couple of hours before we reached down Julsundet and into the Romsdalsfjord to Molde, where we docked beside the Hotel Seilet ( the sail) and Røkkes football stadium (far right).
Molde - Håholmen
Late departure, first to Molde Yacht club for refuelling, then nice beating through Julsundet past Bud and then out on the Hustadvika. Hustadvika is an open, unprotected stretch, famous for it's rough sea conditions.
But the waves were long and pleasant and we had a good NE fresh breeze, and could do long tacks towards Håholmen.
The approach is rather exiting, with a lot of shallows on both sides. This one is called Svorva.
Håholmen is an island facing Hustadvika and Ragnar Thorseth has worked a lot here with preserving old boats and houses and especially collecting antiquities related to boats and the costal culture, which adds a very nice atmosphere to this small island.
On the way out from Håholmen, we passed "Kvitserk" a replica of a Viking ship, which is used by the conference centre Håholmen Havstuer at the island .
Ragnar Thorseth sailed around the world with the sister ship "Saga Siglar".
Håholmen - Kristiansund
A short stretch today, with nice tacking to Kristansund, where we stocked up supplies for the fairway towards Trondheim.
Click on the picture for the video!
Kristiansund-Forsnesvågen
NE strong breeze and still close-hauled. When entering the fairway we could gaze at Trollheimen that raised up in the distance.
In Forsnesvågen we found some shelter, even though it was blowing 10m/s in the bay, and could drop the anchor for the night.
Forsnesvågen - Uthaug
Left early in NE Tidlig avgårde i NØ fresh breeze.
For two whole days we could see the smoke from the oil refinery Tjeldbergodden, before we passed it.
Later we experienced a strange phenomena. (right) We were sailing on a port tack, with small white crusted waves coming in on out port side!
Another phenomena: when we left the fairway to Trondheim at Leksa, a strong breeze met the current and created this disruption of the waves.
The characteristic lighthouse at Kjeungsskjær, is also called "The red sailor".
We could not complain about the local alarm clock this morning, at 0730, a NATO AWACS plane took off almost over the boat, 15 minutes later the next AWACS.
and for the grand finale; 6 F16's with full afterburner
but the show was not over...
A cormorant caught an eel in the harbour.
The eel wound itself around the beak of the cormorant, and the fight lasted quite some minutes.
In the end the cormorant won the fight, shook the eel down its throat with the aid of of some heavy strokes of the wings. The bulge on the bird neck is the eel.
The island Skjervøy has 20 residents and a shop. We asked a guy at the local scrap yard, if the shop was open, but unfortunately it was closed. But that didn't pose any problem, one short call and the shop was opened by the granddaughter of the owner, an we could get our dinner! ( the shop is the whitish house with red roof to the left.
Skjervøy-Utvorda
A short tack out to Folla, and then towards land again and to Utvorda. The new crew arrived and we all celebrated Midsummers Eve at the local restaurant.
