Sail to Flekkefjord, Norway

On Tuesday, July 21^st, we left Texel to sail to Helgoland, Germany, to pick up tax free fuel and break up our journey to Norway.   We said goodbye to our friends, Annehei and Willem from Meerlust.   We left with a Norwegian boat, Werner and Ad, and a Belgium Boat, Werner and Evie.  We were rafted with both couples in Texel and had enjoyed good conversation and camaraderie.   

The sail through the Waddenzee was a delight and we saw about 20 big barges under sail.  Exiting Vlieland was bumpy with 15 knots west wind against 1.5 knots ebbing tide.

 Dutch yacht on left and  Belgium yacht on right

 

 A Dutch sailing barge meets the lovely Dutch yacht

 

Our friends sail past the barge

 

 Four wooden barges off the starboard bow

 

 The Dutch still make these beauties today!

 

 Amazing to see twenty different barges at once!

Another beauty

We crossed the shipping lanes on a beam reach…and we looked at the chart and JFK said let’s skip Helgoland and keep straight on to Norway….so we did.   We had good winds till Wednesday eve when the wind went NW at 25 to 30 knots and seas were 12 foot and quite confused…no problem with reefed sails, though Nancy was feeling off, and then we realized that when she had taken a shower the first night she had accidentally washed off her Scopalamine patch!  Oops!

Earlier we had gone West of our rum line on purpose and so when the North West winds came we were in good shape sailing at 65 degrees apparent…always good to put some degrees in the bank! 

 Just three of the many oil rigs we passed.  Happily, they use AIS so we see them clearly.

 

Wednesday evening....confused seas, but a glorious sunset through a salty port.

Arrived off Lista at 4PM Thursday and enjoyed a quiet charming sail for a couple of hours past Hidra into the mouth of Flekkefjord, then motored five miles through the fjord up to the town, enjoying the scenery. At Frekkefjord town we were lucky to find a T head open on the new town dock.

 An impressive square rigger leaves the fjord

 

 Breathtaking scenery along the fjord

 

 These are flooded valleys.....depths can be 1000 feet or more.

 

 There are very few places to anchor.

 

 It was worth it to come to Norway just to see the scenery!

 

 Adventuress arrives at Flekkefjord as another square rigger leaves.

(picture taken by Thor)

 

 Thankfully we found the last place to dock because there was no place to anchor!

 

Nancy sighs with relief!

We have spent two and a half days exploring this delightful town of Flekkefjord.  Here are some pictures of this very charming, clean town.

 How's this for a back yard!

 

 Some new construction. Hospital is at top of photo.

 

JFK loved the flowers

 

 This week-end they were having their annual salmon festival which included fresh grilled salmon, entertainment and a carnival.  Sadly it was raining lightly but fun was had by all.

 

It is rare when we meet people and are invited into their home…….here we met two such couples. Harmony and Thor and their two lovely young children.  They have an apartment in town and spend a month here each year.  The rest of the year they reside in California.  Thor spotted the Stars and Stripes on Adventuress as we came up the fjord and soon after we docked he came down to say hello. We invited the family to visit the next day and so their kids were able to explore our boat, albeit at dock. In their apartment they treated us to coffee and Norwegian waffles with dark goat’s cheese – the Norwegian version of afternoon tea!

 

The second couple, Shannon and Ornulf, are ocean sailors who crossed the Atlantic to the Caribbean on their former boat Babbette, a Najad 32..  They are retired and reside in a quaint and charming old house in the center of the “Dutch” historic section of Flekkefjord.  We swapped stories of oceans travelled and islands visited, and they gave us a fine dinner of salmon followed by fresh local strawberries and raspberries with cream: fantastic! 

 

 

We sincerely thank both couples for inviting us into their homes:  it made this visit to Flekkefjord extra special.

So we leave today, Sunday, to continue our Norwegian exploration.

Our very best to everyone,

Nancy and John