Water under the keel once more…

Our two great Viking ships are back in their right element after comprehensive maintenance work by members of the respective boat teams. Adventure waits ahead….

Text: Einar Chr. Erlingsen

Saga Oseberg and Saga Farmann will both leave for distant shores this coming summer. The most ambitious plans have been laid for Saga Farmann. Starting on May 28 she will during the next seven weeks sail from Tønsberg to Avaldsnes (southwestern Norway), then continue to Roskilde in Denmark before heading north for her home port once more.

The plans made for Saga Oseberg are not quite as ambitious. As an archaeological replica she is not fitted out with an engine, so her crew have to trust the sail, wind and their own arm and back muscles to take them where they want. 

“Our plans are quite flexible,” says Tor Øydvin, Master on Saga Oseberg for some legs of her voyage. “We shall go where the weather and the wind will take us, what´s important is to sail and to experience the unique comradeship on board a Viking ship where we all depend on each other. So we might travel south along the coast, perhaps to Sweden or even a visit to Oslo.”

In June, Saga Farmann will take part in the celebrations of the 1150 years since the Battle at Hafrsfjord. There king Harald Fairhair succeeded in forging the many small chiefdoms into one united kingdom: Norway. That should be a spectacular event for our own Vikings.

Saga Farmann´s ambitious plans also have to do with next year´s intnded expedition to Istanbul, according to boat team leader Dan Cato Fagernes. “Experience gained this summer will undoubtedly be of great value during next year´s sailing,” he says.

There are still a few seats free on both ships for boat team members. Its hard to imagine a more exotic summer holiday!

All photos: Willy Fredriksen.

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