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6 weeks in Lofoten: With the Polaris between snowstorm and midsummer

from Nils-Peter Hey

When I set off for Norway in mid-April, it is the last real night for me. Arriving in Bodo, I quickly learn that eye masks and cabin blinds are valuable aids. It’s not really getting dark any more. My job: 4 trips, 6 weeks, 1 ship. Travelling beyond the Arctic Circle on our 17.50m Polaris. With changing crews on changing routes across the Lofoten, Vesteralen and Senja, from Vaeroy to Tromso, from Bodo to Andenes. My role is that of co-skipper. At HS Segelreisen, we always operate according to the seniority principle familiar from aviation. The “real” skipper is either the older one or the one with more experience on the ship or the sailing area. In case of doubt, the formally higher licence wins, but this does not play a role for us. With us, everyone has the German and English licences. In day-to-day practice, this question of hierarchy is only of significance in terms of maritime law. We work extremely closely together in the management and training of our crews. You can learn a lot from Guido Dwersteg, who is unofficially something like our chief skipper. The hardened single-handed sailor knows so many little tricks that it often leaves me amazed. And HS owner Uwe Heissel, who has been sailing for a good 50 years, has his own routines and life hacks that you can copy. I will be organising two trips with each of them for our international guests. As I’m on the Polaris all the time, with a twinkle in my eye it doesn’t matter who is skipper under me.

With our first crew, Guido and I set off towards Vaeroy under blue skies. The catch: the entire 9 days will be very frosty, but we’ll mostly have good wind, watch orcas hunting and plough our way from one highlight to the next on the inside of the Lofoten Wall. Reine, Nusfjord and Henningsvaer are the first stops. All are characterised by their excellent culinary offerings. The fish soup in the “Fiskekrogen” will also be an important motivation booster on the following trips. Speaking of frosty weather: I bought a drysuit for my time in Norway. This is a waterproof suit that you wear under your sailing clothes. It saves your life if you go overboard, as it prevents cold water shock and significantly slows down the cooling process. Our guests on board obviously have no problem with cooling down. A Swiss couple show such tenacity and resistance to the cold when steering the Polaris that they command the respect of any self-proclaimed sea dog. A visit to the Trollfjord and anchoring in Raftsund are obligatory if you want to experience the character of the Lofoten Islands. We then choose the “west round” and sail via Laukvika and Stamsund back to the Ofoten (no spelling mistake, the mainland part of the region), ending the trip in Bodo.

Guido and I have two days off. A bit of cleaning and then a massage and sauna. That’s the plan. Think again. A defective outboard motor, stern thruster batteries and an exhaust gas temperature sensor in the heating system will effectively keep us on our toes. With unbridled diligence, overtime and bruises, we are ready in time for the arrival of the new crew. The weather allows us another wonderfully sunny and cold Lofoten round trip with our first stop in Reine. The second crew is characterised by their incredible diligence in observing the northern lights. Unfortunately, it gets less and less dark. The mockery: Meanwhile, record-breaking northern lights are being observed in Germany and half the nation is freaking out. Instead, we have to make do with comfort beer at the typical Norwegian pharmacy rate. Worth mentioning: Record-breaking running gags were also set here (“Dongsi Dängsi”).

Before the third trip, it was time to say goodbye to my humour-loving skipper partner Guido. Uwe arrived with his typical excess luggage of spare parts for the Polaris. With the third crew, we set off for our cruise destination Tromso. So no West Lofoten this time. We still managed to sneak in Henningsvaer and Fiskekrogen. But on the first day we had to iron away almost 60 miles in good wind conditions, the Polaris showed her full potential here and brought us to the fish soup with “Hey-Speed”. Over the next few days, we travelled through the Raftsund in never-ending rain via Sortland and Risoyhavn to Andenes. Off Svolvaer, the capital of the Lofoten Islands, we were delighted by two large families of orcas that came magically close to the silently drifting Polaris. Due to the weather, we spent a day in harbour in Andenes and then sailed at top speed to Hamn (whirlpool!) on Senja. We continued around Senja in difficult wind conditions of between 5 and 40 knots via Husoy to Gibostad and Tromso. Here we experienced the Norwegian bank holidays. As a Bavarian by choice, brass band music is no excitement for me. But at 06:30 you wonder whether you’re still dreaming or whether Franz Josef Strauss has risen from the dead. It was really nice to see how proudly the Norwegians stage their independence.

The last trip is back to Bodo. Especially for me: my wife Agnes and son Henry travelled from Munich. In recent years we had never been able to go sailing together, but here I was finally able to fulfil a long-standing promise. The first few days were difficult in terms of wind, but we experienced short, strong snowstorms at sea, which were repeatedly replaced by bright sunshine. Towards the end of the trip, the sun effectively never set, which really helped the party mood after arriving in Bodo.

All in all, my conclusion about the Lofoten Islands: The wind and weather forecasts are almost always rubbish. As a skipper, you have to react very flexibly and always find new ideas and compromises between wind conditions, final destination and the wishes of the crew. We are always very committed to reconciling all of this. If you can believe the many really nice feedbacks and internet reviews, we succeed in most cases.

The Lofoten Islands are rightly considered to be one of the most beautiful island landscapes in the world. Even after 6 weeks with 2 skipper friends, 4 different crews, 36 trips and 1,200 nautical miles, I can still think of places I would like to visit. The Lofoten Islands are challenging to sail and require a high degree of navigational caution, but they also reward you with a dropped jaw every day. The entire scenery of mountains and sea looks as if the earth has just been created: lonely, unspoilt, breathtaking. When you set off on a “night hike” at midnight in full daylight, while the animals make a racket and the shadows are long, you realise that life is simply different above the Arctic Circle. Sleeping without goggles is out of the question. You have to experience it, no, you have to sail it!

I would like to thank our owner Uwe, skipper mentor Guido and four wonderful, co-operative, inquisitive, relaxed and humorous crews. My re-socialisation is not complete, even 3 weeks apart. I’m looking forward to the Iceland – Azores route next year. Here we will face the challenges of the North Atlantic for around 1,600 nautical miles and only switch to island hopping on the Azores.

 

13. December 2024