Stavanger – Trondheim, the first leg

Sailing out from Stavanger. From the left,Truls, Kari, Dag and Heidi. 

And so it was, Saturday October 1^st Barba threw her moorings and headed north. Tons of gear had found it´s way onboard, as well as food for a week. It was as usual hectic, and the glue from installing the new instrument panel was still drying as we sailed into the sunset.

Rule number one is to get gear and crew onboard. The rest can be resolved on the go. We counted five in total. Dag (introduced in the previous post) was to be onboard for a couple of days to get a feel with the project. In addition, we had the now experienced whale swimmer Kari who should be well known to the Barba readers (click here, for video of Kari´s first whale encounter the previous season). Heidi Pitkänen had found her way to Barba from the Land of the Thousand lakes, Finland. They also do some sailing over there, and Heidi has the moulds ready, and is about to start building her own 36 foot sailboat (fortunately one foot shorter then Barba) .

Bring it on! Truls boosting with self confidence before departure. 

The last crew member, Truls came onboard following a traumatic life event. His caretaker had just recently turned allergic. Kari came to Barba HQ a few days before departure, with the bad news, the allergy, and the good news, that Truls could come with us. As for Truls, he faced the options of life a sea for a couple of weeks, or living with a grandfather. He was not ready for a quiet life in a city flat, and packed a life jacket, safety harness, a stylish cold weather coat as well as a bag of dog food and some toys.

Kari and Truls at the summit of Alden. By Kari Schibevaag. 

Three days before departure, a horrendous storm was pounding the west coast of Norway. I had my usual round of questioning my own sanity. But the concerns were futile. Going sailing was to be yet another stroke of genius. For the entire run from Stavanger to Trondheim we had sun and calm weather. The perfect start for the unexperienced crew, who had to get to know the boat as well as nighttime navigation. We sailed continuously for two days to the island of Alden, only stopping in Bergen for buying a drone.

Barba moored at Hoddevik, at the Stadt peninsula. 

The weather was as it best as we motored past Stadt which is said to be the most dangerous stretch of coastline Norway has to offer. We stopped in Ålesund to get a good nights sleep.  Dag returned to civilization but continues to work with us from onshore. After 5 days on the go, with three days of sailing we made it to Trondheim. Barba was to get some upgrades and a new crew member was to come onboard.

Andreas

PS: Those of you that have been watching the satellite tracker, have probably noted unusual stops every now and then. They are upon request from Truls, who needs to stretch his legs ashore a couple of times a day.

Somewhere along the coast. By Kari Schibevaag. 

The bow stuffed full of gear. We are curious to find out what´s inside the box!