Days 86 – 91. 6th July until 11th July
Reading Time: 7 Minutes – Blimey almost a book!
Confidence Rating: 8.75/10
Days 86 – 89 Seydisfjordur to Raufarhofn
We enjoyed our short stay in Seydisfjordur by visiting local art exhibitions including one by a Swiss “Conceptual Performance Artist” called Roman Signer, then admiring a revolving table of cutlery forks in a field and finally walking up a hill to see a concrete igloo sound installation. Yes, for a town of 700, this place is very arty.
But the highlight for Jo was definately discovering the joys of Iceland’s local swimming pools. Iceland abounds in wonderful swimming pools, all seemingly with hot tubs and saunas (and for Jo only – cold tubs!). I suppose cheap geothermal water helps to make the economics add up. After a few days at sea, even when wearing non-smelly merinos, the estatic pleasure of a hot shower, a little swim, a soak in a hot tub and a sauna are applified to a level not appreciated by non-sailors.
In December 2020 there was a serious landslip in Seydisfjordur. Mercifully there were no deaths but ten buildings were demolished. One of those buildings affected was the Industrial Machinery Museum. I remember this place from my first vist here about twenty years ago, it was full of rusty machines. As it happened, there was going to be a theatre performance in the space on the evening of our visit, so there were goulish characters hanging around. I warned you, this place is arty.
The museum has been tidied up over the years but I found a wonderful corner which reminded me of Arthur Beale’s chandlery store room in Shaftesbury Avenue before the shop got closed down.
For some reason, after Jo’s punishing sail from the Faroes, she insisted on treating us to a meal in Kaffi Lara where I ate the most delicous lamb I have ever had. Luckily, at this stage, none of us were aware of currency conversion rates so the bill would have just been a number, probably a rather big one!
The following day a Celebrity Cruises ship arrived and anchored in the fjord. The ship has 3000 guests and 1000 staff so the town was suddenly rather busy! One man called Don came from the ship to say hello and asked whether our boat was a Vertue, he had owned a cold moulded oregon pine Vertue in Australia. These little boats get around!
We decided we would break our sail towards Husavik by stopping at Raufarhofn. That would still involve sailing around the notorious Langanes peninsular. The pilot books warn you of the dangerous “rost” that occurs there where two currents converge. It is important to arrive at slack tide in calm weather. Easier said than done in a small boat when the headland is over 80 nm away. As the wind was due to be quite strong and in a favourable direction we estimated our arrival based on 4 kn average speed. We would leave at 14:30 on 6th July. As usual, we got a bit bored waiting and left 45 minutes earlier.
It was important to arrive at the headland at slack water but after a short period under power we got the sails drawing and off she romped. As we were soon liable to arrive ahead of time, I tucked in a reef – alas we were still making 4-5 knots, I tucked in another reef, still 4 -5 knots. Even with a triple reefed mainsail and a reefed Yankee we were still galloping along way too fast. The thought of trailing lines did briefly and ridiculously cross my mind. I decided the only sensible thing for it was to hove-to for an hour, but as I hauled in the mainsail ready to tack through the wind, I saw the speed drop off to 3.5 knots, perfect! So we sailed in this rather ungainly but purposeful fashion until we rounded the Langanes headland in favourable conditions. So the next time you pass a yacht with the wind on the beam and their sails sheeted hard, cut them some slack, they might be deliberately sailing badly!
After sailing for 27.5 hours at an average speed just over 4 knots we approached Raufarhofn in a very blustery force 5 south easterly wind and we eventually found a gap between the small fishing boats in the inner harbour and safely moored at 17:12. We were in time for a fine and relaxed evening meal in the Northern Lights Hotel managed by the affable Steini.
I had visited Raufarhofn in 2022 and had already pre-warned Grit and Jo that it is a rather whacky place.
Situated just 3 miles south of the Arctic Circle, it is Iceland’s most northerly town and rather off the beaten track. A hundred years ago it was Iceland’s second largest exporting port with thousands of inhabitants working in the herring industry. Now just 200 people remain and the local school has had to close.
Despite this, the local people seem a happy bunch and the village still has a fine swimming pool. Of course there are also the pre-requesit art installations, one a permanent and very large “Arctic Henge” on the hill top and one a slightly smaller installation inside one of the old fish oil tanks.
There are also gaely painted rubbish bins, various sculptures, and a rather strange (scary) mannequin sitting on a bench.
Jo decided the beach near the harbour looked good for a swim. I had recently entered “Sea temp 7.8C” in the log book and decided otherwise. Jo actually went for a swim, head under and all that! Jo is currently sleeping overnight in her bivvy on Sumara’s deck, tough or what!
We could have enjoyed another day in this whacky place but decided to make use of the now quiet and favourable winds to sail towards Husavik. We got up at 04:00 as the fishermen were returning with their plentyful catches of cod. By 04:45 we were underway onto a calm sea.
This leg of the journey would take us briefly into the Arctic Circle, a first for Jo and Grit.
It was a quiet sail, well mainly motoring, but we tried our best.
As we approahed Husavik yacht Louise called us up on VHF and we had a chat. They kindly sent us this stunning photo of Sumara.
We arrived early evening into Husavik inner harbour to be greeted by Bini, the helpful Harbour Master. He later found us a berth on the pontoon in the outer harbour to keep the “wall” free for larger yachts and to give us access to the facilities. Our own private mini marina! Not that the inner harbour was short of space as we have not seen many boats this year.
Last night we were invited for a beer aboard the seriously purposeful yacht “Wayfarer” before they set off eastwards. They were very experienced sailors, and their yacht certainly showed it! They gave us some super helpful cruising tips.
Now I must wait for Paul to arrive, but there is still too much ice in Scoresby Sund so a bit of time may help.
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