75 Mile Day!

It turns out Chris, Anne, and Martin had only a two hour delay. After blowing out the blockage in their engine cooling water intake hose with a dinghy pump they were back in business. They've landed in Lerwick after a 32-hour passage.

The nuclear family crew is now complete. Monday night, Emily concluded a 22-hour air journey from Denver, including a 10-hour layover train trip to central Frankfurt. She is proud of herself for making her first legal alcohol purchase, a 10 EURO bottle of wine at the duty free shop as a gift to her Mom.

Having stood at the docks for so long, we were anxious to go sailing again. The GRIB showed winds favorable for movement northward all day Tuesday, so we didn't waste any time. We disembarked Hjellestad at 0500, setting sail immediately. We took the inside route past Bergen, then north-northwestward toward the island of Fedje and the open waters of the North Sea. Fresh westerlies powered us on a beam reach up to 9.2 knots. We covered 75 nautical miles before anchoring at the end of a short, beautiful fjord south of Floro named Skifjord.

Famished from our long day, Jocelyn prepared a delicious Shepherd's Pie, which we inhaled. We slept like logs.

Over breakfast Wednesday, we discussed the daily duty roster. Adapted from the Mahina Tiare III, our list includes four roles to match our crew size. They are

1. Captain of the Day/Keeper of the Deck - Has overall command; ensures a safe, tidy deck
2. Galley Master - Plans and cooks all meals; keeps galley clean
3. Secretary of the Interior - Cleans entire cabin except galley
4. Navigator/Weather Person/Mechanic - Plans and plots tomorrow's course; checks and reports weather; performs routine engine checks

We decided that we would all serve as helpers to each other and that the roles would be rotated daily.

Jocelyn volunteered to be Captain of the Day today. She reasoned that because today was a layover day, she would have the day off. We reminded her that every day someone needed to be in command, and she still volunteered. Emily said she wanted to be Secretary of the Interior because she'd like to operate the vacuum today. No one argued with her. That left me and John. I offered to let John choose. He chose Navigator/Weather Person/Mechanic. I would cook and clean the galley. Emily put together a spreadsheet with names in each daily rotating role.

The Captain of the Day then directed shore leave. Lomax told us that this anchorage was near "a pleasant walk to a waterlily lake." We beached the dinghy at the head of the fjord and found a dirt road adjacent to a small stream. We headed upstream. Soon, we discovered the waterlily lake, which was interesting if a bit marshy. And with marshes come bugs. Our pace quickened as we dodged and weaved between biting flies and gnats, our first real encounter with Norway's notorious bug population.

Observation: In this latitude, bugs rule on land. But as soon as you get on seawater they disappear. So cruisers need no bug dope, mosquito netting, or smoky punk despite being so close to the bugs' domain. This is just one of the many attractions of cruising.

We napped the afternoon away as rain fell. Tomorrow, we plan to move north to Maloy, which is just this side of Statt, a Lindesnes-like headland known to be tough to round. We'll find out.