August 2015 – Velvet Lady's Blog

Velvet Ladies

426 miles sailed between Bodo and Kristiansund. Lin, Richard and a crew of 4 ladies. The weather was not what we expected it to be for Arctic Norway, blue skies and balmy conditions most of the trip – great for admiring the scenery but not so great for sailing fast! Sheltered by the mountains we weaved our way amongst tiny islands and crossed the Arctic Circle wearing shorts and T shirts! The best sailing was when we headed offshore for our overnight sail between Rorvik and Hitra. 36 hours of watchkeeping and the opportunity to enjoy a fantastic sunset with a clear horizon. The dark hours gave us our first taste of how sectored lights work and even a glimpse of the Northern Lights.

Arriving in Kristiansund it was time to go ashore for a well earned drink!

The weather has been mixed since we have been here, but we are now all clean and ready for our long sail home to Plymouth – looking like Northerly winds so fingers crossed.

We’ll be back in the Lofoten islands in Summer 2016 – The new programme will be on line for booking by the end of September

Last Lofoten trip of 2015 – We’ll be back in 2016

For our final 10 days in the Lofoten Islands we yet again had an international flavour with our guests. 2 couples, both from Australia. We were looking forward to meeting them – they didn’t know each other and Australia is a big place.

Within 5 minutes of talking we discovered that they lived a mere 5km apart just outside Freemantle – both owned boats and went sailing in the same area. Whats that about 6 degrees of separation or something!

We had a great week – mixed weather added to the lure of the islands and we found plenty of time to explore ashore. We visited many of our favourite places for one last time before heading home, and dubbed Haversand ‘Paradise Beach’

One day – Richard found this hat in a shop in the Lofoten Islands – thought it would be good for keeping the rain off. The next day, I had to model it for real!

Its a long sail from Bodo to the Lofoten Island – 55 miles – not so different to a channel crossing. Not the kind of thing that you want to do either on the first day of a cruise or the last day, so we allow for this and spend the first day and last day sailing amongst the islands on the mainland side. We’re going to make a change next year. We’re going to do 2 one way trips, Bodo to the Lofoten Islands and the Lofoten Islands back to Bodo – meaning more cruising time in the Lofoten Islands and a trip on a small propeller airplane to get there/back. What an adventure. Dates and prices for this will be published at the end of August. Sign up here for our newsletter to receive details hot off the press

Solo Lady Sailor needed to fill last place

Solo lady traveller wanted to fill the last place on our Bodo to Kristiansund trip. Join up with 4 other solo lady travellers to explore the beautiful coastline.

Today we are in Stamsund a typical fishing village,an example of what you may see on the way

Full details see

http://www.velvetadventuresailing.com/adventure-sailing-holidays-2015/norwegian-milebuilding-sailing-holiday-bodo-to-kristiansund