Børge Ousland

Position update 10.25 CEST: 61.88614 N, 3.50641 W – Midway between the Faroes and Shetland Islands.

Position update 16.57 CEST: 61.74623 N, 2.23999 W

Position update 22.29 CEST: 61.6311 N, 1.27374 W – Due north of Shetland Islands.
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Expedition Report, 18.15:
Finally we’re in the Norwegian Sea! We expect to cross the Greenwich Meridian (longitude: 0°) later today, and hopefully reach the coast of Norway sometime on Thursday. It feels incredible that we are so close after this long, amazing journey. We can hardly believe it ourselves – and we still don’t take anything for granted. But right now the weather is as good as it can be, light winds are blowing and there are no big storms on the horizon, so all is well at this stage. Even the rudder we repaired seems to be holding up well. Knock on wood again …

We chose to sail a passage between the northern islands of the Faroes. Børge and Vince had never been there before; these green steep mountainsides really are an impressive sight! Cliffs rise straight from the sea, with caves and wild rock formations along the shore.

We stopped in Klaksvik to buy some fresh fruit and bread and fill our water tanks before we continued. The efficient Faroese customs officials were on the boat within ten minutes after our arrival, and soon we were on the local news as well. So who knows, maybe we are famous in the Faroe Islands by now …

You’re invited!
Even though we’re somewhat hesitant to plan too far ahead when we are still are in the middle of a serious ocean, we have thought a bit about our arrival in Oslo. So we set a date: the 23rd of October – and even a time: 14.00. The place will be Dronningen on Bydgøy. We are members of Royal Norwegian Yacht club and they have been kind enough to accommodate us there.

This is a preliminary schedule of course, since unexpected things may still happen. However, if all goes well, that’s the time, place and date that you can mark on your calendar. Each and every one of you is welcome to see the “Northern Passage”, to hear our tales, and see photographs from this great voyage.
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Best regards from everyone
on board the “Northern Passage”

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Yesterday: the Faroe Islands

A welcome sight: the Faroe Islands.

Approaching the port of Klaksvík, after Tórshavn the second largest town on the Faroes.

The team enjoys a quiet moment and smiles in satisfaction. But wait, what is that? The sound of someone running towards the harbour…

…a Faroese customs official, ever efficient.

Everyone who has visited these islands will remember the amazing landscape.

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Today’s forecast:
Weather: Variable cloudiness. Mainly dry.
Wind: 330–350° at 5–10 knots, after 09.00 UTC becoming less than 5 knots from 310–040°, and after 21.00 UTC increasing to 260-280° 5–10 knots.
(For a more comprehensive forecast, with explanations, please see Weather4Expeditions.com.)

Position update 04.35 CEST: 62.58979 N, 8.10211 W

Position update 09.36 CEST: 62.55213 N, 7.2413 W – Now passing north of the Faroe Islands.

Position update 14.42 CEST: 62.28164 N, 6.6814 W

Position update 20.22 CEST: 62.13461 N, 6.16437 W – East of the Faroes.
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Note, 15.35: The “Northern Passage” is momentarily in the Faroe Islands. All is well with boat and crew, the rudder is holding up well and there is no need for further repairs. They are, however, enjoying a pause for a few hours during the windstill, ready to sail eastwards as soon as the wind picks up.

Note, 20.22: They’re on the move again and are east of the Faroes.
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Marc’s comment on the general weather situation
The main feature on the maps today is the small-scale high-pressure centre that’s currently positioned between the Faroe Islands and the Shetlands. Be aware that the axis of this feature is orientated east–west along the 62.2 parallel, which means that anywhere south of 62.2 the wind will be coming from the east, while north of this axis there will be a westerly wind. So for today it is important to stay north of 62.5° to avoid the headwind and to avoid running out of wind.

Today’s forecast:
Weather: Sunny spells and cloudy periods. Mainly dry.
Wind: 230–250° at 4–8 knots, after 9.00/12.00 UTC becoming 270–290° at 5–10 knots, and after 18.00 UTC becoming 290–310° at 8–13 knots.
(For a more comprehensive forecast, with explanations, please see Weather4Expeditions.com.)

Expedition Report, 19.14:
We survived the gale, which wasn’t so bad after all. The wind speed was up to 15 metres per second, and straight from the east so we had to do a bit of tacking. Our splendid weatherman Marc De Keyser proposed a plan based on the shifting wind – and it has proven very effective so far.

That’s why we are going north of the Faroe Islands, because the winds will turn more southerly here. In fact the wind has already weakened and started to turn, so we are quite optimistic regarding the last leg across our own North Sea. Børge worked ten years as a deep-sea diver in the North Sea, so this is indeed familiar waters.

We made an unfortunate discovery: our rudder was broken. It had split down the middle, and the parts were moving and twisting inside their frame. That was an emergency that called for immediate action.

We took our sails down and started the repair. Børge drilled a series of holes along the crack and sewed it together with Denema cord, and added some extra bolts farther down then blade. Then he drilled a larger hole trough the frame itself, while Thorleif borrowed a large bolt from the mast, which we don’t really need. With this bolt going straight through the frame we were able to squeeze the rudder together and hold everything in place.

We have an extra rudder at home, but we are confident this repair will last all the way. Knock on wood, so to speak…

Best regards from
the “Northern Passage”

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PS. If you want to see more paintings by Borges mother, Ingrid Ousland, you can check them out her website www.ingridousland.no
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A “waterproof” drill…

…carefully drilling each of the holes…

…sewing the rudder…

…tying the end of the “thread”…

…and finally adding some solid bolts! And we’re ready to sail again!

Position update 04.51 CEST: 61.52864 N, 11.58722 W

Position update 11.19 CEST: 61.98565 N, 10.85272 W – Now tacking northeast.

Position update 18.24 CEST: 62.42076 N, 9.99402 W – Continuing northeast against the headwind.

Position update 22.15 CEST: 62.62824 N, 9.34015 W
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Today’s forecast:
Weather: Sunny spells and dry.
Wind: 100–120° at 20–25 knots, after 9.00/12.00 UTC becoming 100–120° at 18-23 knots, between 15.00/18.00 UTC becoming 120-140° at 13-18 knots, an further veering and decreasing after 21.00 UTC.
(For a more comprehensive forecast, with explanations, please see Weather4Expeditions.com.)

Position update 09.58 CEST: 61.85394 N, 13.39734 W – Due south of Iceland’s easternmost tip.

Position update 16.19 CEST: 61.45838 N, 12.60669 W – Tacking southeast in the face of a fierce headwind.

Position update 23.28 CEST: 61.15359 N, 12.0213 W – Continued tacking southeast.
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Expedition Report, 18.15:
“The bad weather has just started, with gale-force winds coming from the east. We’re presently tacking towards the Faroe Islands with all reefs set. It’s ok during the day, and not worse than we have experienced before, but the night is very dark. This is the darkest we have had it on the entire journey – it is as though we are sailing blindfolded. Fortunately, we are doing so in ice-free waters.



Strangely enough, we haven’t seen a single ship since we left Greenland a week ago. We did see a couple of vessels on the west side of Greenland, but since then. Thus we feel quite alone here in the North Atlantic.

The water temperature is between 12 and 13 degrees, and the air is the same. For us this is very warm, and we can sail without mittens and have to sleep on top of our sleeping bags. We haven’t had this warm weather since we left Norway in July!

We’re facing a couple of days with windy conditions from the east, which we just have to fight our way through, and then the weather should calm down and give us more favourable winds.



We are, as mentioned, close to the Faroe Islands. The painting behind Thorleif is from the westernmost point of the Faroes, and was painted by Børge’s mother, Ingrid Jangaard Ousland.”

Best regards from
“The Northern Passage”
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The painting behind Thorleif is an artist’s portrayal of the westernmost point of the the Faroe Islands, painted by Ingrid Jangaard Ousland.

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Marc’s comments on weather developments:
The depression to the West of Finisterre is gradually filling now and will disappear over the next 36–48hours. However, it will still trigger the strong headwinds today and tonight, easing tomorrow Sunday. Then, by the beginning of next week, a small-scale depression tracks from Northern Iceland via the Faroe Islands towards the Shetlands and the west coast of a country called Norway (I am not sure if you ever heard of it?).
This little pressure system should generate some weak southwesterly wind that would be favourable for the “Northern Passage” to continue towards their final destination.

First, however, we have to tackle this headwind today.

Take care and Godspeed!
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Today’s forecast:
Weather: Sunny spells and dry.
Wind: 060–080° at 15–20 knots, after 09.00/12.00 UTC becoming 070–090° at 20–25 knots. Between 18.00 and 21.00 UTC the wind veers to 100–120° at 20–25 knots.
(For a more comprehensive forecast, with explanations, please see Weather4Expeditions.com.)

Position update 04.50 CEST: 61.24606 N, 18.04492 W – 34.8 nautical miles (64.5 km), at a speed of 6 knots

Position update 09.55 CEST: 61.29366 N, 17.08405 W – 28 nautical miles (51.8 km), at 5.6 knots

Position update 17.58 CEST: 61.50735 N, 15.72464 W

Position update 22.43 CEST: 61.65638 N, 14.9665 W
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Today’s weather forecast:
Weather: Very cloudy with some sunny spells. Few showery outbreaks.
Wind: 130–150° at 10–15 knots, after 9.00/12.00 UTC becoming 100–120° 12– 17 knots.
(For a more comprehensive forecast, with explanations, please see Weather4Expeditions.com.)

Position update 05.01 CEST: 61.32754 N, 23.43112 W – 74.9 nautical miles at an average speed of 6.14 knots.

Position update 10.11 CEST: 61.30349 N, 22.38321 W – 30.35 nautical miles, speed: 5 knots.

Position update 17.00 CEST: 61.23378 N, 20.58063 W – another 52.38 nautical miles sailed, at 7.7 knots!

Position update 22.38 CEST: 61.21245 N, 19.24368 W – 71.87 nautical miles (38.8 km) at 6.9 knots average.
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Note: The “Northern Passage” is now almost due south of Reykjavik, and still enjoying a pretty good easterly pace. Today the wind is expected to change direction several times – from northeasterly to southwesterly, and again to east-southeasterly late this evening. Tomorrow and especially Saturday the headwind is expected to gain strength, as a result of a deepening depression west of Finisterre. We’ll have more details from our meteorologist later!

Note, 17.00: In the last 24 hours our team has sailed 157.6 nautical miles (291.9 km).
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Expedition Report, 18.15:
“We’re pushing onwards, doing our utmost to reach as close as possible to the Faroe Islands before the bad weather sets in on Saturday. The plan then is to move northeast and north of the Faroes. Anyways, it looks like we have arrived in Europe again. Hurrah!

Good winds today as well, and sunny. Beautiful northern lights and lots of stars last night.”

– Børge

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Today’s weather forecast:
Weather: Sunny spells/cloudy periods. Mainly dry.
Wind: 040–060° at 4–8 knots, after 09.00/12.00 UTC becoming 200–220° at 8–13 knots, and after 21.00/24.00 UTC becoming 100–120° at 8–12 knots.
(For a more comprehensive forecast, with explanations, please see Weather4Expeditions.com.)

Well folks, it looks like Peter has solved the Case of the Mystery Fish. He is fairly certain this morning’s catch on board the “Northern Passage” is a Goiter blacksmelt (Bathylagus euryops), a fish species known to thrive near the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. In fact it is the most common fish in these waters.

The Goiter blacksmelt (Bathylagus euryops) is a type of Deep Sea smelt, the genera Bathylagidae. It is the biomass dominant pelagic fish over the Mid Atlantic Ridge when the entire water column is fully considered. The water-column in which it resides can be up to 3000 metres deep. No topographic trapping can be carried on on the species as they do not vertically migrate.

Interestingly, despite the fact that one would expect the abundancy of Bathylagus species to decrease with increasing depth, there are just as many individuals at depths of over 2000m as there are close to the surface. This staggering statistic enables us to bring forward ideas concerning how currents affect the distribution of species at different depths in the water column. From here, we can begin to further explore the mysteries of deep dwelling ocean species and marvel at how dispersal and recruitment can actually take place in these seemingly inhospitable conditions. (Wikipedia)

Position update 11.14 CEST: 61.07256 N, 27.2334 W

Position update 16.49 CEST: 61.21962 N, 26.00699 W
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Note: The position update shows excellent progress east, and they are continuing to veer slightly further north. Since 20.21 last night the “Northern Passage” has sailed 112.7 nautical miles (208.7 km), at an average speed of 7.5 knots.

Note 16.49: In the last 5.75 hours they have covered 36.75 nautical miles (68 km) – still keeping a good pace of 6.4 knots.
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A rainbow on the morning sky, dancing northern lights at night – it is hard to tell which is most beautiful.

As soon as we saw the sun was here to stay for a while, we hung up our damp sleeping bags and wet clothes.

Bailing out water from the pontoons is a much more grateful task in calmer seas like these!
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Expediton Report, 18.19:
After another splendid night with good winds and high seas, it has now calmed down to a gentle westerly breeze. This morning a rainbow came out of nowhere – and after that we enjoyed a sunny spell, which bade us hurry and hang up our damp sleeping bags and soaking wet mittens to dry.

It’s nice with some calm weather for a change; we can relax and rest a bit. Apparently there will be some strong headwinds from east coming our way during the weekend, so it is good to be prepared and have plenty of dry clothing to put before that weather hits us.

We also found a tiny fish on deck this morning. I thing it is a deepwater fish that somehow has ended up on the surface. Perhaps someone can tell us what kind of fish this is?

Best regards,
Børge

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There is no reason to forego our espresso, just because we’re in the middle of the Atlantic – and our captain has proved himself a skillful barista!

Can anyone identify this fish species? It certainly wasn’t large enough for dinner.

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Today’s weather forecast:
Weather: Variable cloudiness with initially still a showery outbreak. later enlarging sunny spells and dry.
Wind: 290–310° at 10–15 knots, after 12.00 UTC becoming 240–260° at 8–13 knots, and after 21.00 UTC at 220–240° 5-10 knots.
(For a more comprehensive forecast, with explanations, please see Weather4Expeditions.com.)

It’s great to hear that “Peter 1st” is on the way again.
This means that the crew is well, and that their boat and
sails are once again in working order. May they have safe
sailing eastward across the Atlantic!

Best regards,
Olav