Morning at the Boathouse and Gaining Ernst's Trust
Hello from the boathouse in Suduroy! Saeny the Red, Andy and I woke up to boathouse old men coming in and greeting us upstairs. Saeny and I rapidly changed out of our pajamas and headed downstairs to join the morning coffee get-together. One by one, all the boathouse men filtered into the boathouse, and sat down for coffee and pastries.
I’m happy to announce that Ernst seems to be warming up to me. Yesterday he told me I could die on this voyage and seemed skeptical of my presence here, and today we talked for a long time and he told me, “You will survive.” It seems I passed the test of Ernst’s judgement.
The morning was filled with a flurry of the boathouse men preparing Naddoddur for our voyage. With little verbal coordination, and not a single measuring tool, the boathouse men yet knew exactly what to do, and they quickly reinforced and painted the shelter at the aft, built a wooden casing for the antenna of our comms system, spliced a rope onto our sail, prepared a light at the top of the mast, and otherwise made various preparations for our voyage. There is an unspoken practicality about these men, gained over decades of sailing, which has added security and confidence to our voyage.
Einar showed us how Faroese sailors hold their knives while they’re working with them: either in their mouths, or tucked into their hats with the blade facing down. These small details show the depth of their seafaring heritage.
The Last of the Vikings
Conversation after conversation, I learned about the sailors, fishermen, and other boathouse members. “We are the last of the Vikings,” one of them told me, as they described the lack of youth interest in keeping alive the Viking culture and knowledge of navigation and ship-building. This saddens me, and I hope I can do something to help preserve this treasure of a culture.
How can we ever learn from cultures, if they are not there to be learned about? This is the importance of cultural preservation and one of my goals as an explorer: to keep alive the rich cultures of this planet so we may learn from them.
Not all conversations were serious, and in fact most were not: I did get to be the butt end of sailor banter as I was notified by several members that was too skinny. “In the past, sailors would bring fat women on the boats to keep them warm. You are useless.” And they clapped me on the shoulder with a chuckle
The whole crew is grateful to them for taking us in, giving us their boathouse as our quarters and making sure we are prepared for the voyage. What an excellent group of sailors and fisherman.
Final Crew Assembly
Tonight, the whole crew finally assembled. Georg, Martin, and Livar arrived at the boat house, and we had a long talk about the next few days: from planning exactly what to bring on the boat, to drilling emergency scenarios, to finding a window of favorable weather conditions to set sail. Andy is a very good leader, and is keeping us closely informed on the weather outlook, and the strategy for navigating, to make sure we are all prepared.
Georg and I discussed Viking methods of navigation, including following ravens on their journey, as they typically fly towards land, such as the Viking Floki did on his voyage to Iceland; or using a bearing dial when the sun is directly overhead everyday at midday. This forms a stark contrast to modern navigation, where you track exactly where you are at each second. Our voyage will be a mixture. As we don’t have much power on board and limited batteries, we will sail by compass and sextant, and then every several hours, check our modern navigation systems to see where we are. This way we can make sure we are keeping our course, but not wasting all the battery on crucial navigation and communication systems.
Of course, serious team talks don’t last too long without joking, and Livar, the large Faroese ocean rower, told me that he eats wood for dessert and rocks for dinner.
Every day holds surprises for us, but the best lies ahead. I leave you now with Viking wisdom, in the spirit of the camaraderie that has already begun to form in our crew: “Be your friend’s true friend.”
Your Loyal Viking Archeologist and Official Stowaway,
Karla
