fair winds to our friend

This morning, our friend Marc from France untied his docking lines for a voyage North in the Baltic, then to Norway (crossing on a truck) to spend the winter far North. He had come to Falsterbo in December after  I had told him via email it was a fine place to spend the winter. I was hoping he would come so our very little live aboard community would have one more member. He did, and we had some good time. We wish him a wonderful trip.

follow his trip, just click on the title of this article, you will see his blog and his beautiful pictures.

Meanwhile, others keep working hard, because time will come for them to untie the lines too...

never ending task....

The good weather is still holding strong, so it is time for some major transformations. A hatch is added where was a broken vent. It is very welcome and to my opinion a number one necessity. 

So we remove, cut, level the deck which is curved to match the hatch, epoxy the core, seal and so and so... I pass all the details. A little project like this one can take 2 days.

Meanwhile, this beautiful morning is the oportunity to climb the mast to install new halyards and check if everything is ok up there. 

Despite this dead calm morning, the skipper seems to be holding on to his life up there !!! But everything went smooth and the captain was very pleased with his acrobatic morning session. So I recommended him to take a morning hike up the mast every morning...

44 years old and in need of a face lift...boat style of course !

The sun is back and as the ground hogs do, we point our noses out of our hole and we become very active.. You do not beleive me ? Here the proof.

The captain himself is on deck, with a smile and always a lot of humour..

and he is busy too, cleaning winches, fixing old crack and removing old instruments.

Some of our next projects will change Röde orm look, a deck hatch, and if the weather cooperates a new paint job... Red of course !

Easter in a few days, but Spring is already here

                                                              Happy Spring 

A full week of sunshine and every sailor in Sweden is thinking about sailing and rushes to his boat to prepare it for the season, so short here. And we are preparing Röde Orm for an everlasting cruising season. There is almost a world apart between the occasional week-end sailors and us, live aboard and voyagers. Not only the boats look different, but we do look different too !! A little more rugged, less polished and more care free.

what is behind a boat name ?

There is always a story behind a boat's name, well not always, some lack of imagination and are simply boring... But usually boats with caracter, those which catch the eye because they are different from the rest of the white plastic production boats have interesting names. Sometimes I wonder what is the story behind those names. 

Well there is quite a  story behind Röde Orm, an epic novel :

In the fantastic world of the tenth century AD when the Vikings raided the coast of England, is the story of a fighting man, a famous pirate Röde Orm.

"Orm is (the swedish word for snake) is the protagonist of the book, the youngest son of a rich and noble bond. He is also a descendant of King Ivar Vidgamne, a fact that he is very proud of. Orm is called "red" (röde) for his hair color. At the beginning of the book, he is a child, but as his adventure continue, his strengh grows and even at age 41 we see him killing two berserks single-handedly. However it is not his strengh that leads him to victory most of the time but his intelligence, resourcefulness, courage and willpower. He is rather patient for a Viking, but is very dangerous when angry. He has a great sense of humour and he is gifted in poetry."

And guess what : our Röde Orm is also flamboyant red (well soon, after a new paint job..), courageous, and strong as its namesake and also as seaworthy as its famous ancestors which carry Orm across the seas.