20 June 2018; At Sea off the Norwegian Coast

Until 3 am. we sailed the inside coastal route, which still follows the coast but behind mountainous islands and that gave us some protection from the severe storm that was blowing. Still we had a wind force 8 to 9 while in this sheltered area but it was a following wind and the waves generated by this wind did not do much to the Prinsendam as she was happily surfing along. By the early morning the winds hit the 70 knots (that is hurricane force) but abated down to force 8 quite quickly so the ship could poke its nose outside and with following seas and swell it was doable. Also once passed Trondheim, where we had by now arrived, the Inside Passage is not much of an inside passage anymore and the protection of the land is minimal. Outside is the straightest route at this location. Thus we moved about a little bit until the mid morning as the swell was not completely on the stern so the surfing of the ship did not cure all our problems. On occasion we had it ¾ on the stern and then you get this corkscrew combination motion of sometimes a pitch and sometimes a roll (a lurch is what landlubbers call it) and sometimes we had confused seas as well, as there was still a remnant from the last storm left.

This was the wind and sea at 21.00 hrs. last night. Already at a wind force 8, but as you can see not much swell as we are in the protection of the land. (Which is hiding somewhere in the rain)

By the late afternoon the Captain could & decided to go back inside again and sail via Lofoten as we were catching up with the storm and its wave field of 20 ft. and now we could not surf anymore but had to plow into it. That is not nice for guest and ship and it costs a lot more speed than veering back inside and having smooth seas and be able to keep the speed up. Tomorrow we will find out what our delay will be, if any, but at least the guests will have had a comfortable ride and no accidents.

Blog the Norwegian Inside Paasage. We went out to open sea at Trondheim and came in again south of the Lofoten Islands. (With a thank you to the unknown maker of this map from the internet)

It sounds so easy, deciding to stay in, to go out and to go in again but as it involves pilots, arrangements have to be made. We were lucky in this case that pilots were available and that our Norwegian Captain could make arrangements in his own language. Norway is a small country and most in the seafaring community know each other. It is “the old boys club” and it is really useful. I had the same opportunities in the past when calling at Dutch ports, when most of my school and HAL colleagues when saying goodbye to the sea, either went into pilotage or into Flag State related functions. Nothing happening under the table of course but it is easier to ask a friend for help than an unknown entity who hides behind form 1A to 37B (with appendix……..). My own old boy’s network is slowly fading as those in pilotage retire at 56 years old, those in civil service around their 59^th. and those at sea, including me, see that day come closer as well. But there are reunions where we then as real old boys can remember the good old days.

The ss Rotterdam in Stavanger on 11 June 1935 and the guests going ashore for tours by limousines. Note the public to the left. It looks as if the whole town has come out to see these strange people who can afford a cruise during the depression years.

We have on board a lecturer who was in his working days the managing director of the Oslo Maritime Museum, Bard Kolltveit and a source of knowledge on Norwegian shipping including Passenger ships so directly up my street. That hit me with the question, when did Holland America go to Norway and Scandinavia for the first time (not counting the passenger ships we sold to Sweden). When checking my database, it turned out that the first ship was the Nieuw Amsterdam (I) voyage 99 Capt. van den Heuvel which on the return voyage after the Armistice stopped in Bergen on 30 Nov. – 01 Dec. 1918 before continuing to Rotterdam. I still have to find out why that exactly was; as I do not think they went cruising less than a month after the end of the hostilities. But then in 1934 and 1935 the ss Rotterdam (IV), Veendam (II) and Volendam (I) and the ss Statendam (III) all made Norway cruises. Due to depression, cruises brought in some extra income as on the North Atlantic there was not much work. I have a photo of the ss Rotterdam. Docked in Stavanger when she made a Norway cruise between 07 and 13 June 1935

This will be the storm swell at midnight, still well up to 18 feet. So a good thing that we are going inside.

Tonight things should be fairly quiet as the islands of Lofoten will keep the ocean swell away from us and then tomorrow morning we will curve around the North Cape for our call at Honnigsvag. It will be a cold day of 48oF or 09oC but the rain should be gone by then. Good news is we are scheduled for the downtown dock nbr 1, which means you can walk straight into the super market once out of the gate.

I am not a good photographer but once in a while I am lucky when clicking away. I think this shot catches the old lady at her best. Geiranger fjord in the early morning.