Bluejay

Sorry readers, this one got missed before the crew who left Iceland last week – ED Fun and games onboard the Bluejay…… jokes already on day 2 range from not being allowed birds in their bunks….sorry Ian… a comment actually stemming from seagulls flying around and trying to land! David and Wendy are our intrepid […]

Bluejay Passage from Iceland to Faroe islands It was Wednesday afternoon that Bluejay and it’s crew set of from the anchorage behind the islands in Reydarfjordur, Iceland for her crossing to the Faroe Islands. The wind in the Fjord was still mild, but visibility was reduced by fog. As we left the swell from the […]

An early alarm call at 6.15 raised half the crew to get an early start for a longer passage to Midvagur. The plan was to leave Haldorsvik in the early morning sunshine and motor out to the entrance of the Sundini fjord round the northern end of Streymor and across towards the west! A long […]

The Crew members favourite lines on a sailing boat and why (a game played whilst sailing, courtesy of Emma) Emma: Staysail halyard, because it is loyal and dependable. Marilyn: Reef 3 – because most of the time the line does not do much, but it is there to stabilise the boat and the crew when […]

According to the ‘Wonderful Fjarðabyggð’ guidebooks this fjord is known for its ‘contented sheep,  sound of silence, fog, and the opportunity to experience days of darkness’. Whilst the fjord was more beautiful than Nordfjordjur, a reconnaissance of the village produced three old, mini broken tractors from the 1970s, two dogs, five sheep, abandoned fish farms, […]

The village of one bar and a cave- Nordfjordhur We hiked in our full sailing fowlies to the one and only open bar in the village of Nordfjordhur- called Baitbar, where a Latvian bar tender served us drinks. The bar resembled a Swiss mountain cabin, with long wooden tables, floral printed sofas upstairs in the […]

The emotional journey of this relatively brief ocean journey was almost as varied as the passage itself. Getting used to sleeping in a short-windowed watch system wasn’t too different to getting used to hoisting a Yankee whilst clipped on and at a 30deg heel; frustrating and tough to begin with, but after 2 days, neither […]

With speeds getting up to 9 kts for Marilyn on watch with Amancio and Emma starting the trend, our other 2 watches tried hard to live up to it! Unfortunately with a veering dying wind the engine definitely helped our lunch team of Koen and Sarah keep the average up! While we motored through their […]

The day started at 8am with flaking the Jordan series drogue on the dock beneath the Fiskekrogen restaurant, where we ate dinner last night. The drogue was very, very long, with little yellow parachutes held by black ties worked into the warp and weft of three lines of decreasing diameters. The drogue was a little […]

The crew of Bluejay are now feeling fat and contented, all tucked up in Henninsgsvaer, having feasted on fish in the local restaurant.   Day started with an interesting breakfast when the cook tasked with making pancakes mistakenly used rye bread flour instead of the usual white. After this ‘substantial’ start to the day, Bluejay […]

Exploration was the purpose of today.  A gentle motor to Gulvika, in a very light breeze and under a steel sky.  For the first time cloud cover muted the colour tones of cliff and vegetation and there was the merest hint of being north of the Arctic Circle.  But by the time we arrived the […]

We said goodbye to Hummingbird boat at Bodø and sailed around two islands to pick up a channel between the mainland and a set of skerries. The Norwegian airforce was flying in their jets above our heads, we like to think to give us a fond farewell. Steep mountains, flat water, beautiful sunshine and clear […]