Wednesday 8 August 2007

Viking longship at Isle of Man

On its historic voyage from Roskilde in Denmark to Dublin in Ireland the ’Sea Stallion fom Glendalough’ moored at Peel Harbour at Isle of Man this morning at five o’clock.

The worlds largest reconstruction of a Viking longship will probably set its course for the coast of Ireland Thursday arriving to Dublin Tuesday 14th of August.

The Sea Stallion and her 65 men crew left the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde, Denmark June 1st. So far the ship visited Norway, The Orkney Islands, the west coast of Scotland and Islay. The sail from Islay to Isle of Man prooved to be one of the most dramatic, however.

Going through The North Channel between Ireland and Scotland winds went up to 23 metres per second – Beaufort 9 that is. In waves up to 5-6 metres in height the crew faced problems as the rope and leather band holding the rudder in place collapsed. Repairments were made and all reefs in the 112 square metre sail were taken to reduce the impact of the harsh weather to the ships steering system.

Read the rest of this article...