Sailing a Viking Ship-Young Hands Tell their Tales

by Lars Normann on 27 Jul 2008 The Sea Stallion Project comprises a unique reproduction of a actual Viking Ship - a long boat - combined with a reproduction of the actual voyages of the original Viking Ship called the Sea Stallion. She is manned by some 120 volunteers together with staff of the owning museum, the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo. She left Dublin on 29th June, and is expected to arrive Roskilde on the 9th August

Here Lars Normann speaks to two young hands who are currently sailing on the Sea Stallion as she makes her historic way from Dublin to Roskilde, and find that they agree at least about one thing: that spending six weeks on board the Sea Stallion is meaningful:

Their backgrounds for sailing with the Sea Stallion are very different. Sidsel Romme Nygaard is 21 years old and starts studying political science after the voyage. She has sailed in Viking ships all her life because her parents have been involved in the guild for one of the Viking Ship Museum's reconstructions, Roar Ege.

Morten Bandelow Winther, a 28-year-old constructional engineering student and journeyman carpenter, almost fell into a summer voyage in a Viking ship last year by accident, and there met some hands involved with the Sea Stallion.

Sidsel has sailed with the Sea Stallion since it was launched and she was on half of the voyage last year. Morten's experience comes from sailing the three weeks and the 635 nautical miles from Dublin to Lowestoft. They both talk about the comradeship, values and experiences that have made the greatest impression and which they hope will form part of the ballast they will take home when the whole adventure ends on 9 August in Roskilde. Let it be said: the Sea Stallion is apparently very addictive – as their enthusiasm about being on the voyage seems to know no bounds.

The voyage is a two-year experimental journey from Roskilde to Dublin and back and is the culmination of the largest experimental archaeological project so far in marine archaeology. It has cost DKK 26 million, including the reconstruction of the Sea Stallion. Danish foundations have therefore been of great importance for carrying out the project. Every time Sidsel and Morten are on the sea and look out over the gunwale they can see their life assurance in the form of the supply vessel Cable One, which, like a private detective, follows the Sea Stallion as a shadow in case the worst should happen. The Nordea Danmark-fonden donated DKK 3 million in December for chartering Cable One and setting up a press secretariat on board. More about that later.

Sidsel: 'I have followed the construction and testing of the Sea Stallion right from the start, as I have sailed with Roar, which is a reconstruction of Skuldelev 3. I have sailed with that all my life, because my parents were involved in building it. My father has worked at the Viking Ship Museum. When they launched the Sea Stallion I knew I had to sail on it. I had my debut on the last three weeks of the voyage to Dublin. This year I've been on the whole trip. Being on the voyage last year whet my appetite.'

Morten: 'I had the opportunity to be on a summer voyage last year in a small Viking ship called Skinfaxe. Being on a sailing ship grabbed me immediately. And I thought it was strange that I had lived in a country like Denmark. There's water all around us and I had actually never thought about the sailing opportunities inherent in that. On the Skinfaxe there were several people who had sailed with the Sea Stallion and they spoke about it. That was inspiring and one could apply to join the crew. I applied and suddenly I'm here!'

'I was happy and I told everyone,' he adds. 'I was sure that they would almost be envious. But most of them reacted by saying: 'Why the hell are you doing that?' That surprised me greatly and it still does. I'm not doing this to test my limits; you can do that in so many other ways if you want. I just want to sail on a sailing ship because I'm wild about that.'

On the Sea Stallion you live extremely close to other people. How do you get along with that?

Sidsel: 'I was actually concerned about that before the start. How I should tackle it. But it was actually not a problem for me.'

Morten: 'I learnt something new about groups. Previously I have travelled a lot on my own. My impression then was that the smaller the group the greater the experience. But the downside of that was that you can't share your experiences with anyone afterwards, especially when you travel all alone. Here I'm suddenly part of a giant group. And I feel that is really great and I have a lot of people I can share my experiences with. That's something new and wonderful.'

'I have had such great experiences on the trip that I have been quite touched in my heart,' he says. 'It's been overwhelming and I have thought how wild it is that I've been a part of it. There have been different experiences. Just coming on board the ship for the first time almost swept me off my feet. It was much greater than I had expected. And then there was the long stint towards Land's End, when we crossed the Irish Sea.'

'At that time I was knocked out, but I was still in my right mind,' Morten adds. 'My senses opened up and I was really present here. I stood there and tried to keep my balance in the high seas. I listened, I sweated at the pumps, I froze in the wind. The sounds were violent, the ship vibrated, the wood gave and groaned. I stood there and said to myself: 'This is too much.' It's hard and wonderful at the same time. There's no doubt that I'll remember these moments for years to some.'

Are any good friendships made among the crew?

Sidsel: 'There are undoubtedly. For example, I am now living with a girl I met on the Sea Stallion. So I have made a real friend. But there is a wonderful difference between life at home and here. Here, the experiences are so intense, relatively fleeting and quite detached from the rest of your life.'

Do you live very intensely on the Sea Stallion?

Morten: 'Quite definitely. That is underlined by the fact that we live a very limited life here. I used to read the news when I travelled alone before. I went to an Internet café here in Lowestoft today to find out what has happened at home. I've already forgotten what I read. It's as if the world about us suddenly doesn't interest me any more. I've never experienced that before. I have enough in this ship and these people.'

Sidsel: 'I agree fully that this experience is so engrossing that the interest for the world about falls sharply.'

You are challenged in many areas, both psychologically and physically. What does that mean?

Morten: 'The physical challenges have not been as hard as I had imagined.'

Sidsel: 'Yes, that's all right for you. Try to ask the foreship hands how they've experienced things.'

Morten: 'Yes, OK, that's something different.'

Sidsel: 'Well, fundamentally, you're right. The physical challenges are nothing I think much about. There were only a few times in the course of the six weeks we were away that you were really challenged physically.'

Morten: 'Agreed, the physical extremes are just a little part of the whole thing.'

Sidsel: 'Actually, most of the time sailing is so quiet that we try to find ways to pass the time while we speed ahead for hours on end. We have to talk together a lot. And we do talk together very much, often about the closest of things such as the food, the cold and the wind.'

Morten (with a foxy smile): 'May I just say that I didn't find it difficult getting the time to pass as I brought a very thick book with me!'

Sidsel: 'You don't get much of that read?'

Morten: 'No, I certainly don't. It's completely mad. People said to me there'll be many long hours of waiting, and I thought tha