Viking Long Ship, North Sea, 61 Sailors

Jul 1, 1998
3,062
Hunter Legend 35 Poulsbo/Semiahmoo WA
That was a very interesting video, hadn't seen it before, and thanks for sharing.

With regard to rudders, we see again they're more than just something hung on the end (stern) of a boat. So often we hear about boats that have a rudder failure and this one, it turns out, was no different. Fortunately they had a replacement part (leather strap), but unfortunately, it looked a lot like the strap that failed. Thankfully the shakedown cruise ended successfully and they'll probably have a few design changes for the return trip, like those wood gadgets (pre turnbuckles) used to tighten the stays.

Sure wasn't a party boat ... the crew endured a lot.
 
Nov 30, 2015
1,337
Hunter 1978 H30 Cherubini, Treman Marina, Ithaca, NY
Thanks @ggrizzard. That was extremely entertaining. Probably the best 1.5 hours I’ve spent this miserable winter on my self. Sixth reef and rudder repairs in the North Sea are nothing I really want to experience in my lifetime though. That was an awesome documentary.
 
Oct 26, 2008
6,045
Catalina 320 Barnegat, NJ
Sue loves the Vikings series … I wonder if I can get her to watch this. YouTube is great, isn't it?
 

Gunni

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Mar 16, 2010
5,937
Beneteau 411 Oceanis Annapolis
That downwind sail into Dublin made the whole grueling voyage seem worth it. 60 people in an open boat, ugh.
 

Gunni

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Mar 16, 2010
5,937
Beneteau 411 Oceanis Annapolis
Well Gunni, they didn't kill each other!
Which likely makes the whole adventure less historically accurate! Add that to no-ballast, square sail, no keel, tiny rudder, and narrow beam, and you can understand why the Viking longboat went the way of the dodo.
 
Feb 14, 2014
7,400
Hunter 430 Waveland, MS
That showed why Mast tuning before needed is a great idea. They probably had a sea anchor onboard to help with the rudder too.
Jim...
 

Gunni

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Mar 16, 2010
5,937
Beneteau 411 Oceanis Annapolis
Because this boat was historic, but the history was not entirely known, they fashioned shrouds from some sort of stretchy 3-strand hemp/sisal and attached it to a poorly designed peg system. The loads were not properly directed and the pegs deformed and broke with regularity. Eventually they ran out of spares and had to deal with loose shrouds. I was surprised that they didn’t lose the boat at several points. I suspect the Vikings were better meteorologists than we give them credit for. That is not an ocean crossing boat.
 
May 25, 2012
4,333
john alden caravelle 42 sturgeon bay, wis
well, the vikings were better off than Saint Brendan. and he crossed oceans. the vikings were prolly laughing at him and making snide comments :)

the Chinese had it going on back in the day