Oslo and Beyond – New Crew, new adventure

Well, Our time in Oslo couldn’t last. It was a wonderful, and will hold strong memories for all of us. We thank everyone who played a part in Grateful Reds cast and crew arriving safe and all partying well.

Wendell, Dan and Hannah all aboard, we set sail for Skagen Denmark. With wind in the Fjord blowing our way and a later start than planned we decide to sail directly to Skagen. No stops at along the Norway coastline as suggested by Harald. Let’s start the new crew with an overnight sail.

Sailing overnight became tough as a storm appeared on the radar. We made a move to head into a big storm instead of have it hit us broadside. Wendell is the radar master but still we were wet. After about an hour of storm, things became better and we adjusted our course for Skagen. A major shipping lane runs between Oslo and and Skagen – we had to watch all night for BIG boat traffic. Finally as the sun rose Skagen appeared on the horizon – by six in the morning were at the Skagen “downtown” docks.

After Dans exploration and discovery of wonderful Danish pastries, Ken and I went to rent bikes. Our ride took us to the North Sea Side of Skagen where the dunes went for miles. Truly the most beautiful I have experienced.

One of the attractions in the Skagen-area is ‘Den Tilsandede Kirke’, ( the church buried in the sand,) the tower of which rises from the sand.This church was the largest medieval church in Denmark. It was closed by 1795because the sand kept blocking the doorway and finally the villagers gave uptrying to dig the sand out.

We stayed 24 lovely hours, made Copenhagen our next destination and left around 9am Saturday morning. Our sail encountered high winds and rain again, but we finally rafted up in Copenhagen Sunday around 1pm.