Rounding Statt in good weather
SUNNY SAILING
After spending three days in Ålesund, the weather gave us a chance to sneak further south along the coast. We filled up at the fuel dock in the city centre and then motored out in balmy conditions, sunny and 24°C, lovely!
Filling up in Art Deco surroundings.
Further ahead, the conditions were not that great, but the forecast predicted another storm followed by a short break that would let us get around the fearsome headland Statt. The plan was to get as close as possible to Statt to give us the best chance to grab that short window.
GALEFORCE WINDS AND PELTING RAIN
After some nice sailing through various fjords, interspersed with motoring and motor-sailing when we got 20-25kn on the nose in narrow sounds, we arrived at Sandshamn gjestehavn around 1930 in galeforce winds and pouring rain. Unfortunately, the guest harbour was small and exposed to the wind. Accessing a mooring required some tricky manoeuvring in a very tight space, turning across the wind to then squeeze in between a couple of (expensive looking) boats.
Somewhere nice along the way.
We prepared all the fender and lines, someone came out of their boat and got ready to give us a hand, and then it was a one-shot, do or die situation. All went well until the very last manoeuvre where we came out of the lee of a large cruiser and Yuma’s bow got blown off. With help from the guy on land we managed to tie off the (long) lines ashore and then to motor off against them and close in onto the pontoon. Phew! There are times where a bow thruster seems like such a good idea.
ROUNDING STATT HEADLAND A SECOND TIME
Despite it being a wild and woolly night bouncing on the pontoon with heavy rain and strong winds, the next morning dawned with just patchy cloud and light winds. We dutifully checked Barentswatch for the weather forecast and, importantly, the bølgevarsel around Statt. Though the seas were still up after the last night’s storm, they weren’t too ugly and they certainly weren’t going to get any better anytime soon, so we set out early for Statt.
Rounding Statt headland.
Once at Statt, the conditions were less than perfect but manageable with the winds dropping to below 10kn (on the nose, of course). Though they were uncomfortable, the swell and waves were not too big nor too ‘kryssende’, so we made good time along the Cape’s dramatic and mist-shrouded cliffs. We cleared Statt and turned into Sildegapet around 1530, and enjoyed a leisurely sail down to our our old and creepy friend, the island of Silda.
Rounding Statt headland.
STILL NO ONE AT SILDA…
Here, we moored up in the harbour in rain and wind, just as we’d done on the way north. The mermaid mannequins that mark the harbour entrance were, despite the approach of winter, still bare-breasted and still staring fixedly off into the distance as if waiting to be reminded of what it was that they were going to say. The island still appeared to be eerily uninhabited, and the absence of any other boat on the guest pontoons made the whole experience even more zombie-like than the previous time we were here.
House decorations in Silda.
After dinner we walked around the island, this time in a clockwise direction, and watched SY Pegasus (whom we’d met briefly in Tromsø months earlier) as she sailed past and on down the sound towards Måløy. We also looked back towards Statt and gave thanks for our two safe passages around this notorious headland. Then we retreated back to Yuma, and spent the following day inside sheltering from the galeforce winds and pelting rain.
