A twelfth I know: if I see in a tree
a corpse from a halter hanging,
such spells I write, and paint in runes,
that the being descends and speaks.

Håvamål 156
The Song of Spells

Picture Gallery

Other "Munin" Pictures

About

"A sixteenth I know: when all sweetness and love
I would win from some artful wench,
her heart I turn, and the whole mind change
of that fair-armed lady I love."

Håvamål 160
The Song of Spells

BCVSP Picture Gallery - "Munin" Sailing Pictures

Hi there! Welcome to the "Munin" Viking Ship sailing picture gallery!

Here's where you can check out the BC Viking Ship Project in action sailing our Viking Ship "Munin".

About the pictures

These are a collection of pictures of "Munin" at sea and under sail. We have now moved on from the building phase and into the "play with our new toy" phase.

Digital Norseman: BCVSP Pictures - Munin Bow Watchman

"Blow harder, we're hardly moving!"

The watch at the bow was full of helpful comments. The day was glorious, "Munin" was resplendent in her new finery, a great striped suit of sails, but, alas, the wind was fickle.

Digital Norseman: BCVSP Pictures - Munin Becalmed

As the sun baked the bay with its warm, golden rays and reflections shot back from the buildings like star bursts, the crew waited for wind.

How many sailors have sat becalmed in eager anticipation of the their true life force: wind, wind and more wind.

There is something about a wind that lifts a sailors spirits. Conversely, its absence puts a real damper on the mood. But, the wind lives by its own rules and cannot be rushed. So the crew are left to their own devices while the wind makes up its mind.

Digital Norseman: BCVSP Pictures - Munin picks up a wind

Then, as the oarsmen start moving the ship under "Norwegian steam", the long awaited news are broadcast from the helmsman:

"Wind! We have wind!"

Well, a breath, a wisp, a gentle fanning through the rigging, anyway. Enough to fill the sail and give "Munin" a chance to preen and show off.

And you have to admit she does look splendid.

The wind picked up enough to give steerage way. "Munin" moves easily under sail and is a lot stiffer than one would suspect. Well, stiffer than us modern folks would suspect, anyway.

"Munin" has some 3,000 lbs of internal lead ingot ballast in the beginning. The ballast is much higher in the hull than on a keeled sailboat, but still works quite well to stabilize the ship. However, we found out later that taking out about half of the ballast made our Viking Ship livelier and more responsive.

We put two reefs in the sail. As you can see, the reefs are quite deep. We figured that if we ever needed three reefs, we really should have stayed ashore in the first place. As we get more experienced, we may want to change the sail and rigging, so we'll probably end up with a different sail some day.

With a following wind, Munin runs easily with a billowing sail. Running before the wind, meaning sailing with the wind in over the stern, is not the best point of sail. Contrary to what you might expect. It is also quite deceptive and requires extra vigilance from the skipper.

The reason is that the speed of the ship over the bottom is a function of the wind speed and the speed of the ship itself. Theoretically, you can only go as fast as the wind. In reality, friction and the relative inefficiency of the sail to convert the wind energy into ship motion ensures that you always sail slower than the wind. Like it or not.

You need another concept to understand this: The energy available to work on the ship. Let's say you have a 10 knot wind blowing straight from the stern and your ship is going 5 knots, not an unreasonable speed. What you feel on your skin at the helm, is an apparent force of 5 knots. Do you see the connection?

Now, most small recreational sailing vessels, including Viking Ships like ours, need to shorten sail (reef) at about 15 knots, depending upon their point of sail. The "depends" bit will become clear in a second. A 40 foot hull like "Munin's" has a max theoretical hull speed of about 7 knots or so, which is easily reached at 15 knots of wind.

If you are running, a 15 knot wind feels like about 8 knots to the helmsman. 8 knots is still a piece of cake. Now, say the wind builds further, until the helmsman starts feeling the force of what he takes to be a 15 knot wind and time to take in a reef. Surprise, the actual wind is now 22 knots.

I also have to tell you that taking in a reef with the full force of the wind going into the sail is a most challenging task. As a matter of fact, all sailors worry about being caught out overpowered while running before the wind.

If you try to round up into the wind (turning the bow into the wind to spill wind from the sail) you get the full force of the wind in from the side and will heel the ship. Perhaps even broach, or put the railing, mast and sail on the water.

That said, with a square rig like a Viking Ship, you may be a little less at risk than in a fixed rig vessel because it is possible to ease a sheet and a guy fully and spill wind while you lower the yard to take a reef.

Sail trimming invariably involves some flapping of sail and sheets. Here you see "Munin" having to adjust to a wind shift. The sail was trimmed for running, but the wind shifted so that it started to come in over the starboard leech.

This illustrates another point about why running is not the most efficient point of sail. The reason is that the sail is an airfoil. The force of the sail is a result of the wind's speed over the front of the sail. The movement over the sail front creates a vacuum which pulls the sail, and thus the ship, forward. It may look like the wind is pushing against the sail, but now you know the real physics behind it.

You should also see quite easily that running before the wind, does not present good sail edges for the wind to cross to get to the front; the angles are to steep. We just can't expect the wind to do a lot of 90° turns for us.

Quite another thing, is the fact that running usually means the ship has a tendency to roll, i.e., rocking from side to side. On my trip from Vancouver to Mexico in "Ibis", a Westsail 32', I always found that running meant rolling. In sheltered waters where there is no ocean swell, the rolling is less of a problem.

All trimmed up, "Munin" settles on her new course and things quiet down. The crew can get back to enjoying the ride and catch a few rays.

With a gentle wind pushing the ship along, soft noises from the bow biting into the sea, warm sun and good companions, who could ask for more?

What a marvelous payoff from all the cold winter Saturdays spent wrestling with wood, tar and rivets. We should all be so lucky. It's a great comfort that some are. Keeps our dreams alive, right? And that's what it's all about: nurturing some good dreams ripe for the chasing.

As the saying goes: "All things must pass". With the wind all packed up, daylight waning and the evening mist eerily moving in over the bay, the crew took "Munin" home under oars.

The ship had proved its mettle and we finally knew without a doubt that we had a real Viking Ship.

Many more outings have followed since this inaugural sea trial. And more are to come.

Ah,yes: There were more glorious days at sea! Here you get a glimpse of "Munin" sailing on a reach, her fastest point of sail, in the great open roadstead of Vancouver harbour. (A roadstead is where commercial ships anchor out while waiting for a space at the docks to load or unload their cargoes.)

The wind is coming in over the port quarter and the sail is braced in hard to starboard with the port sheet eased all the way.

If you look at the water, you can see whitecaps here and there. Some people call them white horses. Light whitecaps like this indicate pretty much perfect sailing winds. There is enough to push the ship to hull speed on all points of sail without having to reef.

Full sail up and a brisk wind makes for a great sight. You can really feel the power of the wind just looking at a closeup like this. Being there is even greater - you hear the noise of the rigging, the water rustling along the side of the hull and feel the speed change as you trim up the sail to catch the wind to its fullest.

Here's a view from the distance. Quite a contrast don't you think to see a 1000 year old design against a backdrop of modern pleasure craft. Who do you think had the most fun that day?

So, OK, the wind comes and it goes and then it's time for good old Norwegian steam - the oars come out and the crew gets a bit of a work out.

A square sail isn't the most efficient beating into the wind, but you can make your way to windward. And the feeling of power and speed in a sailing craft is almost at its most imporessive going into the wind. It's also the most uncomfortable in the long run - and I mean that both for ship and crew. Although it wasn't much of a strain this day, quiet as it was, barely moving as a matter of fact.

Even if the wind drops and isn't much good at moving you forward, keeping the sail up can still help minimize rolling and make things a little more comfortable for the crew. That sail was starting to fill out nicely, though, so the rowers weren't working very hard just then is my guess.

Even if the wind doesn't always cooperate, I think you'll find that the crew still think they had a great day on the water. As you go out the channel into English Bay, you're fueled by anticipation and the rowing is part of the experience.

After we removed some excess ballast, Munin became easier to row and livelier under sail. That's a great benefit on days when there's a bit of wind coming at you from the wrong direction so you have to get some sea room before hoisting your sail.

It's not only the crew that gets a kick out of a Viking Ship on the water. Spectators from shore have their own view as in this nicely framed long shot. You have to admit Munin looks great out there.

As is so often the case, a wind will die towards the evening and the row back to the dock takes place in a falling light and a still sea. You experience a peculiar sense of revelry being out there on the water at such a time and come away with great memories. And that's what it's all about.