Digital Norseman: BCVSP Viking Ship Launch Ceremony Speech

"I see green again with growing things
The earth arise from out of the sea;
Fell torrents flow, overflies them the eagle,
On hoar highlands which hunts for fish.

...

Then in the grass the golden figures,
The far-famed ones, will be found again,
Which they had owned in olden days."

Voluspå

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The Launching Ceremony

Sailing "Munin"

BCVSP - Viking Ship Launching Ceremony:

Speech by Preben Ormen, Chairperson

"Then gathered together the gods for counsel,
The holy hosts, and held converse;
To night and new moon their names they gave,
The morning named, and midday also,
Forenoon and evening, to order the year."

Voluspå

... and we of ourselves named one for the kin of men:
our Viking Ship "Munin".

Thus spake Preben:

"Your Excellency Ambassador Ingvar Havnen, Consuls General, distinguished guests, Viking ship builders, ladies and gentlemen. Did I miss anyone?

Greetings everyone and welcome to this historic event!

Scandinavians love the sea and as the saying goes:

"You may get the Scandinavian out of the boat,
but you can't get the boat out of the Scandinavian."

So true to form, here we are again. This time to launch a Viking Ship, no less.

She is 40 feet long, 9.5 feet wide and was built at the Scandinavian Center in Burnaby out of good ol' West Coast Douglas Fir fastened with copper rivets.

She is quite sturdy with almost inch-thick planking, yet, and I think you'll agree, she is ever so graceful with her two magnificent dragon heads.

So how did we get here? The project got started by two-three people engaging in a casual conversation and sharing thoughts about a dream.

A dream to build a Viking Ship.

We convinced ourselves to go forward with three main motivations.

Our first motivation was to: Build an enduring and exciting cultural asset

Our main inspiration was the Gokstad Ship built around 890AD, and now preserved in a museum in Oslo, Norway. It is almost 1200 years old.

Viking Plym, a Swedish Viking Ship replica, was built in 1912, and is still sailing the local waters.

So we know that, properly cared for, wood can last practically forever and we are confident our Viking Ship will be around for a long, long time.

Our second motivation was to: Engage the community:

Our motto was: "Ship building is a community event" and the Scandinavian community truly rallied around the project giving generously of their time and making donations.

And the word soon spread to involve people from all over the Lower Mainland.

Through our web site and network of contacts, we reached out literally to the world.

We have been in newspapers and magazines. And on TV at least five times that we know of. With all the TV crews I see out here today, I think it's safe to say we'll be there a few more times, yet.

We are definitely not a secret anymore.

Our third motivation was to: Recreate the spirit of the Viking Ships

Viking Ships reached the pinnacle of lap strake, clinker built craft construction. These ships amazed their contemporaries with their grace and speed.

A new Viking Ship invariably meant new adventures. Why? Well, because these ships traveled incredible distances.

We know the Vikings came as far North as the Svalbard Islands, as far west as Canada, as far East as Chorum on the Silk road - and that's half way to China, and as far south as Baghdad in Irak.

They formed large settlements in Iceland, Greenland, Scotland, Shetland, The Faroes, Ireland and Normandy. In the east they settled along the great rivers and in Kiev.

Their main mode of transportation was Viking Ships like ours here today. So you can see why we thought it was a spirit worth recreating.

By being here today we believe we have fulfilled that dream which started it all. We did it with an ageless recipe for success:

Create a powerful vision,
Build a core team of enthusiasts to spread the word,
Spark the imagination of the young and old, and
Unleash the creativity and resourcefulness of the community.

A project like this is bigger than any one individual and takes on a life of its own.

The magic is in seeding and nurturing that communal life force and watching it grow to create magic of its own.

So congratulations Vancouver on your new Magic!

The day is yours. Seize it and enjoy your magnificent Viking Ship!

And stay in touch with the British Columbia Viking Ship Project, I think this is only the beginning.

Thank you."

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Preben's speech | Tom's speech | Marian's speech