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Norway Why, How and Where
Why
If you are looking for dramatic scenery, sheltered waters, and safe harbours, the Norwegian coast is hard to beat. Once away from the more densely populated areas in the south, it is often easy to find a secure anchorage in beautiful surroundings, entirely to yourself.
When you do choose to visit a town or village, you will usually receive a warm welcome.
Stunning landscapes, protected waters, reliable harbours, quiet anchorages, and friendly people — there is little more a cruising sailor could ask for.
How
The six main choices of route we discuss below are based on departure points within the UK; however, they also provide useful information if you are coming from other places in Europe.
From England Direct
Harwich to Tananger (Volume 1) – which is a good place to make landfall if heading north on the Norwegian coast – is about 400 nm. Nearby Skudeneshavn and Stavanger are other excellent landfalls.
It is also possible to make a direct 1 000 nm passage to Lofoten (Volume 3), bypassing the northeast winds common along the west Norwegian coast in early summer. The great advantage of this route is that there is plenty of sea room all the way and that strong winds, which you are likely to encounter on a 1 000 nm passage, will hopefully be on the quarter or, at worst, on the beam.
Harwich to Mandal (Volume 1), which is a good place to make landfall if heading to the Norwegian southeast coast, is about 400 nm. Nearby Farsund and Kristiansand also make good landfalls.
From Scotland Direct
Peterhead to Tananger (Volume 1) is about 250 nm. For those on the east coast of England, the distance from Harwich to Peterhead is about 350 nm, so stopping in Peterhead adds about 200 nm onto the actual distance travelled. For those coming from the west coast of England or Scotland, the passage from Inverness to Bergen (Volume 1) is about 350 nm and could be a good choice after a transit of the Caledonian Canal. The greatest advantage of this route is that even a northwest wind will be well abaft the beam.
From Shetland Direct
Lerwick to Fedje (Volume 2) is only about 180 nm and Lerwick to Marstein Lighthouse in the south approaches to Bergen (Volume 1), 42 nm south of Fedje, is only about 190 nm.
Baltasund to Ålesund (Volume 2), which is an all-weather landfall north of the notorious Stadlandet, is only about 230 nm.
Shetland is not much out of the way on a route from the west UK, but may be an unwarranted detour from the east UK. Orkney and Fair Isle provide good intermediate stops but in waters which are strongly tidal and truly nasty in bad weather. Nonetheless, the north Scottish islands do make an interesting destination in their own right and provide good provisioning at UK prices.
Via The Netherlands
Harwich to Tananger (Volume 1) via Den Helder is only 500 nm, so the detour adds only 60 nm to the whole trip but takes 80 nm off the long passage, with Den Helder to Tananger being 360 nm. The disadvantage is that a northwest wind leaves you close-hauled at best, and possibly unable to lay the course at all, but there is still plenty of sea room and you can always bear away and run for shelter behind the Skaw. Another challenge of this route are the many offshore windfarms and busy shipping lanes on the way north.
Via the Baltic
It is possible to reach Norway by the Dutch and German coasts, the Kiel Canal and the Baltic, without ever having to be at sea in the dark. This is a good route if you dislike long passages and have plenty of time, but it’s a long way around.
Via Helgoland and the Danish West Coast
While this route requires a watchful eye on the weather, it does provide an interesting alternative to the congested south-west Baltic.
From Helgoland it is possible to daysail to Thyborön with stops at Hörnum (Sylt, N Frisian Islands), Esbjerg and Hvide Sande. The long approaches to Hörnum and Esbjerg mean that you may want to spend an extra day or two in these places.
Apart from Esbjerg, all harbours along the Danish west coast are unapproachable in strong onshore winds, and even Esbjerg should only be approached on a flood tide in these conditions.
On the passage north from Esbjerg, pass through the well-buoyed Slugen, inside the large windmill farm on Horns Rev. On the passage north of Slugen, pass through Nordmands Dyb, which is well-marked for passage day or night.
From Thyborön, a direct crossing of the Skagerak to Mandal (Volume 1) on the Norwegian south coast is about 80 nm. Hanstholmen and Hirtshals offer useful boltholes on the Danish north-west coast. Departure from either will shorten the crossing to Norway to approximately 60 nm. In unfavourable weather conditions a passage east from Thyborön through Limfjorden offers a scenic and tranquil alternative to bashing about in the North Sea.
Where
The Norwegian coast can be roughly divided into three areas by scenery, climate and sailing conditions. Below is a brief introduction to these three areas to help you plan your cruise.
For more detailed information on the characteristics of various sections of the coast and for landfall harbours in each of these areas, please see the introduction to each of the Harbours and Anchorages chapters in Volumes 1, 2, 3 and 4.
From the Swedish border to the Russian border it is about 1 300 nm; if you add fjords and bays it’s about 15 600 nm; if you add islands it’s about 54 500 nm. A lot of coastline in other words!
The Swedish Border to Tananger (Volume 1)
East of Lindesnes, Norway’s southernmost point, the scenery is one of soft rounded hills covered with deciduous forest. The coast is protected by off-lying islands and almost the entire coast can be navigated inside the skjærgård (off-lying skerries).
There is quite a lot of sunshine here. Westerly winds bring most of the bad weather to the west coast in summer, where they are broken up by the mountain barrier and, incidentally, emptied of their rain at the same time.
The solgangsbris (afternoon sea breeze) can blow quite strongly from the southwest, so on a passage southward from Oslofjorden you will want to get off to an early start, taking advantage of the weak offshore breeze which is common at night and in the early hours of the morning.
Harbours and anchorages may be crowded, but, on the other hand, there are more facilities catering to leisure boats.
Almost half of Norway’s 5.5 million people live in this area.
West of Lindesnes the scenery changes slowly, from the gentle skjærgård to the bleak mountains and exposed coast south of Egersund – an appetiser for the dramatic west-coast scenery that is waiting around the corner.
Once north of Egersund, the coastline again flattens out, but there is no protection from the sea until you enter the skerries again at Tananger.
Tananger to Lofoten (Volumes 1, 2 and 3)
The scenery in this area is grand, rugged and awe-inspiring. There are huge fjords, which run for up to 115 nm inland, with inhospitable shores, incredible depth of water and almost vertical cliff walls rising 1 000 m or more from the surface of the water. All this can cause squalls and unpredictable winds.
Here the skjærgård provides miles of protected waters but not necessarily good sailing breezes. Surprisingly, there may be less wind the further north you go, as the south is more on the main track for summer depressions.
Though this area is much less populated than southern Norway, there are still a number of small coastal cities and hundreds of tiny village harbours. The coast between Trondheim and Lofoten has become a popular destination for cruising sailors, but outside the larger centres you may still find yourself the only visiting boat in many places.
Lofoten to the Russian Border (Volume 3)
The land is lower here than on the west coast but still indented with deep fjords. Most of the coast west of Nordkapp has off-lying islands, though there are gaps in this protection.
Once east of Nordkapp, you are exposed to the Barents Sea, with only a few sheltered harbours. People are thin on the ground but the warm welcome you will receive as a visiting boat – an unusual event – will more than make up for any inconvenience or discomfort.
At the Russian border you are as far north as parts of Greenland and further east than Istanbul. That’s out there!