Paddington dips ensign to the King

Tuesday 7^th June 2011 - Paddington dips ensign to the King

We woke as expected to rain and I asked James if he had looked at the tourist information and pilot books that I had left out the night before, as once he had gone to bed I had continued to study maps and information on the region and thought it might be fun to go to Harstad, a place name that had cropped up in a book I had just finished by Henry Swain called ‘Return to Murmansk’ about taking his yacht to Murmansk in 1990 having been there 45 years earlier during the war, when he was an Able Seaman in a Royal Navy warship escorting a Russian convoy.  Harstad was further north than James had planned to go but there was a church famous for being the worlds most northerly stone church built during the middle ages.  I also saw an interesting navigational challenge up Ramsund which was virtually opposite the bay we were moored in and could see that we could approach the Raftsund and Trollfjord from the north.  Let’s just say a heated discussion took place and I was backing down to avoid a grumpy husband, when James agreed to go to Harstad.  [He did have to ring Haven Knox-Johnson our yacht insurers to check that it was OK to go further north than Narvik]

K. S. Norge, dressed all over, as first seen in the rain

K.S. Norge

 

The trip north through the Ramsund, did offer some narrow channels to navigate but the supposedly beautiful scenery was shrouded in low lying mist and rain clouds.  The Ramsund was a short cut to the Tjeldsund which we joined three quarters of the way up; here we had a strong tide against us so we opted to anchor for lunch in a small bay.  On the other side of the Tjeldsund we could see a large boat ‘dressed all over’ (for non sailors that means they had code flags – each letter of the alphabet and numbers have their own unique flag – strung from the bow [front end] to the stern [back end] of the ship) it also had an impressive ensign.  As we looked through binoculars we could see on the land behind coaches, marquees and lots of people milling around.  On leaving our anchorage when we thought the tide should have changed in our favour (of course it had not) we noticed a couple of splendid tenders going back and forth from the village to the ship and then saw the name “ K. S. Norge”.  We continued up the sound and kept seeing people waiting on the shore with Norwegian flags, at which point in dawned on us that we had probably just seen the Norwegian Royal Yacht with presumably the King on board.  On checking our AIS we could see the ship leaving and following behind us, so we stopped in a bay to let her pass and dipped our ensign.   We did feel sorry for the people he had visited as it rained all day as you can see from the photos – I heard later that the King refused a covered coach as he had promised to use an open topped one.   Anyway, it made for an exciting moment for us.  That night on the Internet I found on Wikpedia the following information of the K. S. Norge (I wonder whether K. S. stands for King Ship, Norge is the Norwegian name for Norway):

History:

When Prince Carl of Denmark, a naval officer, agreed to be elected to the vacant throne of Norway in 1905 (taking the royal name of Haakon), he was promised a Royal Yacht. Due to Norway's difficult economic situation after the dissolution of the union with Sweden, it never materialized.  During the two world wars the economy and other conditions never made it possible to acquire a yacht.

After World War II a nation-wide appeal was made for funds to purchase a yacht for the respected and aging king, who had become a truly national symbol through his steadfast resistance against Nazi Germany. Eventually, interest centered on the British motor yacht Philante built in 1937 by Camper and Nicholsons in Gosport, Hampshire for Sir Thomas Sopwith. One of the world's largest yachts of its time, the ship had been requisitioned by the Royal Navy in 1939 and used for Atlantic duty as the convoy escort vessel HMS Philante during the war.

 In July 1947, the ship was bought by Norway in time for a model to be made and presented to the King at his 75th birthday. After refitting was completed in 1948, King Haakon was finally able to take over his Royal Yacht, which was renamed Norge.

King Haakon used Norge extensively for travels in Norway and abroad.

King Olav took over Norge after his father's death in 1957. The King followed the traditions introduced by King Haakon, using Norge on both official and private occasions.  When King Olav died in 1991, Norge was taken over by King Harald.

The Royal Yacht Norge is owned by HM The King. A Royal Decree of 1947 provides that the ship shall be manned, operated and maintained by the nation's Defense Forces. In summer the complement of officers and crew is 54. The season begins when the King embarks in May and ends when he disembarks in late September.

The sailing schedule for the Royal Yacht varies from year to year. When the King is competing in major international yacht races, he uses Norge as a base. The King and Queen also make use of the Royal Yacht for official events in Norway and abroad.

Naval Vessels 'dressed all over'

On arrival in Harstad we were welcomed to the town by lots of Naval ships ‘dressed all over’, so we assumed that the King must have visited the town in the morning, we learnt later that was not the case.  The Navy was in town for the inter-naval sports championships.  We have learnt from watching the navy in action that during the summer their ensigns go out at 8am and are taken in at 9pm and this happened with quite a ceremony.  We opted to berth at the Town Harbour, with electricity but water was only on the pier head.  Payment is via an automated parking machine but whilst we were there both machines were out of bounds as the promenade was being replaced and no one came to collect our money.  
James said he saw a notice giving the charges as NOK 50 + 10 for electricity per day.

Motored: 38 nm

Wednesday 10^th June 2011 – Harstad

The town is on the north-east corner of the Island of Hinnoya, the largest Norwegian Island, whose southern end is in the Lofotens, western side in the Vesteralen and Harstad comes under the South Troms.  It is also one of the meeting points at 08.00 for the Norwegian Coastal ferries – Hurtigruten which calls at 34 ports from Bergen in the south to Kirkenes in the far north, the round trip takes 11 days.

Trondenes Church from the sea

Our day began with a visit to the Tourist Office to collect a map and information on what to see.  Close to the town is the Trondenes peninsular, where the famous Trondenes Church which I mentioned before (the worlds northernmost stone church built circa 1250) is situated, unfortunately, it is not open for visitors until later in the summer. 

Church as seen from the Museum

However, we were able to walk around it and at the nearby Trondenes History Centre; we saw an excellent film on the church.  The other nearby attraction that was also not open was ‘The Adolf Gun’ – one of the world’s biggest land-based mounted guns built by the Germans in WWII.  We enjoyed the cycle ride to and from the peninsular and later in the day cycled to the opposite end of the town to see the other marina, which is very noisy as it is right by the main road to Narvik.  After which I went on to ‘Grottebadet’ a water park inside a mountain in the town centre.  It is not cheap at NOK 135 but it does offer: a 33 m pool with a selection of diving boards.  A therapy pool (extra hot) a fun pool with a flume, wave machine, Jacuzzi and other attractions, plus steam and sauna rooms.  I swam 50 lengths which is over a mile then tried out the therapy pool and steam room, before discovering a fitness instructor taking a water jogging class which I joined followed by water aerobics and a sauna.  Having gone it at 6.30 pm I left when it closed at 10 pm.  By the time I got back to the boat James was fast asleep and had sorted his own supper out.  I had some supper and prepared my rolls for the following days outing and then slept like a log!

The Swimming Pool, with fun pool behind the windows