Norway - requesting cruising info

[S/V Alchemy]

Originally Posted by willk

Very much so - cheers!

I believe this book by John and Phyllis Harries is comprehensive. Norwegian Cruising Guide

[Mohallin]

Hi-

I have very similar quotation sailing from Denmark to Southampton What is the best route for sail boat Nord 80.

[Flemming Torp]

You may also want to take a look at the Norwegian Pilot Guides:

The Norwegian Pilot Guide – Sailing Directions | Kartverket

"The Norwegian Pilot Guide consists of sailing directions for the Norwegian coast, Svalbard and Jan Mayen, and is a supplement to the nautical charts".

"The publication contains supplemental information beyond what is displayed on the charts, serves as reference material and is an important tool for use before, during and after sailing.

The Norwegian Pilot Guide series consists of eight volumes. Volume one provides general information of significance for mariners, while volume two (a and b) through seven describe separate parts of the Norwegian coast.

Can be downloaded free of charge
The Norwegian Ministry of Local Government and Modernisation, which the Norwegian Hydrographic Service is governed by, has passed a motion to make the Norwegian Pilot Guide (sailing directions), Den norske los, available free of charge. The Norwegian Pilot Guide is to be revised and more customized for the professional users.

Until the revised editions of the sailing directions Den norske los are published, the current pdf versions with reported corrections/changes will be issued approximately 1st of November and 1st of May each year. Important corrections are also reported in Notices to Mariners, Etterretninger for sjøfarende (Efs)."

Having sailed up and down the unique Norwegian west coast during three seasons, I can also recommend Norwegian Cruising Guide .
I downloaded and used the online book during my trips, and found it extremely useful, relevant and inspiring ...

You can also download sea charts of all Norwegian waters from The Norwegian Mapping Authority: About The Norwegian Mapping Authority | Kartverket Kartverket | Kartverket Norgeskart ...

You can follow my own Norwegian sailing trips here - with many pics, maps and tracks - but the text is in Danish ... ... Sejlture i Gimle

[WayNorth]

There are some good links here.
Cruise planning in Norwegian waters (web based info)

[Snowpetrel]

Originally Posted by willk

Thanks. They can be, but with the obvious limitations of a mobo. Mine was a custom rig built by Redbay Boats in Northern Ireland to suit my tendency to wander off the customary routes. They build a lot of twin engine cabin boats for leisure, industry and law enforcement.

Thanks for the pictures, I like it, minimalist motor boat cruising! Kind of like bolgers fast cruiser concept.

She looks very efficient for what she is designed to do, and seaworthy in her own way. So unlike many fast planing motor boats that to my eye look too heavy and high for both efficiency and safety.

And as a bonus you dont need fenders! Though I bet you still use something at times to protect those tubes..

[alansmith]

Cool boat, mate! I also like your deprecated sense of humor. I am American Irish. I think what u r doing makes perfect sense for a man who is still working and have holidays and vacations to jet away. Good on u.

[SV Bacchus]

That is a cool boat! Good luck and have fun.

[willk]

Originally Posted by Snowpetrel

She looks very efficient for what she is designed to do, and seaworthy in her own way. So unlike many fast planing motor boats that to my eye look too heavy and high for both efficiency and safety.

She's very much a niche product

At 3 tons she can be trailered behind a pickup and taken home, but is big enough to keep on a mooring all season, which is what I do. Again taking the lead from you sailing guys, I coppercoated her which has worked well. The deck is self draining, the COG very low as both fuel and engine are centred and fairly much below the waterline. Provided the period is long enough, she can happily make 25kts in a 2 metre swell. In calmish water she cruises at 30kts and runs over 40 at flank. Diesel burn at cruise is 1.4L/Nm on a 460L main tank.

Originally Posted by Snowpetrel

And as a bonus you dont need fenders! Though I bet you still use something at times to protect those tubes..

Always we're with the fenders! The occasional opportunistic yachtie will use us as a boarding platform but generally retreat when they discover our black rubber strake is giving them a lasting memento of their visit!

[willk]

Looking back through all your replies above I have to say that there's a lot of useful information there - I knew that you were the right people to ask! Thanks to everyone who contributed. I'll get reading over the winter and start to get some sort of plan together. I expect that we'll try for this trip in June 2018 as we have some closer stuff planned for the west coast of Ireland and Scotland for the summer of 2017. We need to get our radar installation completed and fit an AIS transceiver. I also need to review and brush up on my personal skills - that memory corrosion is a killer

Thanks again C&SF for the assist - fair winds to you all.

willk

[WayNorth]

Norway, cruising guide by Judy Lomax, 3rd edition
Order online

[Trond123]

Noonsite.com is a good place to check procedures for checking in and out of countries. (Customs and immigration)

I'd say all the area from Stavanger and north to Stadt is well worth a visit. Lots of nice places.

Late May/ early June is often nice, but best summer weather is normally July/ early August.

[petter5]

For planning you can have great help og the site kystinfo.no
Kystinfo

Down left on the page you can choose what kind of map / areal photos you want to see, and up in right corner you have access to a overlay manager where you can toggle on/off almost any kind of information to be displayed on top of the areal photo or map.
You can dovnload any chosen configuration for your view from the site and convert to .KAP files that can be used as map overlay in for example opencpn. This is great for adventure cursing in Norway, you can make your own specialized areal maps for the plotter - of any area in Norway with a resolution as great as 1:625.

Originally Posted by willk

I hope to cruise the west coast of Norway and I am beginning my research into what I need to know. I know that there are a lot of Norwegian "locals" on here from Scandinavia and others who will have visited. Let us assume that I currently have NO KNOWLEDGE of the area, but that my landfall is likely to be near Stavanger or possibly Bergen as we would be approaching from Orkney or Shetland. My gut feeling is that I want to travel north then - but I'm open to a reasoned argument to go south instead. Unsurprisingly, I speak no Norwegian but have fluent "Point and Shout Louder" which puts me at a disadvantage with guides and almanacs printed in Norwegian.

At this early stage I am seeking advice on:

• Legalities (seems OK for me and my boat - we're Irish)
• Climate (looks like very late June & early July is best?)
• Online information - the most useful sites aren't always obvious
• Printed material - guides, charts, blogs, etc.
• Must see/do places (I've been in Bergen - that's all)
• Anything relevant!

I'll post below with more details about my vague plan - it's all a little embarrassing...

[willk]

Originally Posted by Trond123

I'd say all the area from Stavanger and north to Stadt is well worth a visit. Lots of nice places.

Late May/ early June is often nice, but best summer weather is normally July/ early August.

And the Norwegians have arrived!

Thank you, the three last posters - more reading for me to do over the winter.

To those of you who know the area - what are the typical high summer (July) sea conditions like north of Stadt - say from there to Bodø? Obviously it's very far north and relatively exposed - but I'm still curious...

[Kaptah]

I am also planning to cruise in Norway for couple next summers. In 2017 I plan to sail from Baltics to Lofoten via Shetland and Faroe Islands, leave the boat to nothern Norway and cruise the coast and fjords down south in 2018.

I like to have good old paper chart for all the areas I cruise. I have been investigating my options and so far the most cost effective option seems to be Nordeca chart folios:

Båtsportkart fra Nordeca - Nautisk Fritid

Has someone found something even better / cheaper? What do you local guys use?

The other option I found is individual chart sheets but to cover the same are seems to be more expensive.

[Chris Robb]

Another useful store of knowledge is the UK's Cruising association (CA), now with 5,600 members, many of them very active cruisers.

The CA has a very active cruising information system which allows members to update harbours ports and anchorages from an App on I phone and Android and online to the website. This provides the latest information that members have entered from their visits to a particular area. The system covers world wide cruising but is particularly well represented in the Baltic and Mediterranean and elsewhere is Europe. World wide info is growing as we have a number of members all over the world.

A screen shot of Norway showing all the places which have recent reports is here:
https://chris-robb-btconnect.tinytak...MxN180NDk3Njg3

Each pin represents a full report on the place. The number of reports is growing very fast.

Membership of the Cruising association is open to anyone, and is not expensive, and the discounts available from Marinas and other suppliers to members should cover any membership fees.

More info on the Cruising Association here:
The Cruising Association