Sailing With Haukur

All of the traditional wooden ships in Husavik are very special but our favorite was Haukur, Iceland's only schooner. It was a pleasure to sail on her with only her crew and no passengers. Neither of us had sailed on a schooner before and it was fascinating to see her traditional rig in action. We teased the crew that they should come and learn to sail the "easy way" on Snow Dragon after watching them put up all of their sails by hand.

Krystina and Nils

On another day we joined her for a whale watching trip. This time there was less sailing and more motoring in order to get out to were the whales were in the light winds. Everyone's eyes were scanning for blows and we were quickly rewarded with a humpback whale that playfully rolled underneath the boat. The real highlight of the day was a mother and calf northern blue whale, the largest mammals to ever live on earth.

North Atlantic Blue Whale

Our departure from Husavik was timed with Haukur's Sunday afternoon whale watching tour so that we could sail across the bay together. The conditions were perfect and both boats were able to show their sailing capabilities in the 15 knots of northerly wind. Hopefully the passengers on the whale watching trip realized how special it was for Haukur to be under full sail, moving at over 6 knots. Our speed was pushing 8 knots with a single reefed main and stay sail. We jibed and tacked to make several passes by Hauker to get photos of her under sail. When the wind dropped they turned their focus to whale watching and we headed to Flatey with small detours to watch blue whales feeding.

Humpback Whale

For more photos please click on Sailing With Haukur Album.