Polar Night in Puoltsa, Sweden

Today the sun was visible over the horizon for 2 hours and 30 minutes. But soon we can enjoy a period without direct sun light. Puoltsa is located 90 miles (145 km) north of the Polar Circle. Polar Night is the opposite of the Midnight Sun, when none of the Sun's disc is visible above the horizon at all. It only happens within Polar Circles.

From 11 Dec 2017 until 1 Jan 2018 it will be down all day in Puoltsa due to its geographical location. All my flashlights are now fully charged! But already on Jan 2nd the Sun will be visible here for a full 42 minutes - unless it is a cloudy day.

Bringin in hay to the stable by snowmobile is often done in the dark this time of the year.

From +30°C to -30°C

After 20 days of R&R at home upon my return from Las Palmas I will now cool off in Swedish Lapland. The quicksilver hit -30°C yesterday when i landed at Kiruna Airport. My dear ex Norwegian colleagues took really good care of me. (I must admit that I miss my great colleagues and my airline work at 10.000 meter above ground.)

During three weeks I will now stay at Ofelas farm in Poultsa as a farmhand/handymen. Guests from around the world visit the farm for a few hours or a full week. Main activities in the winter include horse back riding on Icelandic horses or snowmobile safaris, both with good chances to meet moose and reindeer in the forest. At night you can sometimes enjoy Northern Lights.

I help out as a transfer guide, many guests are staying at the worldfamous "Icehotel" in Jukkasjarvi. At the farm I fix broken fences and try to start diesel engines - both a challenge at -30°C! At a more pleasant temperature I clean the stable and prepare meals for our guests. At Ofelas it is possible to gain insight in Sami culture and traditions.

Pixel @ ARC 2017

Pixel and her crew under command of cpt Micke (Mikael Lindell) is doing well on her 4th day at sea. Her position in cruising cat. C is number one and she is just now 10th among all boats (including multihull).

All four More 55 are now on their way to St. Lucia. Two of Pixel's sister ships are doing well: "More Amore" is 3rd in cat. C and "Athene" is 7th in cat. C. Due to various technical problems the last boat in the family, "Solid White", was not able to leave Las Palmas until early this morning. Her position now is 15th in cat. C and 183rd among all boats. Let's hope that she will catch up with her sisters!

For more information and details about these and other participants in ARC 2017 please visit: www.worldcruising.com.

Atlantic crossings

It is now time for me to say goodbye to Pixel. On November 19 she will cross the Atlantic in a westerly direction to St. Lucia as a participant of the ARC 2017 race. ARC is an abbreviation of "Atlantic Rally for Cruisers". Her new crew will arrive Nov 11 but Micke, our captain, will continue to sail. Approximately 260 sailing boats of various sizes will participate in the rally out which 19 are sailing with Swedish crew. I wish Pixel favourable winds and a winning  position.

I will today leave Las Palmas and cross a corner of the Atlantic in a northeastern direction in order to reach my home near Stockholm, Sweden. But instead of sailing I will fly Norwegian. I am looking forward to meet former colleagues on duty on my flight home. I have been flying LPA-ARN many times in the past. Our crew hotel during the last couple of years was St. Catalina, a classic ☆☆☆☆☆ hotel. Yesterday I took a walk to the hotel together with Annika. I had then had a  chance to show her the beautiful garden behind the hotel - a favourite spot for taking  wedding photos.

Viva Las Palmas!

After 100 hours at sea - and 704 nm - after leaving Gibraltar, we have now arrived at our final destination, Las Palmas. Favourable winds from the right direction gave us good speed but bad sleep due to big waves hitting us from the side. But we have all arrived in good spirit and shape. Upon arriving in the harbour area we played the song "Sol, Vind och Vatten" by Swedish composer/musician Ted Gerdestad at full volume...

After custom and immigration formalities have been cleared we are now moored at our assigned position in the marina. Biggest head ace now is to choose between fish or meat for our big city dinner tonight.

Wave talk

03 Nov - Atlantic off line blog
Gibraltar - Las Palmas

Today I have noticed that the lenght of the waves on the Atlantic are different compared to the waves on Mediterranen water. The latter being more choppy due to a shorter wave length. The reason for this phenomenon, according to my wise crew mates, is the fact that the Atlantic covers a greater area and includes a larger water mass than the Mediterranean. The waves of the Atlantic are built up over longer distances while creating long, rolling waves. The result: a more comfortable voyage in our type of vessel - which is actually a sailing yacht.

Look at the Atlantic water wall behind Ebba in it's up and down position. (Both photos were taken at almost the same angle.)

World's best high sea adventure

Nov 7 - Las Palmas on line blog

The Mediterranean & Atlantic Sailing part of my blog is dedicated to my great fellow crew  mates onboard Pixel: Annika, Eva, Ebba, Jim, Stefan, Tore and our excellent captain Micke. Thank you for taking this kayaker under your sail and making this trip the world's greatest high sea adventure for him!

A special thank you goes to all the staff of  More Sailing in Gothenburg and Croatia for making this trip come true.

Special greetings and thanks also to family and friends around the world for your interest in my salty adventures.

A big hug goes to my happy and supportive wife Akane for taking care of home base logistics during my 25 days on-board Pixel,        the More 55 sailing yacht.   

Staffan - the kayaker 

PS. I take full responsibility for any mistakes, nonsense or grammatical errors on my blog pages. All opinions and observations are mine only and please don't take them too seriously!