Sailing Florencevideo
The CARIBBEAN of the ARCTIC | Sailing Florence Ep.214
11 September 2025 · 30 min · 50K views · Lofoten Islands
Aerial view of Arctic fjords and coastal village
What this video covers
Matt and Amy aboard their 40-year-old Oyster Marine 37 Heritage, Florence, navigate the Norwegian coast north of Ålesund toward Tromsø, timing transits through tidal narrows that run up to seven knots.3:13 They depart at 0500 to catch the last of the ebb through a narrow fjord, then motor and sail 80 miles to Senja Island, running downwind on genoa alone — and later wing-on-wing with the staysail — because the fickle inter-island wind makes deploying the pole impractical in the calm conditions.7:20 The Norwegian charts prove accurate and the channels well-marked, with bridges high enough for Florence throughout.14:03 At Senja Island they find white-sand beaches backed by snow-capped mountains — the "Caribbean of the Arctic" comparison — and anchor in a near-empty archipelago.11:00 A planned hard hike to a nearly one-kilometre summit turns back short of the ridge after encountering steep snow fields, audible cracking, and rolling snow boulders; neither crampons nor ice axes were carried, a gap they note for future Arctic hiking in early June.24:36 Tromsø serves as the staging point for Svalbard, where multiple crews have converged to compare ice reports, weather windows, and polar bear protection before departing.29:15
Boats in this video
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