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Test sail with the dragon ship Harald Hårfagre in Oslo
16 July 2026 · 8 min · 2K views · Oslo
What this video covers
The world's largest active Viking ship, draken Harald Hårfagre, conducts a trial sail out of Sukkebyten in Oslo with guests aboard.Watch The vessel is 35 meters long, displaces 80–90 tonnes with ballast, and carries a 360-square-meter silk sail on a 25-meter mast.1:09 Built on Vibrandsø outside Haugesund between 2010 and 2012, she has reached 14 knots under sail.0:53 Rowing requires 100 crew — 50 oars, two per oar.2:36 Because she is registered as a cargo ship, all officers must hold formal certificates; the captain, Björn A. Lander, a Swedish retired mariner, has skippered her since 2013.3:44 The mast broke and went overboard crossing the North Sea in 2014.1:39 In 2016 the ship crossed the North Atlantic via Scotland, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, and Newfoundland, retracing Leif Eriksson's route to his settlement site.5:00 The ship also spent years sailing the Great Lakes and wintered in the Mediterranean for a film project called Odyssey, during which the hull was modified to resemble an ancient Greek vessel.6:59 The crew of 32 are volunteers drawn from around the world; the captain notes a shortage of Norwegian volunteers specifically.6:59
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