Northbound

Adele at the Smeerenburg Glacier in Svalbard in July 2005. The first cruise took us from the launch in Holland to Norway and Svalbard and then south to Sweden, where she was Christened.

My previous yacht, Swedish Caprice, with which I sailed around the world several times. She was built in 1988 and I had her until 2004.

Adele's bare hull is approaching Vitters yard via canal in 2003.

And the finished yacht is leaving the yard in 2005.

Adele touches the water for the first time in Harlingen in Apr 2005.

Our voyages would take us north to Svalbard and further north and south to Antarctica, east into the Med and west to New Zealand.

This first gallery shows the voyage north along the beautiful Norwegian coast and then north into the pack ice north of Svalbard.

Adele on one of her first sea trials in the North Sea

Sorting out one of the halyard winches on the North Sea

The first port of call after the North Sea crossin was Bergen. Adele was tied up next to Rosenkrantz tower built in 1560.

This is Bryggen, the downtown harbour of Bergen and the trading centre of this Hanseatic old port

Arguably the best preserved stave church in Norway is the church of Borgund, built in1150

Jennifer's mum joined us for the cruise. She and Jennifer would leave Adeke kater ti oreoare for the wedding a month later.

Luz, Jennifer and I at the forepeak while Adele is gliding in through the Sogne fjord, one of the largest fjords in Norway. At the inner parts it is more than 1,000 m deep.

Adele at anchor just north of Bergon outside Sognefjord. The small tides and weak currents make it possible to tie up with a stern line.

At a waterfall in Naroyfjord. The water was plunging down more than a hundred metres and sprayed the entire deck of Adele, when we came closer.

A church in Naroyfjord.

In the narrow fjords, the mist and clouds melted into one. Fogs swept through in banks and boats and villages vanished and reappeared in the changing light. The small church is the same as in the previous picture.

Naroyfjord, the narrow fjord, is formed by glaciers carving their way from the mountains to the sea.

Adele on Midsummer's Eve near Selje in Moldefjorden.

Cat, my daughter, picking floweers on Midsummer's Eve. This is a Scandinavian tradition, but the May pole that we normally dance around was replaced by the Mizzen mast.

Alesund was destroyed by fire in 1904 and completely rebuilt in a single style - Art Nouveau

In Bodo new guests met up. Geraldine and Sanford Henry and Florence and Philip Hands. Bodo is in the northern part of Norway, north of the Arctic Circle.

The coast north of Bodo. In the background are the wall of mountainous islands that together form the Lofotenveggen, the Lofoten Wall.

The fjords cut deep into Norway and lots of ferries connect the roads along the coast.

The harbour of Kjerringoy, not one that Adele could enter, but fundamental for Kjerringoy's importance as a trading centre a century ago.

Susanne, my daughter and Cat's twin sister, joined in Bodo.

The fishing village of Henningvaer in Lofoten. The abundance of fish brought people up here. Life is still tough for the fishermen in winter time.

Susanne and I at the crow's nest. The spinnaker is behind us.

Adele cruising under spinnaker and mizzen staysail. Mark is using the wireless remote control to adjust the trim of the sails,

The Lofoten Wall underneath our spinnaker/

The deck and spinnaker photographed from the crow's nest, 40 metres up in the main mast. This photo was on the cover of Showboats International.

Adele sailing beside the Lofoten mountains - The Lofoten Wall. We had a consistent high pressure in Lofoten that gave us good weather but unfortunately also weak winds until the sea breeze built up in the afternoon.

Susanne at the wheel of Adele

Adele entering the innermost parts of the extremely narrow 2 km long Trollfjorden. Photo taken from the crow's nest and we look behind towards the mizzen mast and the entry of Trollfjorden.

After Lofoten we sailed up to Svalbard, where we met our guides Per-Magnus Sander and Katharina Salen (they later married). Per-Magnus and Katharina came aboard from the expedition ship Origo, seen beside Adele

Per-Magnus was in the crow's nest and spotted this Polar Bear Mum with her two cubs in their second year.

Oh, it's wet!

Andre Hoek, the naval architect and I at the wheel. Andre and his wife Ineke were guest aboard.

Rifles are essential to protect against polar bear attacks and we never went out, not even in the main town, without someone carrying a rifle. Andre and Rick Tomlinson are photographing walrusses

Walruses on Phippsoya, in the Seven Islands Group. The northernmost archipelago in Europe, north of Svalbard.

By taking our time and moving slowly we could get incredibly close to the walrusses. This image is taken with a short tele lens , so I wasn't far away either.

A morning nap in the sun.

We sailed north from the Seven Islands Group into the packice and reached the icecap at 81 degrees, 10 minutes north. We "beached" Adle on the ice pack and could jump "ashore" onte floating ice.

Celebrating our northrn limit in champagne

Enormous snow flakes came down as we prepared for an expedition to find pollar bears.

Andre capturing nesting Kittiwakes tightly packed on the rock ledges of the Ossian Sars Mountains

After Svalbard we sailed back to Marstrand and prepared Adele for the Christening. The Christening took oplace the day after Jennifer and I got married and is separately described in one of the first Family Albums from 2005 on this website

Maseskar Lighthouse captured from Karingon, when we sailed in the Swedish archipelago with guests after the Christening. Michael Persson, the vicar of the Swedish Church in London, liked this photo so much that I had to go back later and make a panorama shot which now sits on the wall of the church hall, 7.5 metres across.

Another view of Karingon harbour. Adele stayed at anchor outside the harbour.