VIKING SAIL 2000
L’Anse aux Meadows

	NEWFOUNDLAND
	CANADA
	The crew :

Charles	Danusia	David	David	Elaine	Gail	Henri
Audette	Wiazowski	Bergesen	Tilden	Audette	Klinck	Houben
Ieva	Jennifer	John	Lisa	Pat	Steven	Yvonne
Dobbin	Blake	Lind	Earle	Oliver	Cook	Houben

HISTORY IN THE MAKING

Late afternoon on July 22, six modern Vikings departed Massachusetts to take part in making history at L’anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland Canada. We were on a journey back in time to be a part of the reenactment of Leif Ericson first landing, 1000 years ago. Our journey took us over 1000 land miles and 15 hours on ferries.

We were bringing our "campsite" with us consisting of a Viking tent, loam, bed, cooking pot and tripod as well as many replica Viking swords, knives, cooking and hunting implements. We were to be joined with 4 other modern Vikings from Canada as well as the Captain of the Orm and his wife and we would take part in Viking Sail 2000.

We were heading to Norstead, L’Anse aux Meadows. Norstead is a newly created port of trade, which recreates the way life was at the time of the Vikings. It is located near the site where it is believed that Leif Ericson landed over 1000 years ago. The site takes you back in time to exhibit Viking history and culture. There are displays of crafts being made, mock battles, stories of explorations, games of skill, a Viking settlement home with a cooking area an open fire where meals are prepared and served in Viking tradition. There is also a chapel.

and a boathouse, which now houses the Viking ship Snorri. The Snorri was donated by its builder Hodding Carter and is now a permanent feature of Norstead. We are proud to have been there to see the Snorri land and it’s subsequent pull and roll on logs into the boathouse to its final destination for future visitors. This ship was built outside of Bath Maine and has visited many ports since 1998. This year she joined the flotilla as they arrived in Norstead on July 28.

We were to be part of the crew of the Orm. A Viking Ship built by its captain Henri Houben of Holland. Henri had built the ship as a replica of the Vikingship the Oseberg. It is an exact copy of the Oseberg ship, which was discovered in Norway and is now housed in a museum. When Henri Houben visited the museum he fell in love with the vessel and decided that he would build a replica. He did not have any drawings, but built it from memory, taking 5 years to complete the task. He has sailed it around Holland and Norway as well as to Sweden visiting many ports during the past 25 years. He was approached to bring the ship to L’Anse aux Meadows and be a part of the flotilla. After many months of planning with the Viking Trail Tourism Association he decided to go for it. This was the first time that he had entrusted his ship to anyone and he was very anxious while preparing for the journey.

We arrived at Norstead in the evening of July 24 and learned that our ship had been damaged in transit from Holland to L’Anse aux Meadows. We had been preparing ourselves for weeks in anticipation of joining other volunteer reenactors in rowing the Orm into Norstead as part of the flotilla on July 28. We were all very disappointed, but Captain Henri was heartbroken. It is a beautiful ship, named the Orm which means "snake or dragon" in Norwegian. It was built to be light, fast, and flexible and the captain was looking forward to the races that were scheduled to be held between the many Viking ships that were going to participate.

After talking over the situation with the 9 crew members and the rest of the group, it was decided that they would pull together to make the best of it, they would demonstrate rowing to the visitors, prepare for a Viking wedding which was to take place on the ship on July 29th, and also practice to row the Swedish ship the Glad of Gillberga. The Glad, which was also shipped over, id not have a full crew with him ( one thing I learned, a Viking ship is always called "him" not her ), so our rowing crew was invited to join their crew and row in with the flotilla. The Captain encouraged those that wanted to row to do so because they would never have such an experience again. 6 of the crew rowed and they reported that they had a great feeling of being part of history in the making, they were exhilarated and moved that they had this great opportunity.

When Charlie and I first learned about the Viking Sail 2000 we both had the same thought. We were planning on getting married this summer and decided that it would be a great adventure to have a wedding on a Viking ship ! The Captain offered his ship and he was also to be the officiating "King". A group of Viking reenactors from England and Denmark prepared the ceremony along with the Captain. ( Charlie and I could have no knowledge of these preparations but were told we just had to "show up" ! )

So for the days before the Viking Sail 2000 the rowing crew, helmsman and tiller practiced "rowing" and also rowing for the queen. The Captain taught the crew the commands in Dutch and he beat on the drum timing each stroke of the oars. There are different traditions depending on who was coming on board. I was to be Queen Osa named after the Queen of the Oseberg and Charles was to be Leif. These were our Viking names !

Our days were spent on site, explaining about the ship and it’s equipment to visitors and also demonstrating rowing. The Orm was placed on the rocky shoreline in a great location. It was also very windy and cold and we were all glad that we brought our winter clothes and long underwear ! Our Viking campsite was built a ways behind the ship with the tent set up along with the viking loam and viking bed. The loam and bed were built for our campsite by students at Gloucester High School.

The tent also served as a home for my son, Steven, who decided to live on site with the other Viking reenactors. He said that the nights were an extension of the days, the reenactors continued in costume and lived and cooked their meals on site, one difference was that there was drinking allowed after hours, so the mead as well as other alcohol flowed freely. It was quite an experience for him, one that he thoroughly enjoyed and he met many new friends from all over the world.

During the preparation for Viking Sail 2000, the site was inundated with media. There was a 50’s trailer parked on site housing the equipment for the TV crews as well as several satellite dishes placed around the site. There were camera crews everywhere, a helicopter flying about for those overhead shots and the sound system which would blow your socks off ! Such an unexplainable feeling, here we were in an extremely remote area of the world, on a peninsula 9 miles from the coast of Labrador called iceberg alley, with a population of 44 in the village of L’Anse aux Meadows.

The quiet of the mountains meeting the shoreline, there is no crashing surf or high tides as we know them, no trees blowing in the breeze, very quiet, then all of a sudden we hear rock and roll music coming from the band practicing for the 28th ! It was weird and most of us felt it was entirely out of place. However, as the week went by and we became used to the music which was toned down to Celtic folk songs and the like, the rehearsals for the speeches and the hustle and bustle of cameras everywhere, we began to realize that this was not real, it was actually a movie set ! We were to be part of the media event, Viking Sail 2000 ! This remote fishing village and surroundings had never seen so many visitors.

On July 28th it was reported that over 17,000 people visited Norstead ! I feel that we were lucky to be there for the whole event. We were touched by the spirits of those early Vikings of 1000 years ago. We dressed like them, and acted like them for a short period of time. We saw the Viking ships land, the way they probably did 1000 years ago, in the spot close to where they actually landed, and experienced the goosebumps when the flotilla sailed into view greeted by blows of the viking horn by our Captain Henri !

We viewed the Swedish ships, Thor Viking, Glad of Gillberga, Nortelja, Krampmacken and Aifur, Norwegian ship Mjork and U.S. ships Fredraka, Gry Falcoln, Norsman, Snorri and finally the Islendingur from Iceland arrived last ! The Islendingur had recreated the legendary Viking’s original course led by a direct descendant of Leif Ericson. We could almost believe that we were there 1000 years ago when Leif Ericson arrived for the first time. It was an experience of a lifetime, one that many people never have; we are fortunate to have been there as part of history in the making and we are glad that we went.

On the 29th the weather was cold and rainy but we had our Viking wedding, complete with licking salt off of each other’s finger, and feeding bread to each other. Symbolic of the salt of the earth and the bread of life. As Leif’s most important wife I was presented the key to the food locker, we drank mead from the horn and it was passed to all present who wished us good luck, then the rest of the mead was spilled onto the ground as a tribute to the gods. One of our new friends visiting the site had baked a partridgeberry cake which Charlie cut with his sword ( we didn’t have a knife ) and shared with our guests ! We were interviewed on Canadian radio and our wedding was on the evening news on CBC so for a few days we were somewhat of celebrities in Canada ! It was a remarkable wedding on a beautiful Viking ship that we all came to love.

On the day after the wedding Norstead was almost desolate again, a few local people came to visit, those who didn’t want to mingle with the 17,000 visitors, but the media was gone, we could hear the sea birds again and the waves gently lapping on the shoreline. The next few days were spent winding down, meeting others on the site, visiting L’Anse aux Meadows and attending a barbeque for all the crew members. As the week progressed we prepared to leave, pack up the Orm for it’s trip back to Holland and say goodbye to our friends. Viking Sail 2000 and our visit to Newfoundland was a "moment in time" that few experience. All in all a wonderful experience as it all came together for the Viking ship Orm and it’s crew. The Orm is on it’s way back to Holland, the Captain will make repairs to him and hopefully one day, we might get an opportunity to see him, light, fast and flexible sailing over the waves where he belongs. Henri’s love of the Oseberg ship could be called mystic, a few years ago, Henri’s son while researching the family geneology learned that Henri is a descendant of Queen se of the Oseberg. The "key" I was presented was actually the key to the city of Oslo Norway, which was presented to Henri years ago, I was honoured that he let me borrow it for the occasion. Written by Elaine (Cesarini) Audette

The ships of the Viking fleet :

Jomsborg	Thor Viking	Snorri	Orm	Viking Saga	Aifur	Krampmacken
Glad of Gillberga	Mjosen Lange	Fyrdraca	Skidbladner	Talja	Islendingur	Norseman