With southerlies winds forecast and us wanting to go north, there was little debate about heading off. To have the wind aft of the beam for once was such a novelty, we grabbed it and headed off first thing in the morning. The mist, rain and general gloom failed to dampen (dampen, get it ….?) our enthusiasm to head north. The first ten miles or so once past the peninsula at Stavanger are fairly open water and we had a good breeze (between 15 and 22 knots) and reasonable chop driving us north at between 6 and 7 knots. Once between the islands the breeze often eased but help up enough that we didn’t take the sails down until 2 miles short of Haugesund – a great sail despite the best attempts of the weather.
In Haugesund we moored (on about the fourth attempt – I blame the current!) in the new guest harbour just after the bridge across to Risøy. While it is new the finger pontoons require a degree of athleticism just to stay upright, so eventually we moored bow-to and pulled the boat in on the warps. Not elegant, but it worked.
Haugesund, like many places on this coast, owes its origins to herring, but with the decline in herring fishing the town declined, only growing again as it became a centre for the oil industry. Today it has oil supply ships visiting regularly and, perhaps more inexplicably, cruise ships visit regularly. I say inexplicably as, without being too unfair, it is perhaps not the most beautiful town in Norway. The socio-economic divisions in the town are quite evident from where we are moored in the harbour as the area under the bridge to Risøy seems to be where the local homeless congregate. A loud argument on the first night led to an electric bike being lobbed off the platform under the bridge and a short while later the police appeared to try and calm the situation. The noise from them remains an occasional accompaniment throughout the day.
Haugesund though is quite a cultural centre for the region. It hosts various festivals and events each year including the Norwegian International Film Festival and Sidlajazz – a jazz festival with around 70 bands and 200 or so concerts. The town also claims Marilyn Monroe as one of theirs, but this is perhaps a slight stretch. However, Martin Edward Mortensen, from the village of Skjold near Haugesund, was listed as Marilyn Monroe’s father on her birth certificate. A statue of Marilyn Monroe stands on the seafront promenade celebrating this serendipity.
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