ROSKILDE, Denmark – On the skipper’s command, deckhands haul in tarred ropes to lower the flax sail. Oars splash into the water. The crew, grimacing with strain, pull with steady strokes, sending the sleek Viking longship gliding through the fjord.
A thousand years ago, the curved-prow warship might have spewed out hordes of bloodthirsty Norsemen ready to pillage and burn.
This time, the spoils are adventure rather than plunder.
The Sea Stallion of Glendalough is billed as the world’s biggest and most ambitious Viking ship reconstruction, modeled after a warship excavated in 1962 from the Roskilde fjord after being buried in the seabed for nearly 950 years.
Volunteers are preparing it for a journey across the legendary Viking waters of the North Sea – leaving Roskilde in eastern Denmark on July 1 and sailing 1,200 miles to Dublin, which was founded by Vikings in the ninth century.
“It’s like a banana boat. It moves like a snake,” said crew member Preben Rather Soerensen, 42, after a recent test sail in the Roskilde fjord.
The crew will explore the challenges of spending seven weeks in an open vessel with no shelter from crashing waves, whipping wind and drenching rain. Working in four-hour shifts, the history buffs and sailing enthusiasts will have to steer the 100-foot-long ship through treacherous waters with a minimum of sleep, comfort and privacy – just as the Vikings did.
The Vikings turned to the stars and their ancient Norse gods for help as they navigated across the open sea, reaching as far as Iceland and North America. Many perished in the hostile waters of the North Atlantic.
This crew puts their faith in modern technology: a GPS satellite navigation system and radar. They wear baseball caps and wind-breakers rather than helmets and chain mail shirts. Mobile phones are allowed.
It will be no pleasure cruise. “They will suffer from blisters on their hands and sore bums,” said Captain Poul Nygaard, a Dane.
The Viking boat has the curved hull and single square sail that typified Norse longships, which were designed to sail on both open seas and shallow rivers.
Using replicas of Viking era tools – chisels, knives, spoon bits and axes – craftsmen built the 8.25-ton Sea Stallion using 5,250 cubic feet of oak and 7,000 hand-forged iron rivets.
The 78 men and 22 women will take turns sailing the ship on the seven-week voyage; not all the sailors will make the full trip.
“Privacy is a very big problem. We’re 65 people living very close for long time,” said Erik Nielsen, a 64-year-old volunteer from Toronto. “You deal with it. It is manageable.”
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