Recreating a 1000-year old Viking merchant ship

posted by   lillilee (50)   8 months ago (www.maritimewood.com)

The Norwegian explorer Ragnar Thorset started his career by rowing single handed from Norway to Shetland. Since then, he has followed in the wake of Leif Ericsson by sailing to North America in a small fishing boat, and in 1980 he sailed the Northwest Passage to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Ronald Amundsen’s voyage. While on these expeditions he formulated the idea of sailing from Norway to Greenland in a Viking ship replica, and he later decided to attempt a round-the-world voyage. In Thorset’s own words: “The Vikings did not sail around the world, but I want primarily to show how it was possible for our Norse ancestors to have established regular transportation links between Norway and North America through the Arctic waters.