Hello from East Iceland

[JuliusAA]

Hi everyone

My name is Julius

I have a Bavaria cruiser 42 build in 2006. It´s the first sailboat I have, and my first sailing boat I ever sailed on so I am really new to sailboats, but I have been motor sailing sins last century

I really enjoy sailing and it´s perfect way to do my other favorite hobby of scuba diving.

I am located on the East coast of Iceland and hopefully I will do a lot a sailing for the upcoming years.

If you ever find yourself sailing or planing on sailing close to Iceland don´t hesitate to send me a message

Happy sailing to you all
Julius A Albertsson

[tkeithlu]

Welcome to the forum, Julius.

SCUBa in Iceland? You're a better man than I, Julius.

[JuliusAA]

Originally Posted by tkeithlu

Welcome to the forum, Julius.

SCUBa in Iceland? You're a better man than I, Julius.

It´s a great place for diving. Yes the water is a wee bit colder than in some other places, but if you have the right equipment it´s really enjoyable

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Julius.

[Dockhead]

Very nice to meet you, Julius!


I cruised East Iceland in 2018 and LOVED it! It's much less populated and much wilder than the West and North coasts.



We visited a number of places, and I would have to look at the log books to remember them all, but Seydisfjoerdur, Vopnafjoerdur, Eskifjoerdur were three places which stand out.


The East coast of Iceland is about 500 miles from the Orkney Islands, with the Faros right between (an absolutely delightful stopover), so is really not all that hard to get to from the UK, even if the Orkneys are 630 miles from Cowes. This is a dangerous part of the ocean -- the high North Atlantic bordering on the Arctic Ocean, but it's only a couple days between safe harbors, so not really dangerous if you plan the passages well and have enough time to wait for a good weather window. The East Coast of Iceland is likewise reachable from Norway.


We spent nearly a month in Icelandic waters, and we were very surprised that we didn't see even one single other yacht! Nothing but fishing boats. I was pretty amazed not to find other UK or Norwegian sailors up there, an no locals. I think it must be a well-kept secret as a cruising ground. It's an absolultely delightful place.



Where are you planning to keep your boat? We didn't see any marinas. And what kind of cruising do you plan to do?

[Adelie]

Welcome.

[JuliusAA]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Very nice to meet you, Julius!


I cruised East Iceland in 2018 and LOVED it! It's much less populated and much wilder than the West and North coasts.



We visited a number of places, and I would have to look at the log books to remember them all, but Seydisfjoerdur, Vopnafjoerdur, Eskifjoerdur were three places which stand out.


The East coast of Iceland is about 500 miles from the Orkney Islands, with the Faros right between (an absolutely delightful stopover), so is really not all that hard to get to from the UK, even if the Orkneys are 630 miles from Cowes. This is a dangerous part of the ocean -- the high North Atlantic bordering on the Arctic Ocean, but it's only a couple days between safe harbors, so not really dangerous if you plan the passages well and have enough time to wait for a good weather window. The East Coast of Iceland is likewise reachable from Norway.


We spent nearly a month in Icelandic waters, and we were very surprised that we didn't see even one single other yacht! Nothing but fishing boats. I was pretty amazed not to find other UK or Norwegian sailors up there, an no locals. I think it must be a well-kept secret as a cruising ground. It's an absolultely delightful place.



Where are you planning to keep your boat? We didn't see any marinas. And what kind of cruising do you plan to do?

I am glad that you liked sailing the east cost of Iceland.

Seydisfjordur is truly a beautiful place.
My sailing boat is located in Stodvarfjordur a small town a wee bit more to south from Eskifjrdur.

There are not many sailboats in the east of Iceland... I think there are only one other sailboat here, not counting the small ones that are just for in fjord sailing. I usually see something like 5-10 sailboats here in the east every summer. They are probably more, but not a lot.

The only plan I have at the moment is to sail to Ísafjordur in the west fjords in June that's about 400 miles one way with some stops.

My future plan is sailing here in Iceland to start with so I can learn more about sailing. And the Faros are high on my list. I have always wanted to go to the Orkny islands so I wouldn´t be surprised to go there someday. Scotland and Norway are also places I am interested in sailing to but where the wind will take me the next years is hard to say.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by JuliusAA

I am glad that you liked sailing the east cost of Iceland.

Seydisfjordur is truly a beautiful place.
My sailing boat is located in Stodvarfjordur a small town a wee bit more to south from Eskifjrdur.

There are not many sailboats in the east of Iceland... I think there are only one other sailboat here, not counting the small ones that are just for in fjord sailing. I usually see something like 5-10 sailboats here in the east every summer. They are probably more, but not a lot.

The only plan I have at the moment is to sail to Ísafjordur in the west fjords in June that's about 400 miles one way with some stops.

My future plan is sailing here in Iceland to start with so I can learn more about sailing. And the Faros are high on my list. I have always wanted to go to the Orkny islands so I wouldn´t be surprised to go there someday. Scotland and Norway are also places I am interested in sailing to but where the wind will take me the next years is hard to say.

Cool, well you have a fantastic place there. Most of us on here cannot even IMAGINE a cruising ground with 5-10 sailboats a year!! Most of us have more than that in one night in one anchorage!!

We sailed to Iceland as a stepping stone to Greenland, and sailed from Vopnafjorder to Scorseby Sund, but that is pretty far away North and REALLY challenging, so you won't put that on your list for the first time. But Faroes is absolutely doable -- just pick a good weather window; it's close enough that you can be pretty much guaranteed of not having really bad weather if you choose carefully. And of course you have plenty to keep you busy in Iceland with that enormously long and interesting coastline. If you want to sail to West, however, I would recommend going North around and not South -- the South coast of Iceland is really forbidding, with no place to hide and almost no place to stop. The North is really cool; lots of interesting places.


Maybe see you up there sometime. I won't be coming this year, but 2022 is possible. I want to get back to Greenland, too.

[grantmc]

Bula from Fiji and Happy New Year Julius,

Hoping that you'll gain help and useful information from the forum.

What a wonderful country you come from. Fantastic art and music, and let's not forget history. Hope to toast a little brennivin with you sometime soon.

Always do feel free to post your own thoughts, questions and ideas here on CF and you're obviously a competent writer. The forum only works when people post, and 95% of members here seem reluctant. Don't be a lurker.

I know it's a cheesy but for those that don't know much about Iceland here's a little song about Iceland that will inspire.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSLFVYwGF0c

[JuliusAA]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Cool, well you have a fantastic place there. Most of us on here cannot even IMAGINE a cruising ground with 5-10 sailboats a year!! Most of us have more than that in one night in one anchorage!!

We sailed to Iceland as a stepping stone to Greenland, and sailed from Vopnafjorder to Scorseby Sund, but that is pretty far away North and REALLY challenging, so you won't put that on your list for the first time. But Faroes is absolutely doable -- just pick a good weather window; it's close enough that you can be pretty much guaranteed of not having really bad weather if you choose carefully. And of course you have plenty to keep you busy in Iceland with that enormously long and interesting coastline. If you want to sail to West, however, I would recommend going North around and not South -- the South coast of Iceland is really forbidding, with no place to hide and almost no place to stop. The North is really cool; lots of interesting places.


Maybe see you up there sometime. I won't be coming this year, but 2022 is possible. I want to get back to Greenland, too.

Too bad that you could not go to Greenland, I have always wanted to go to Greenland and maybe in a few years I will sail there.

I am lucky that I have a really good friend that is born to sail sailing boats and he is and will be teaching me. Usually he teaches kids on small boats, but I didn't need much convincing him to teach me or go sailing with me because his sailing boat is somewhere in the USA so it's rather hard for him to go sailing

Me, my dad and my friend did pick up the boat in Reykjavík and sailed it to the east cost in the beginning of September 2020. We had wind from 5 m/s and up to 32 m/s that´s my first sailboat experience ever... if I remember correctly its something like 320-340 miles. I absolutely loved it and even in 25-30 m/s wind and wave about 2-3 meters like it was the last 50 miles. But I wouldn't have sailed that if my friend wasn't with us. To teach us what to do.
I really liked how stable and good sailing boat is compering to powerboats that are a lot bigger

I hope that you will make it back to Iceland someday and if you plane on coming over don´t hesitate to contact me.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by JuliusAA

Too bad that you could not go to Greenland, I have always wanted to go to Greenland and maybe in a few years I will sail there.

But we DID sail to Greenland, and we spent about a month in Greenlandish waters. It was the adventure of a lifetime. But it was extremely challenging, for different reasons (extreme remoteness; ice; icebergs; no harbors or much shelter; very difficult anchoring; no accurate charts).

Originally Posted by JuliusAA

. ..I hope that you will make it back to Iceland someday and if you plane on coming over don´t hesitate to contact me.

Cheers; I will definitely be back, and will look you up.

[JuliusAA]

Originally Posted by grantmc

Bula from Fiji and Happy New Year Julius,

Hoping that you'll gain help and useful information from the forum.

What a wonderful country you come from. Fantastic art and music, and let's not forget history. Hope to toast a little brennivin with you sometime soon.

Always do feel free to post your own thoughts, questions and ideas here on CF and you're obviously a competent writer. The forum only works when people post, and 95% of members here seem reluctant. Don't be a lurker.

I know it's a cheesy but for those that don't know much about Iceland here's a little song about Iceland that will inspire.

Happy new year to you too.

I am certain that I will find good information in here since I am so new to sailing boats.

Hopefully I will not just be a lurker but only the future can tell. And thanks for the compliment about my writing skills. I talk and understand Englich really well, but not really good at spelling, but after I found websites that does spelling checks and grammar it´s a lot easier to post on forums

If you ever come to Iceland contact me and maybe we can find time to have a toast, but I don´t really like the taste of Brennivín hehe

[JuliusAA]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

But we DID sail to Greenland, and we spent about a month in Greenlandish waters. It was the adventure of a lifetime. But it was extremely challenging, for different reasons (extreme remoteness; ice; icebergs; no harbors or much shelter; very difficult anchoring; no accurate charts).

My brain is not working too well today. It moved Scoreby sund to Jan Mayen in my brain... after 2 night-shift, it´s sometimes not working 100% right