Norway from Bulandet to Fedje – May 2026

🧭 Factsheet

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📍 Our route and legs

The thing with the water pump

After there had been no real opportunity in sight to cross the North Sea, the forecast for the coming weekend looked quite good on 6 May. One last maintenance task was still left to do: the impeller had to be changed. We do this every year, so far without any problems. But in Norway the whole thing turned out to be more difficult. It already started with the fact that we did not get a gasket with the service kit for our Yanmar 3GM30f. So we ordered an extra one later in Sweden, because no Norwegian (online) shop could supply one. However, it was not made of paper but of plastic and therefore thicker than usual. In Bulandet, we changed the impeller as usual and used the plastic gasket. The result: the pump did not prime, no seawater from the exhaust. After a few attempts and a homemade gasket from muesli cardboard, the seawater cooling was running again.

But Tommy could not let it rest and wanted to use a gasket made of a different material. That did not work either. When I heard Tommy swearing down in the boat from the cockpit, I knew straight away that this was it for the crossing to Shetland at the weekend. He had sheared off one of the screws and the thread was stuck in the pump housing. We did not want to set off like that, even if nothing might have happened.

Luckily, we had made the acquaintance of some really lovely people in Florø. And fortunately, he works in a boat shop with a workshop. And as it is in the sailing community, you help each other if you can. In Florø, the screw was successfully removed from the housing. What a relief. Not only would the pump have cost a few hundred euros, we would also have had to wait for a while again. And to avoid making another gasket out of a muesli packet, we took the bus for another scenic fjord tour to Førde to Biltema (win-win) and bought gasket paper. We now feel we have enough of it for the next few years.

Leg: Bulandet → Florø

We naturally had to motor the passage to Florø. Not a breath of wind was stirring. But the sun was shining. We would have enjoyed it if our anxious gaze had not kept wandering to the exhaust. But our good old Jockel did not let us down. He would probably have kept running even with only five screws on the pump cover. But so much can go wrong at sea that you do not really want to invite extra trouble.

Leg: Florø → Eivindvik

After saying a (another) long farewell to the nice Norwegian couple, we cast off in Florø on 11 May and tried to get a few miles further south to hopefully have a good starting point and a better wind angle, as the forecast predicted southerly winds. And we had a week off. The wind blew quite strongly from the north that Monday and we left the mainsail wrapped. We set off in fine weather and already at a good speed. But also well wrapped up.

The 43 miles to Eivindvik were therefore no problem. After the first half we had to furl away the genoa, because the gusts were constantly around 20 kn, and for the first time we sailed downwind with only the cutter staysail and were still doing around 5 to 6.5 knots. Around eight o’clock we moored in the small harbour of Eivindvik. Before we could move on, we had a few days to explore the area. A gale had to pass through first.

Leg: Eivindvik → Fedje

But now really: the last 20 miles before the North Sea in Norway. Again just motor-sailing, but the swell from the stormy days before simply did not allow for slow sailing.

From Fedje, as from Bulandet, you have a relatively short hop across to Shetland. And we wanted to have another look at Fedje in the end, as we had not found a berth in the harbour there in June 2025. This time everything was free when we arrived there at midday. Two days later, at half past seven, we cast off towards Shetland.

🗺️ Special experiences and learnings

• now really the last time around Stabben fyr
• Tighten it too much, and it snaps off.

⚓ Our favourite place on this trip

• Fedje

💡 Practical tips for fellow sailors

• In addition to Windy, we used Barentswatch.no for passage planning. It made it easier to assess currents and sea state.
• Sailing and life on board in Norway

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