Looking for a safe haven
“On the long distance travel we worked in watches of four hours and four hours off, and that is about long enough to sleep on your off-watch, but also about short enough that you are not really, real, really cold, which is clearly a risk,” Jarrett said. “It was manageable, but we looked like penguins. I mean, we wear six layers of wool and sleep together for warmth at any time. But other times it is really fun. Spring and autumn in Scandinavia, there is much more likelihood of high -pressure cycles, which means it is clearer and sunny itself.”
Nevertheless, there were a few rough moments, such as when the mast spruce that held up the mainsail, snarling, which forced the crew to improvise and carry two rowing stimuli to hold the sail so that they could continue their journey. It took a few days to repair the boat so that it could sail again. There was no safety boat following in case the crew got into trouble, and no engine, although they did have a life raft that the crew still has to use.
Based on his sailing tests, Jarrett believes that the Vikings had no need for navigation tools such as cards, a compass or a sextant, rather trusting what he calls “mental maps” – or a “maritime cultural mindscape” based on sailing memories and experiences that have been passed on orally by generations. Those cards can also be informed by the myths related to well -known sights, such as Skerries, small islands or reefs.
“People had been moving very, very long by boat along the west coast of Scandinavia, probably since the late Neolithic, if not before – thousands of years before the Viking age,” Jarrett said. “There are large trading networks in place in advance, and that is reflected in the names, place names along the west coast. My primary argument is that if you travel a coastline for 3000 years in which you can use the coast for navigation at all times, then it is unnecessary to develop instrumentation.”
