Cruising in Ryfylke (2)

With a forecast of sunny days and 10-15 knot winds for the second half of our Norwegian vacation, we set out for a 3 day venture on Petro, a little further into Ryfylke this time. 

On the first day we followed the ferry route to Tau, then kept going north towards Finnoy, the tomato capital of Norway. We had planned to spend the night at Rossoy, an uninhabited little island with a jetty on the north side, protected from wind and waves by the larger island of Fogn. Apparently on a sunny day in July such a lovely place quickly fills up with motorcruisers, but luckily our friendly neighbors invited us to use the spot normally reserved for the trash collecting boat.

Sailing is a fantastic way to get to know Norwegians, and the Norwegian culture and language. The people we meet on the water, on shore and at the sailing club are without exception friendly and welcoming, and very patient with our broken Norwegian. Our neighbors this evening turned out to all be from Bergen, which made communication even more of a challenge. I thought that with my knowledge of Bokmal (this is what they teach in class; it is one of the two official written forms of Norwegian), and the Stavanger dialect which I practice in shops and sometimes at the office, I would cover most of the west coast. Not so with the Bergen dialect however.

The next morning, just before the garbage boat needed our spot, we headed out and enjoyed another sunny day. A windless morning was spent swimming, after which we unsuccessfully tried to reach Judaberg. The havneguiden book promised a shop (for ice cream) at the closer by island of Talgje too, so we docked at the old ferry pier of Talgje for lunch. The shop appeared closed for good, but Talgje is still worth a visit for the lovely landscape and the church from 1100. The wind had picked up quite a bit so we reefed the main before heading back in the direction of Stavanger (with a detour past Judaberg and around Fogn). Our second night was spent at the island of Lindoy, which, though busy during the day, had plenty of space for the night. Our neighbors were from Haugesund, Stavanger and Jaeren, all familiar dialects. The 'integration into Norwegian society' class of this evening consisted of singing songs, eating shrimp and sharing drinks around a big fire. The following morning we headed out fairly early again, to be back in Stavanger before the rain would start (indeed, when not racing, we are definitely fair weather sailors).