The Cellar - June 5th, 2016: Dragon’s Head

This is a Dragon’s Head. It’s mounted on a Dragonship, a Viking longship.
http://cellar.org/2016/draken1.jpg

The Viking longships owned by kings and chieftains had a head from a mythological animal in the bow to protect from sea monsters
and men, bad weather, and raids during voyages. The head, besides magical protection, was a sign of wealth and strength, and the
more spectacular the more powerful the owner. Traditionally it was not mounted until just before departure and was not supposed
to be mounted in waters near home in fear of scaring of the friendly magical creatures on land.

http://cellar.org/2016/draken2.jpg
This Dragon’s Head belongs to the Draken Harald Hårfagre. Say that three times fast.
What? You don’t know how to say it? Here you go.

It was built a few years ago and sailed in 2013. I’m pretty sure we talked about it here when it sailed a rough voyage to Ireland.
After a tour of the UK and I think some ports in Europe, they sailed back to Norway and it was stored inside partially dismantled.

I guess the owners got the itch, or exhausted the free chicken dinners on the speaking tours, and decided it should sail again.
UK? Been there, done that.... Europe? Same, and got the T-shirt too.

♫ Norway, my heart’s devotion--
.. Barents, Norwegian, and North ocean.♪
♫ Always the cold winds are blowing,
..Always the land legs are groaning,
..And to the ship we are owing.♪
♫ And the sunlight streaming,
..And the Seagulls screaming.♪
♫I like the island Manhattan,
..Smoke on your pipe and put that in.♪
♫ I like to be in America,
..Okay by me in America,
..Everything free in America -
..For a small fee in America.♪
http://cellar.org/2016/drakenmap.jpg

But crossing the notoriously stormy North Atlantic would be from hard to I-want-my-mommy, so they set to work preparing for the
epic road trip. They stretched it a bit and strengthened it a lot, refurbished, refitted and set sail on April, 24th, aiming for the
narrow spring/summer window it’s even possible. They broke a shroud on the first day and had the make a pit stop in the Shetlands
and pull the mast to repair it. They reached Newfoundland June 1st.
You can see pictures and videos of the preparations and plus follow the whole trip at their site.
I'd highly recommend seeing the 22 pictures at the top half of their page, then scroll down to the 11 videos. They are between 2
and 4 minutes and give an incite into the construction, the value of Hemp, and the physical difficulty of sailing when the yardarm
weighs a ton and a half. :eek: