A Viking Voyage: In Which An Unlikely Crew Of Adventurers Attempts An Epic Journey To The New World

Features of A Viking Voyage: In Which an Unlikely Crew of Adventurers Attempts an Epic Journey to the New World

W Hodding Carter admits he cannot sail a Sunfish hates to be cold and panics when hes lost So why did Carter devote three years of his adult life not to mention a small fortune to dodging polar bears and icebergs on an opendecked wooden ship resembling an oversized canoeHe wanted to be a Viking Obsessed since childhood with Leif Eriksson and his triumphant voyage a thousand years ago from Greenland to North America Carter hatched the admittedly crazy idea of reenacting Eriksons voyage in a replica of the precarious squarerigged Viking cargo ship known as a knarr Never mind that he had a wife twin daughters and another baby on the way Carter was going to make it happen This enthralling inspiring occasionally hairraising and genuinely hilarious book is the account of how he pulled it offWith funding from Lands End and expertise gleaned from Viking enthusiasts all over the world Carter had the knarr constructed by an eccentric boat builder on a small Maine island He then arranged to have the Snorri as he dubbed the craft shipped to the southern tip of Greenland where he and his grabbag crew of eleven would embark in midsummer The departure was inauspicious to say the least for two solid weeks the Snorri tacked back and forth in the windy fjord by Erik the Reds ancient farm covering a grand total of eighty milesAlthough that first attempt ended in defeat in the middle of the Davis Strait Carter his prudent redhaired captain and their crew were not about to surrender The next summer in even worse weather the Snorri was back on course and these latterday Vikings were ready to handle anything Mother Nature dished out atop the icy open seaWell almost anything By turns thrilling and slapstick sublime and outrageous A Viking Voyage is an unforgettable adventure story that will take you to the heart of the most magnificent unspoiled territory on earth and even deeper to the heart of a journey like no other A celebration of the people and places Carter visits and a treasuretrove of fascinating Viking lore this is a mesmerizing story of friendship and teamworkand of accomplishing a goal that once seemed impossible