Duncan, Jan Place, and Jack Heady touring Copenhagen
This is a quick tour of our 1999 trip to Scandinavia. The trip's primary objective was to visit the Hallberg-Rassy (HR) yard and Marinplast (hull plant) in Sweden. In addition, we wanted to tour Norway, Sweden and Denmark. With this in mind, we scheduled three weeks in late August/early September 1999 to make the trip.
We spent three great days in Copenhagen at the beginning of the trip and three more at the end. From Copenhagen, we took trains and ferries to Gothenberg, Sweden. In Gothenberg, we rented a car to make the trip to Hallberg Rassy.
Nyhavn area of Copenhagen. Great restaurants and bars in a quaint setting.
Nighttime near Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen.
Ellös, Sweden -- our trip to the Hallberg-Rassy Yard.
A lone sailboat around the Island of Orust, Sweden.
Visitor's Flags. A flag representing each visitor's nation is flown while they tour the yard.
Duncan in front of the main yard assembly building.
Our first glimpse of Whisper from the yard's upper scaffold.
Robin and Jack in Whisper's cockpit. Most of the teak deck is complete at this time.
Duncan and Jack in Whisper's still very rough interior.
Jan and Jack on a sister ship next to Whisper. Demonstrating how the floor of the cockpit locker can be removed to access/remove the genset.
Day trip to the HR hull plant, Marinplast, near Smögen, Sweden.
The hull mold for one of the larger HR's -- an HR62.
One half of the hull of a forming HR53. The gelcoat and stripe are the first layers put down.
The deck of a smaller HR (31/34?) laid out on the mold with the foam core and backing plates in place -- ready for the next layer of glass.
Bulkheads being glassed into place.
Catherine, Jan, Lulu, and Jim. Lulu, the yard foreman at the Marinplast, led us on an awesome tour.
Jack showing us the guts of an HR rudder.
A completed hull, ready for transport (by truck) to the HR main yard.
This concluded our 4 day trip to the Hallberg-Rassy Yard and Marinplast. Next, we headed up the west coast of Sweden. We visited ancient Viking rock carvings and small coastside towns before arriving in Oslo, Norway. In Oslo, we dropped off the rental car and headed by train to Bergen Norway.
Heading for Bergen, Norway by train.
Bergen, Norway. A beautiful seaside town on the Norwegian Sea.
Our boat tour through the Fjords of Norway.
Robin poses with glaciers in the background.
The spectacular train trip back to Bergen from the Fjords.
We took the train from Bergen across Norway and Sweden over to Stockholm, Sweden. The five days in Stockholm were fantastic. We concluded our trip in Copenhagen.
Just another postcard perfect day in Stockholm (I'm sure it isn't like this in the dead of winter).
A Gamla Stan ("old town" area of Stockholm) alleyway.
Stockholm has a rich maritime history. We visited several museums, including the Vasa museum.
Bummer. At some point we had to head home.
Whisper -- ready to leave the HR yard in November of 1999. These pictures were taken by the someone at the yard before Whisper was loaded on a freighter and shipped to the US. The boat was delivered to Tacoma, WA in January of 2000.
The picture from the cockpit, looking forward without hard dodger and mast installed.
Looking aft from the cockpit.
Portside stern quarter.
Yard workers and the nav station before we begin filling it with electronics.
July 2002 view of the nav station. Radar, GPS, SSB/HF, PTC-II VHF, computer(s), Link 20 added and the Multi moved.
Portside main cabin before our occupancy, November 1999.
Portside main cabin July 2002 view.
Starboard-side main cabin, November of 1999.
Starboard-side main cabin, July 2002.
Our aft stateroom in 1999. The 2002 view adds sheets and comforters, but is otherwise unchanged...