Swedish cruiser Per Harrtoft is an adventurer, a dreamer and a life-long powerboater. From his home in southeastern Sweden, he has fished and explored the waters all around the coast and even once entered an 800-mile race in an open boat in which they covered the route in 24 hours.
So, when he decided to spend the summer cruising from Sweden to the remote Lofoten Islands in the far north of Norway, some 1,400 miles away, no one was surprised. And, he planned to make the round trip in the two months Scandinavians have for summer. That’s 2,800 miles in 60 days or an average of just under 50 miles a day not counting fuel stops, layovers and sightseeing.
But he’s a fast cruiser who owns a Grandezza 40 Fly that has a top speed of 37 knots, a fast-cruising speed of 31 knots and an efficient speed of 24 knots. So, in the land of the midnight sun, he could run for many hours one day and take the next one off.
The route around the south end of Sweden through Kattegat and Skagerrak Seas was picturesque but also fraught with days of high winds and slow progress.
Per has chronicled his summer-long adventure to the very high latitudes in his 40-footer in a three-part series in the British boating magazine Motorboating & Yachting. He writes perfect English and is a leisurely but engaging storyteller. There are a lot of place names I didn’t know even though I’ve spent time these waters. A Google Earth map of the first part of the trip is below. Read Part One here.
