Journal
The Boreal Yachting Journal is a field publication written from the boats and the base in Tromsø: voyage accounts, structured reports from named expeditions, short crew notes, and reference articles on how the Arctic works. It is published by an AECO member that has sailed Northern Norway and Svalbard since 2003.
The Journal is not a marketing blog. It is a field publication. The point is to be the most useful and best-informed source on Arctic sailing in this region.
Expedition reports
A week from Tromsø normally covers Kvaløya, the Lyngen fjords and the eastern side of Senja without long open-water passages. Distances are short enough that a day's plan can change with the forecast and still reach an anchorage before evening.
Crew notes
Route planning in Northern Norway is mostly about tide, wind direction and how far you are willing to sail in a day. This note sets out realistic distances from Tromsø, the sheltered inside passages, and which legs to keep flexible.
Expedition reports
A week between Tromsø and the Lyngen Alps combines short passages with daily walks from the anchorage. Lyngen holds peaks above 1,500 metres within a few kilometres of the water, so the boat replaces both the road and the car park.
Arctic knowledge
The aurora borealis is caused by charged particles from the sun striking gases in the upper atmosphere. Green comes from oxygen at around 100 to 300 kilometres. Tromsø sits under the auroral oval at 69.6°N, and the viewing season runs from late September to late March.
Arctic knowledge
In Tromsø the sun stays above the horizon from about 20 May to 22 July. Further north the period is longer, and in Svalbard it runs from late April to late August. For a boat this removes the need to reach an anchorage before dark.
Arctic knowledge
The coast of Northern Norway is warmed by the Norwegian Atlantic Current, so the sea stays ice-free all year despite lying above the Arctic Circle. Summer air is usually 8 to 15°C and winter around freezing at the coast, with weather that changes within hours.
Arctic knowledge
Svalbard holds polar bears, walrus, ringed and bearded seals, Arctic fox, Svalbard reindeer and large seabird colonies. Sightings are never guaranteed and are governed by minimum-distance rules set by Sysselmesteren and by AECO wildlife guidelines.
Crew notes
Svalbard has three settlements a sailing yacht is likely to call at: Longyearbyen, the Russian mining town of Barentsburg, and the research station at Ny-Ålesund. Each has its own rules for visitors, and Ny-Ålesund restricts radio and drone use.
Stories
Bike and sail uses the boat as transport between island trails that have no shuttle and often no road. Bikes come aboard, the yacht moves overnight, and each day starts at a different landing. The season runs from June to September.
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