The wicker-band (rope for the rudder) broke on the North Sea. It happened, in spite of us strengthening it with extra hemp in Egersund. We had put in the reinforcement were the rope passes through the rudder-boss and through the rudder, while this is were there is most tear on the rope. But we had missed the fact, that when the rudder-strap broke going in to Egersund, it had put so much pressure on the wicker-band, that one of the three cords in the rope broke.
During the sail across the North Sea we did not take notice of the fact, that we had to tighten the rope (in the wicker-band) with wedges several times, and eventually it broke. We could see on the breaking point, that one cord had broken, and afterwards the threads in the remaning rope had broken one by one. The rope was quickly replaced with our emergency-wicker-band, made out of non-biological material. We also have a spare hemp-rope, but it takes relatively longer to install - we have to practice, so we can install the hemp-rope quickly! In Kirkwall we replaced the emergency wicker-band with the spare hemp-rope. We did it in a different way, than we had done before, so more people could be included in tightening the rope. With an extra piece of rope on the end, there was room for 6 men to pull the rope forward in the direction of the forestem, and the rope easily went through the holes in the bulkhead. This method might also be used, if we instead of a rope use a withy (a twisted piece of birch- or oaktree).
The flexibility of the ship:
The sheer (the uppermost longitudinal reinforcement) no longer spits out the wedges, as it did last year. And the stringer (the next to uppermost reinforcement), which we pulled in towards the planks and gave an extra wedge while wating in Lindesness, is still in place. The ship is leaking in a bit of water (about 50 liters in 24 hours, when lying still). The leaking is probably caused by the twisting and turning of the ship in the swell, but it is at an acceptable level. During the challenges the ship has been through so far, it looks like we have attained a good and acceptable level of flexibility, evenly spread out down through the ship. One thing is clear though, we should not have used a scarf to assemble the sheer midships near the shrouds. This scarf is continuously causing trouble. The scarf consists of two iron spikes, a wooden nail and a klinker nail. The wooden nail spits out the wedge all the time, the spikes work themselves out as soon as they are put in and the the klinker nail brakes from time to time, and has to be replaced. The reason that the joint was made midships near the shrouds was, that the other longitudinal inforcements (stringers) under the sheer, was assembled near the ends of the ship, so we did not want the assemblement of the sheer in the same area. Perhaps we can fix the joint, by cutting off half of the thickness of the sheer longitudinal, and afterwards put in a piece of oaktree 4-5 meters long, and fix it with wooden nails.
Lubrication:
We have taken apart the lowest halyard-block and lubricated it with oxtallow. The axles in both blocks have been checked. All the moveable parts have to be lubricated as often as possible, to prevent chafing, wear and tear.
The rigging:
Our new rakke (the piece of wood that holds the sails in towards the mast) has chafed the shrouds in the front on the lee side: The reason is, that it is very broad and therefore gets in touch with the shrouds, when the sail is up. So we changed it with the old rakke, which fits better with the shape of the mast. Otherwise no signs of chafing in the rigging.
The oars:
Every oar has been "judged and graded" by its performance during rowing, and the results has been written down. The oars are low graded in general. One of the explanations for our problems could be, that the oars are big and heavy, and we are small and comfortably. But the fact that they are too heavy outside the oarports, or that they roll around in the oarports, is something we can change without changing the basic design of the oars (the original oar has been found in Hedeby). In traditional fishing boats it has been custom, that every man made his own oar, in order for the oar to fit the man. The boats were sold without oars. Maybe the same was custom on a longship like the Sea Stallion. But it takes long hours of rowing and much craftsmanship to make a good oar.
The ship:
The general condition of the ship is fine, and the ship can probably stand much stronger wind and swell, than we would want to sail in. The few weak spots are the rudder-system, the shroud pins and the seams in the sail. Besides that, the trim and ballance of the sail has to be mentioned. Look under Trim in this diary.