Debi and Jack sailing on SV Iroquois

We went from Svanoy to Selje motoring against the wind and waves for 10.5 hours. It was not a fun day and not something we would choose to do if we weren't trying to keep up with this rally. We motored the last bit near Detour, the other American sailboat in the rally. They arrived at the anchorage a little before us and were heading out when we came in. It was small anchorage, full of rocks and already pretty full of boats, it was not very sheltered from the wind which was out of the north, the three guides we have for Norway anchorages gave it poor marks each one for a different reason, so it pretty much violated all the where not to stay the night rules. We decided to look elsewhere so followed Detour. We figured they spent a few years living aboard in the Carribean and Bahamas so would know a good anchorage when they saw it. They found a spot just on the other side of the island which was calm so once they set anchor and it looked ok we did also. They invited us over after we got settled in. I(Debi) had had a killer headache since the afternoon but wanted to visit with them on their boat so went ahead. We brought some Aquavit and smoked salmon we had bought in Svanoy. By the way, I don't spell all the Norwegian names with the right letters because I don't know how to make them on the keyboard. The o in Svanoy should have a line through it, it's not an o, but another letter, I think it is pronounced 'oo'. Anyway, Detour even came over to get us with their dinghy, which meant we did not have to assemble or launch ours. We had a great time with them, ate all our snacks, they made pizza, and the time flew. The next morning I woke up with the headache again but things got even worse after I started throwing up, which continued until late in the night. Late into the night meant that Debi had to be on the boat and help get us the 10 hours from 17:30(5:30) to 3:30 that it took to get to Alesand by rounding the Stadt Headland. The entire night it never got darker than fairly bright twilight. Jan found a weather window when it seemed the north wind would calm for about 10 hours which would give us time to round the infamous Stadt headland leaving in the night and arriving in the morning. At one point after we were back in the fjords some time around 1:00am the wind died almost completley and the water was smooth and the light was such that you could not distinguish water from the color of the sky, as you looked out to the fjord edge it looked like the water dropped off the edge like in a fountain, it was beautiful magical and surreal. Norway in the summer is constant life, almost as though no one ever sleeps. When we arrived Jan, Mike (his crew) and the OCC port capatin were on the dock to take our lines, and present us with a gift basket of Norwegian edible treats. I(Jack) ate 100 grams of smoked salmon for breakfast on dark rye toast with hard boiled egg and coffee.