North Sea Winter Sailing Up Helly aa
Viking fire festival
North Sea Winter Sailing Viking fire festival
Difficult weather conditions, cyclical storms, Shetland in winter and tidal training! Additionally, a unique, largest fire festival in Europe – which is to crown the hardships of sailing. A cruise for real sailors!
€1226 per person
Price includes:
Dates:
20.01 – 03.02.2026, s/y JoinUs
The exact dates will be adjusted to the Helly Aa festival.
This is an exceptionally challenging cruise – that’s why we are taking bookings well in advance!
Additional costs (to be settled after the cruise):
Reserve via info@joinus.pl
Wait for the contract
After accepting the contract, make the payment for the cruise
Map is one of the possibilities of sailing according to actual weather conditions. The final trip is agreed between guide & skipper.
Cheap flight (wizzair) to Stavanger. When we set sail depends strictly on meteorological conditions! Maybe we'll sail in the area for a few days, maybe we'll wait out the storm, maybe we'll be able to sail out on the first day!
No jokes here. We will have 2 days of non-stop sailing on the winter North Atlantic. We will choose the sailing time strictly depending on the weather conditions. The weather changes quickly so we should catch the right weather window! If the weather is favorable, we will sail to the tiny Fair Island!
We will spend about 6 days here. There will be plenty of time to rent a car and explore most of the nooks and crannies! In fact, you could sail around the Shetland Islands for over a week - there is plenty to do. At this time of year, however, it can be stormy - so - apart from the capital - the port of Lerwick, we will focus on sailing to places that are more difficult to reach by car. Strong currents & tides are great opportunity to practise tide sailing.
- circumnavigating the northern islands of Yell, Feltar, Unist
- Tiny batches: Mid Yell, BaltsoundPier, Gutcher
- Sailing between the islands is quite a tidal challenge - the water speed reaches up to 6 knots! (for those interested, we offer a practical tidal sailing course!)
The largest fire festival in Europe. All day long, people dressed in Viking costumes march around the city, celebrate, finally light torches and march to give vent to the fire - burn the boat!
According to the weather conditions we will adapt time of sailing.
Check out in Bergen. It is a good idea to book a flight a day after.
The minimum requirement is two non-stop passages of 2 days each – in the variable winter weather conditions! These demanding legs are not suitable for sailors without prior experience.
100 hours under sail
We’ll easily cover the required sea-time for your logbook – and for those interested, we offer a practical training course during the cruise!
We’ll be delighted to visit this tiny piece of land – weather permitting.
