Re: Want to sail in a Viking Longship?

["Terry L. Neill" <longshipco@hotmail.com>]

Poster: "Terry L. Neill" <longshipco@hotmail.com>



Alfredo wrote:

>I saw something on TV a while ago about replica longships retracing
>the route of Leif Ericsson, and I noticed that the crew all wore
>mundane clothes.  It seemed a little odd to me.

>What *kind* of layers does The Longship Company, Ltd. expect on
>the crew?

Warm ones.  Wool.  It's October, after all.  For regular training 
voyages, such as this one, (and the one on Nov. 8th at 10:00 and the one 
this Sunday at Noon) the only requirement is *comfortable*.  Easy to 
move around in.  Some folks wear Viking or Anglo-Saxon clothes.  Others 
wear Jeans and sweaters.

For special voyages, like the Solomon's Island Spring Launch Flotilla, 
raiding the Solomon's Island Celtic festival, taunting the Columbus 
ships, or kidnapping brides from Annapolis (True stories, I swear!) we 
dress to the nines in A-S and Viking.


>Did Vikings go barefoot aboard ship, as English and American sailors
>did before rubber soles came along?

I've no documentable idea.  I would guess that they would go barefoot in 
all but the coldest weather.  I prefer barefoot to anything else, even 
rubber soles, unless it's very cold or windy.  It's much easier to climb 
along the gunn'l in bare feet - something that one does when tending a 
sheet line.  Or even just moving from one pointy end to the other.  
Easier to walk the gunn'l than clamber over the thwarts and people 
thereon.

Vikings were busy on four continents. They sailed from Scandinavia, to 
Canada, to Africa, to Asia.  I'm sure in warm climates they went 
barefoot.

    - Anarra


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