Spring Break - Part Five
By Dave and Jaja

	Chris, Holly, and Teiga playing on a piece of stranded calf ice last summer.

Store Molla island is three miles wide, five miles long, and has seven distinct 2,500 foot mountain peaks rising straight up from the sea. Gullvika, our favorite bay, is nearly landlocked. On most days you can see the rugged silhouette of the mainland Norwegian coast. The bottom is sand, the depth is 30 feet. There are three tiny summer cottage in the area but they are not obtrusive. Moose roam the steep hills. Cod swim in the sea. There are no roads - only a well established path. In the past two years we have anchored in Gullvika at least 25 times. Only twice have we shared the anchorage with another boat. Usually we are utterly alone. The Lofoten Islands of northern Norway are as close to cruising nirvana as it gets - assuming you don't mind the cold.

There are several frozen lakes near the bay that are perfect for skiing. We rowed our dinghy to shore and unloaded three kids, two adults, ten cross-country ski boots, ten skis, and ten ski poles. We had warmed the boots over DRIVER'S stove then put them into our waterproof backpack. On shore we slipped off our rubber boots, put on our still-warm leather boots, and put the rubber ones into the backpack. Deep snow started at the high tide line so we snapped on our skis and set off. Chris and Holly sped off ahead, and Jaja and I matched Teiga's pace. She had become a good skier but her five-year-old legs could only go so fast.

Light snow was falling and the forecast was calling for moderate westerlies. We gave the forecast a fifty-fifty chance of accuracy. The spring weather is very erratic and can change hourly. The closest lake was a quarter mile from the dinghy and 60 feet above sea level. We trudged up a hillside, then dropped onto the half-mile wide disk of frozen water. About a foot of snow lay atop the ice which was probably over three feet thick. Very safe.

We began to ski the circumference of the lake. When we reached the far shore the wind began to scream out of the mountains, straight in our faces.

"Probably just a squall," I shouted.

Jaja nodded.

The kids were wearing one-piece insulated snow suits with hoods. Jaja and I had on Gortex. We were all warm but we had forgotten to bring scarves. The kid's faces turned bright red in the wind, which was beating us unmercifully. Blowing snow on the lake had reduced visibility to nil. A lull in the wind occurred and I quickly took off my coat, sweater, thermal shirt, and lastly, my cotton T-shirt. I quickly donned my shirts and coat again while Jaja tied my warm T-shirt over Teiga's exposed face. I tied my wool hat around Holly's face. My head would be warm enough inside my jacket's hood. Chris said he'd be OK.

The next white-out gust of wind was coming. We could see it tearing down the face of the 2,500-foot cliffs. A tornado of swirling snow, driven by an invisible force, slammed into us. We made our slow way back to the beach. I wondered once or twice how DRIVER was doing at anchor but was comforted by knowing the bottom of the bay was good and that Jaja had let out 120 feet of 5/16 chain at the end of our 44-pound Bruce.

The tide had risen while we'd skied and the dinghy anchor was submerged, three feet from the beach. The wind was pushing the dinghy far out. Our high rubber boots were out in the dinghy. Using my ski poles for supports, I tiptoed out on slippery rocks just far enough so that I could hook the dinghy with the pole's basket. I pulled it to me.

"Vantage number one!" said the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake. "You couldn't have done that with a mere-smear boat hook..."

It was a wet row back. A few gusts stopped our forward progress and sent spray flying. We all ducked down to reduce windage. A few times each season we wished we had an outboard for the dinghy and this was one of them.

DRIVER's silhouette appeared from out of the driving snow and we all clamored aboard and dove below into the warm cabin. A 50-knot gust whipped out of nowhere and healed DRIVER over.

I looked at Jaja. "Made it back just in time," I said.

The worst was yet to come.