After a successful 97-day voyage from Stavanger to New York, and days of events commemorating the original crossing, the ship’s crew was likely ready for a break and relieved to be boarding an airplane home. Awaiting the sailors in Norway will be many welcome home festivities. Members of the crew will also give a series of presentations and talk about their experiences crossing the Atlantic, the people they met along the way, and the funds their epic crossing raised.
The voyage of the replica Restauration wasn’t just a symbolic recreation of the first organized group of emigrants to the US, it was a humanitarian fundraiser. The Restauration website launched the campaign Broken Dreams: The Light of Hope along with support from high patron Liv Ullmann, raising $75,000 on behalf of SOS Children’s Villages, a humanitarian organization for orphaned children worldwide.
The Restauration approaches Bermuda at sunset, October 26. Photo credit: Halcyon Yachts
The ship needed to be returned to Norway, somehow. Fortunately, there’s a provider for this: a yacht delivery service. The Restauration’s crew passed the ship off to an experienced British crew who will return the boat to Norway. They won’t blog about it as vigorously as the Restauration’s crew did, however they are posting occasional progress updates online.
Without the commemorative stopovers of the crew’s tour to the US, the ship should make a much quicker return and is expected home in Stavanger before Christmas.
From Newark the crew set course for Bermuda, and as of November 14, the ship has already reached the Azores, and is moored at Horta, 900 miles west of the coast of Portugal.
Next, the craft will depart for Brest, France, with a projected arrival of December 1.
View the ship’s progress by searching “Restauration” on the website MarineTrack.