2023-8 | ISBJORN | Bodø-Bergen
SAILING STAFF
The Passage
Rough itinerary
All 59º North passages are very much subject to weather. We pick our routes based on the "correct" time of year to be sailing in the different regions we visit, and we always build-in enough time to give us some margin for weather windows. The skipper has final say on departure dates and weather windows, but generally speaking, the intinerary for this passage will look like this:
August 7, 2023
Crew arrive to ISBJØRN at in Bodø, Norway. ISBJØRN orientation followed by crew dinner. All crew stay onboard ISBJØRN.
Prep Days
Between the joining and departure dates, all pre-passage preparation, provisioning, and safety briefings will be completed. The specific pre-departure schedule will be outlined and posted onboard ISBJØRN by the skipper.
August 9, 2023
Scheduled departure, weather dependent.
August 17, 2023
Latest date (12:00 noon) for crew to depart ISBJØRN from Bergen, Norway.
TRAVEL LOGISTICS
Bodø
Our recorded passage history logs one landfall at Bodø: in July 2023, Isbjørn completed the crossing from Bergen, ending her northbound run here in the heart of Nordland.
Bodø sits at the tip of a low, weather-scoured peninsula between the Vestfjorden and the Saltfjorden, just north of the Arctic Circle and squarely in the land of the midnight sun. The town rebuilt itself almost entirely after wartime bombing, so its waterfront reads as modern and pragmatic rather than picturesque—a working harbor of fishing boats, coastal traffic, and the storied Hurtigruten steamers that have called here for generations. That maritime pulse runs deep: the Norwegian Jekt Trade Museum preserves the last surviving jekt, the broad-sailed wooden cargo vessel that carried dried cod south to Bergen for centuries, while the Nordland Museum traces the region's story from the Stone Age through the Viking era. Bodø's identity is inseparable from the sea and the fish that built it.
For crew with a day or two ashore, the great draw lies just outside town at Saltstraumen, where enormous volumes of water surge through a narrow strait four times daily, generating what is billed as the world's strongest tidal current and a churn of whirlpools and eddies. Beyond it stretch the islands and skerries of the Bodø archipelago, and across the Vestfjorden rise the jagged peaks of the Lofoten wall—a horizon that has beckoned sailors north for as long as boats have worked these waters.
Airport Info
Bodø Airport (BOO) is the nearest major airport, located just 10 minutes by taxi or local bus from the port area in Bodø. This airport offers frequent domestic flights and some limited international connections.
For most international travelers, Oslo Gardermoen Airport (OSL) is the main hub, with numerous long-haul flights and frequent onward connections to Bodø. Travelers typically connect through Oslo before reaching Bodø.
Bergen
Bergen has become one of our most familiar Norwegian landfalls, marking the end of 21 recorded passages between 2021 and 2026. Isbjørn has arrived here again and again from across the North Atlantic and the Norwegian coast—closing out runs from Scotland, Iceland by way of Shetland, the Azores, and Bodø—while Falken completed the crossing from Galway in 2024, making Bergen a regular gateway for offshore sail training and Shetland Race finishes.
Set among seven mountains on Norway's western coast, Bergen grew from a medieval trading center into one of northern Europe's great maritime crossroads. Its heart is Vågen, the old inner harbor, lined by the gabled wooden warehouses of Bryggen, the Hanseatic wharf whose crooked timber facades trace centuries of stockfish trade and now stand as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The working waterfront still hums with fishing boats, ferries, and cruise ships, and the fjords and skerries of the surrounding coastline open directly onto some of Norway's finest cruising grounds.
Crew with a day or two ashore can wander the alleyways behind Bryggen, browse the open-air fish market at the head of the harbor, and ride the Fløibanen funicular up Mount Fløyen for a sweeping view over the harbor and islands. The Bergen Maritime Museum and the medieval Bergenhus Fortress reward anyone drawn to the city's seafaring past, while the mouth of the Sognefjord and Hardangerfjord lie temptingly close for those continuing under sail.
Airport Info
Bergen Airport, Flesland (BGO) is located about 20 minutes drive from the city center, with flights to major European cities and connections to domestic Norwegian destinations.
Weather conditions
I don't have access to historical weather data or forecasts for that specific August 2023 voyage, so I can't accurately describe the conditions you'd have experienced sailing from Bodø to Bergen. Anything I wrote would be invented, which wouldn't serve you well for a real trip summary.
In-depth analysis, by WRI
WHY 59º NORTH?
ambitious sailing schedule
We sail upwards of 20,000 miles per year in all oceans of the world, and in over 200 passages, we've only been late by one day, one time! We've been able to accomplish this by properly planning our trips with enough time for weather windows, and allowing a few days in port between trips for staff to recover, re-provision and complete routine maintenance (most charter companies allow only a single day turnaround, which is insane!).
Every 4-5 trips we build in a 'fuse', where we have a 2-3 week maintenance period allowing us to take care of the boats in normal circumstances, or give a buffer should we get delayed by unforeseen circumstances prior to this break.
The best boats
We take pride in the maintenance of all of our boats, and hold ourselves to extremely high standards. We buy sails that will last for tens of thousands of miles, while holding their shape (unlike standard dacron); we carry lithium battery banks with high-output alternators so there's less time running the engine to charge at sea and killing the vibe; we carry enough sails to sail the boat to the conditons, whether that's heavy weather or light weather, to give you the full experience.
WOMEN BUNKS GUARANTEED
As a woman sailor, you will never be alone on a 59º North passage. We guarantee at least two women on every passage, and save those bunks before they sell out. If they don't sell, they're given away to women apprentices - yes, we put our money where our mouth is.
In fact, we rarely ever have to. 59º North passages have always been 'mixed' - not only by gender, but also by age, nationality, background, you name it. Back around 2022, we had a few prospective crew wondering if they'd be the only woman onboard. As that had almost never been the case, we decided there and then to guarantee it.
Our staff are also mixed gender as often as is logistically possible, and several times per year, on both boats, we run All-Women's passages, staffed and crewed entirely by female sailors to help further empower an often overlooked demographic at sea.
Professional, well-paid staff
Adventure sailing is the highest calling for most aspiring skippers who truly want to sail. Unlike superyachts, who spend most of their time in port, we spend most of our time at sea, and the real sailors who want to work in that envrionment are attracted to it.
Sadly, the industry-standard pay is extremely low, and offers little in the way of a safety net, or provisions for having family back home. We want to change that.
All of our professional staff are paid well above industry rates, and we sail on rotations of usually 6-week stints, so those of us with families and small kids ashore can be present as parents and partners while still living our dreams.
The truth is, most of us would do this job for free, and that's part of the "supply & demand" that sets the salary rates in our industry.
But at 59º North we value people above all else, and that starts with our staff, many of whom have been with us for years and will be familiar faces to those who return to sail with us again and again.
knowledge & community
When you sign-on to sail with us, your journey to ocean sailing starts the minute you click "Submit" on your signup form when we start the preparation process with you to go to sea. That includes:
- Extended FREE trial in our Quarterdeck seam'nship community & knowledge-base.
- Series of 3 newsletters leading up to your passage, including specific packing lists, gear discounts with our partners (including 25% off everything at Helly Hansen).
- 1-1 comms with Andy, Mia & August and our skippers if you have any questions before your trip.
Once you join the boat, you'll see why people sail with us again and again. But your experience doesn't end when the passage is over. You'll get:
- Exclusive earned patches for different milestones you've earned with us at sea.
- Sea-service letter/signed logbook if you're looking to earn miles towards a license.
- A final newseletter with photos and other useful information, including a copy of the handwritten logbook you kept while on the boat.
Why it costs what it costs...
Imagine you’re craving a burger.
On the same street, there are two restaurants. Both serve burgers. One is mass-produced to be fast & cheap. The other is made with carefully sourced ingredients by people who genuinely care about making a great burger (even great veggie burgers!). The bun is baked that morning. The onions are pickled in-house. The beef comes from a local farm. Every little detail is curated & intentional.
On paper, both have pretty much the same ingredients: a bun, a patty, cheese, onions, pickles and some sauce. They’re both burgers.
But nobody would argue that they taste the same or provide the same experience.
Offshore sailing is, weirdly, similar. You get out what you put in, and we put in a lot of effort to cross oceans in safety, in style, on-time and with passion.
At 59º North we obsess over and invest in the details: experienced career skippers, beautifully maintained boats & meticulous preparation, small crews, "teachable moments" and a culture of camaraderie.
Those choices cost more.
We know they’re worth it.
The end result of our "burger" is that it'll be the best-tasting burger you've ever had, literally life changing. Yes, you'll cross oceans, but the overall experience is what you'll remember for years to come, and what you'll want to return again and again for.
That's one tasty burger.
Hold Fast,
Andy | Skipper & Co-Founder
THE BOAT


S&S Swan 48
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ISBJØRN
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🇳🇴
ISBJØRN is the "OG" 59º North boat, the classic S&S Swan 48 that we started the business with back in 2015. She's considered an all-time great ocean cruising boat - built like a tank in Finland to the highest standards and with a modern but conservative hull shape making for fast & comfortable passages offshore in any weather. ISBJØRN sails with 5 crew plus a Skipper, and each person has their own dedicated sea berth & storage locker.


































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