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Who we are: VestRus is group of persons interested in sailing and building Viking boat replicas. Our geographic area is roughly Southeast Ohio, including parts of Kentucky and West Virginia. Since we will be navigating on rivers and lakes, we are the Western Rus, or VestRus. We are the initial local group of a larger organization, Viking Age Vessels, which can be found at www.vikingagevessels.org Purpose: The purpose of Vest Rus Viking Ships is to promote, encourage and provide the opportunity for development of knowledge and skills in the building, sailing, and maintenance of replicas of Viking Age ships and boats of northern Europe.
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1. Build a reproduction of the Gokstad faering. Our first faering will be built of modern materials to quickly provide us with a boat to row/sail. It will also allow us the opportunity to practice original methods with period tools. In other words, this boat is our testbed. It will hold up to five people and will be outfitted with mast and sail. 2. Build a second reproduction
of the Gokstad faering using period materials and methods.
Construction to start after completion of the first faering. |
By the end of July 2002, our faering's keel had been laid. The photo above shows the boat with stem and stern attached. The plywood forms standing on the keel are for shaping the boat and will be removed later.
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The above photo, taken 25 October 2003, shows Blackbird on her trailer and nearly ready to travel. Work remaining includes installing ribs and top rail, installing a rudder, caulking, painting, sail and rigging work. Click here for a larger photo (247KB).
Oct 31 - Nov 3, Blackbird will be at Real Viking I. Fall 03, Install ribs, top rail, and rudder. Spring 04, Launch the Blackbird, conduct boat trials, train the crew. Join us...we're having a great time!
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