Journey: Why a musician set course for the Lofoten Islands with his Bianca 27

Michael Rieber will not forget 22 May 2023 in a hurry. After a rough crossing, he enters the first harbour of his dream destination on this Monday, when the sun barely sets north of the Arctic Circle.

The village of Reine, with a population of 300, is a picture-book town in the Norwegian region of Lofoten, often referred to as "the Lofoten Islands". Red houses line the shore, snow-capped peaks rise in the background. A jetty in the middle of this idyllic setting seems to be just waiting for sailors like Rieber to arrive.

Reine as the highlight of the trip

He is simply happy when he moors his boat, a Bianca 27, here. It is the highlight of his trip. "On the crossing, I experienced real North Atlantic swell for the first time, where the horizon disappears into the trough of the waves," says the slim man in a calm voice in an interview with YACHT.

"I had the impression that I had met a wild animal - but we became friends." Nevertheless, he was a little unsettled for the first time on his journey. "I had the feeling that I might have overreached myself. Then arriving was indescribable!"

The 56-year-old native of Tübingen knows big moments from his professional life. Rieber is a double bass player with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra - first solo double bass player and principal double bass, to be precise.

In 2005, his successful music career took him and his family from southern Germany to the Elbe. And thus to and on the water. That's when he started sailing, and as the miles he logged grew, so did his dream of a long voyage. The time has come in March 2023.

Consciously slowing down on the cruise

Michael Rieber is taking seven months off. He wants to consciously slow down and take a break after decades of working life. He plans to take the first four to five weeks to finalise the finishing touches. He orders nautical charts and a handheld radio, organises a digital logbook, coats the wooden parts on deck with antifouling and clear varnish.

Then he waits in Niendorf on the Baltic coast for the start date. But the April weather just won't get any friendlier. It's cold and blowing from the wrong direction. After all, the skipper just wants to get going. The family is also on pins and needles for the farewell, so the trip ultimately begins in rough conditions and the first leg on 7 April is only six nautical miles across the Bay of Lübeck to Neustadt. But then the weather changed and after no more than six days, the Bianca reached Skagen.

Rieber waived part of his salary before the start

In order to fulfil his dream of sailing, the family man had already started giving up part of his salary years before the start of the trip. Finally, the HR department gave him the go-ahead that he now had enough credit in his working time account for seven months of sailing. The timing was right: His daughters are grown up and studying, and he can take a break from his teaching job as a professor at the University of Music and Theatre during the summer semester.

The first challenge of this journey begins in Skagen: the 85 nautical mile crossing across the Skagerrak to Norway. "That was the first passage I had any real respect for," recalls the sailor. As unfavourable weather is expected soon, he sets off at midnight. One freighter after the other passed along the large shipping route at the northernmost tip of Denmark, leaving barely a gap for the small, relatively slow sailing boat. "It was like shock therapy! I said to myself: 'Just get through it'." But his "Moby Dick" sends out AIS signals, and Rieber observes how the freighters adjust their courses slightly to let him pass.

Later, further north off the Norwegian coast, the night trips are far more relaxed. The single-handed sailor then puts his bedding on a saloon berth, winds up the egg timer to 20 minutes and sleeps in short intervals. In between, he looks out into the night, which no longer gets dark from Trondheim onwards. "Theoretically, I could have slept for six to seven hours straight," says the musician. "There was practically nothing going on up there."

Arrival in Norway

The arrival in Norway makes up for the thrill of the Skagerrak: the weather is summery, people are sitting outside drinking rosé and warmly welcoming the single-handed sailor to their idyll. "That was an uplifting moment!"

A good wind propels Rieber and his boat quickly to Bergen. It is only there that the good weather begins to fade and the onward journey becomes tougher. "But I told myself that I was on a sailing trip - and it didn't matter whether I made it to the Lofoten Islands or not." North of Ålesund, he leaves the sheltered coastal area to take advantage of better winds further out and make miles. On the section to Trondheim, it becomes clear that he could make it to his dream destination after all. In three large stages, the Bianca finally logs the last 270 nautical miles to the Lofoten Islands. "Suddenly it was within reach and I wanted to get there!" He sails to an outer island, checks the weather and makes it to the south of the archipelago just before winter sets in. "When the high islands appeared before me like dinosaurs in the fog on the sea, it was magical." It is 22 May 2023.

"This magic, this crazy feeling of happiness at having made it"

"Those first six weeks were the most intense time," recalls Michael Rieber. "That magic, that crazy feeling of happiness at having made it, that has never happened again in this form."

The soloist studies again and again on the road the nautical chart and its cruising guides. During the preparations, he had already realised that the literature for the remote region was manageable. What's more, it's a tough one: "If I'd known how challenging the area is, I might not have done it!" In addition to high current speeds, there are unpredictable downdraughts, which sometimes oppose the tidal current and cause confused waves. Nevertheless, he masters the navigational challenges with the same determination as he initially ventured into single-handed sailing.

How Michael Rieber got into sailing

Michael Rieber only learnt how to deal with wind and waves as an adult. He was bitten by the sailing bug on a sailing trip in the Danish South Sea. This was followed by a course and joining the NDR company sailing group. He starts sailing across the Alster in a dinghy - even then he likes to sail single-handed.

He bought his own boat in 2012 and, inspired by a book, the professional musician took a liking to a Bianca 27. "I was won over by the 'good-natured' attribute," says Rieber. The boat he chose ended up being the same "year of construction" as himself: 1967.

"I learnt a lot at first," he smiles. But then a colleague on board gave him a crash course in manoeuvre training. The very next year, Rieber sailed with his wife, two daughters and dog for four weeks on a family holiday on the Baltic Sea. Later, he tried to set off on his own twice a year to challenge himself as a single-handed sailor on longer trips.

He reads almost every book about sailing on the Baltic Sea. The dream of his own time out grows. "I felt I knew my way around the Baltic Sea and could have sailed off without much preparation." But another idea slumbers within him.

Dream destination by sailing boat: Lofoten

What if he let his "Moby Dick" sail northwards on the other side of Scandinavia? On the Atlantic side along the Norwegian coast to the dream destination of Lofoten? In addition to the idea of simply getting out and about, it's the adventure that appeals to him. The idea of "being up there and there's no-one else around" ultimately wins him over.

When he finally gets "up there" last year, he takes four weeks to explore the area. His wife visits him for a few days, as do other family members during the trip. Otherwise, he enjoys being alone. "I'm not a loner, but there is definitely a longing in me to be alone. Sailing is magical for me. I only do it for myself."

Warm encounters during the solo adventure

He also sails to the Vesterålen region. He should go there, the locals advise him, the destination is even better. "Like Lofoten, only even lonelier!" they say. But Rieber encounters virtually no other sailing yachts on his journey anyway. Certainly not another 27-foot boat, rather stately aluminium expedition yachts. But the few other sailors he meets are all the more interested in his adventure. A Norwegian regularly knocks on his boat in the harbour and wants to know whether he is sailing "north or south". "When I've met people, it's always been very cordial!" Even though he is not sailing an expedition yacht, you can tell that the Bianca has been exceptionally well prepared for this journey over many years. At the stern, a 15-kilogram Rocna with 15 metres of chain and 50 metres of line is waiting to be used - and not without reason: "I let all my stuff out at a water depth of ten metres," says Rieber.

He has renewed the electrics and his most important piece of equipment, the tiller pilot. Lithium batteries were installed on board and a solar panel for the sea railing. He also installed a seawater pump in the galley. The solo sailor manages to get by for weeks with 60 litres of fresh water in the tank and an additional 60 litres in canisters. "Water was never a problem," says Rieber. "It was almost more difficult to get diesel while travelling."

He does a lot of refit work himself, but not others. He had the underwater hull stripped, the jib renewed and the sails replaced. He bought a life raft, realised that it was too big and that he had to decide between a dinghy and a life raft. The former stays and a mini-raft is put on board.

The turning point of the journey is at 69 degrees north. The sun no longer sets. As we head south again, the skipper doesn't even take off his sunglasses at night.

Highlights of the return journey with the Bianca 27

Even on the return journey, the Bianca logs miles almost every day. Except in strong winds - and after long passages - there is hardly a day's rest. Visits to Norway's second largest glacier, Svartisen, and the Geirangerfjord are highlights of the return journey. And the trips to the islands far off the coast - which are only possible in calm weather - will not be forgotten by the man from Hamburg. "A dream!"

There is not much there apart from wild nature. Michael Rieber buys new provisions, water and diesel in the larger towns or small villages. He likes to cook well on board. "A trip like this is also about looking after yourself," he says.

On the way, he also discovers a new passion for travelling: fishing. After his equipment, which he had bought before setting off, was accidentally lost overboard, he bought new equipment in the Lofoten Islands. "From then on, it went really well," he smiles.

When he is close to Bergen on his return journey, he considers sailing across the North Sea to the Shetlands. He even has a professional weather forecast prepared. But first the wind forecast is too weak, then a summer storm approaches.

Where the anchor of "Moby Dick" drops

So "Moby Dick" stays in Norway, and Rieber sets off to circumnavigate the tip of southern Norway before the heavy weather sets in. He spends five days weathering in Mandal, then sets off for the "white cities of Norway". Here, in the south of the country, the anchor finally drops more often than on the exposed Atlantic coast.

The water was deep there and the bottom was often rocky. Moby Dick anchored only twelve times on the voyage. All the more often, she is the only boat moored alongside jetties in a picture-book setting. Mooring there is often free of charge. In smaller "harbours" - which can also be just a house with a jetty in front of it - the Bianca 27 has to pay a mooring fee of around ten euros. In the marinas of the cities around 35 euros.

It's the beginning of August and still time for a trip to the Swedish west coast. Rieber visits the Koster Islands, a long-cherished dream destination, the open day at Hallberg-Rassy in Ellös, then Gothenburg.

On a special mission

There, a special mission takes the musician to the concert hall. To avoid getting musically rusty, he bought a slim electric double bass that fits behind the lounge bench before setting off on his journey. When he unpacks it for the first time three months later, plays it and realises that everything fits as it always has, he stows it away again. But what rusts are the strings. He only realises this when he takes the instrument out again in the Skagerrak, as home and the first concert draw closer. A colleague helps out and has intact strings deposited for him in the concert hall in Gothenburg.

From then on, Michael Rieber starts playing again. He practises Mahler's 5th Symphony. Shortly after his return, he is due to go on tour. "It was like yesterday, as if I had never stopped playing," he says. Quite the opposite: "Being out and getting back in has made it easier. Everything is relaxed, your mind is free."

Over 3,000 nautical miles in the wake during the sailing holiday

A long journey takes him to Copenhagen. Then home is already within reach. Wistfulness sets in as he anchors off Gedser in calm seas and his drone captures the late summer atmosphere from the air. "That's when I realised that this trip is now over. That was a difficult moment." "Moby Dick" arrives in Travemünde on 13 September. Over 3,000 nautical miles and a great adventure lie in her wake.

As he tells his story, Michael Rieber sits in his house in the north of Hamburg. Behind it is a large garden, in the living room there are two double basses, a grand piano and a cupboard with countless music CDs.

Even though music dominates his life, it is clear that sailing has also long since become an integral part of it. "Everything was even more amazing than I had expected. It's like a treasure that I'm drawing on," summarises Rieber. "It's very clear that I want to do something like this again. There are so many ideas: Baltic Sea, Shetlands, maybe to Brittany and then onwards from there. One surprising realisation from this trip was that you just have to do it!"

A simple postcard on a living room windowsill already reminds him of the realisation of his next sailing dream. Five words are written on it: "I want to go back to the sea."

Miles, anchor nights and more: the trip in facts and figures

3,162 nautical miles were logged during the voyage, which lasted 160 days. Michael Rieber sailed 2,303 of these miles and motored the remaining 859. The voyage started on 7 April and returned on 13 September 2023, with an average distance of around 20 nautical miles per day. Along the way, 111 harbours were called at - including very small ones - and twelve anchorages. The skipper moored his boat 24 times to a simple jetty, which are common in Norway. And seven times on a rock in the archipelago. His Bianca 27 is an 8.25 metre long sea cruiser with a draught of 1.40 metres, designed by the Dane Svend Aage Christensen. Around 600 boats of this type were built between 1964 and 1975.

Charming areas in the far north of Norway: Lofoten and Vesterålen

The archipelagos are located north of the Arctic Circle between 67 and 69 degrees north latitude. The area is characterised by high mountains, deep sounds, clear water in all shades and picturesque nature. The navigation is demanding. German-language cruising literature is available from the self-publishing company of area expert Per Asmuss. On the website of the Norwegian Hydrographic Institute Kartverket, you can also download sailing area information in Norwegian, which contains a lot of detailed information. Michael Rieber has also prepared himself for the area with the help of YouTube videos.

Beyond the Arctic Circle and back: the map of the journey

The trip starts in Niendorf and leads across the Kattegat and Skagerrak to southern Norway. It takes just six weeks to reach the Lofoten Islands, initially in the shelter of the archipelago and later at sea. After four weeks in the Lofoten and Vesterålen, the bow points south again. Now the skipper follows the coastline, with occasional detours to islands further out. There is still time in the Skagerrak for the south-east Norwegian coast, followed by destinations in western Sweden such as the Koster Islands and Gothenburg. After a stop in Copenhagen, the cruise ends in Travemünde in mid-September.