Guild sailings
After the inauguration, members went on various small boat trips with Tilia in the Dyvig area.
There was also a trip on the river Gudenåen. We were invited to participate in an ‘Iron Age celebration’ by the archaeological museum in Silkeborg in connection with the 50th anniversary of the ‘Tollund Man’ being dug out of the bog at Tollund.
Among these guild sailing trips was a trip on Nordborg Lake in connection with Jyllandsposten's naming of Nordborg as ‘City of the Year, 1999’.
In 2001, the guild and Tilia participated in Augustenborg's 350th anniversary celebrations. The Queen and the Prince arrived with ‘Dannebrog’. After escorting the royal chalup to the quay, we moored Tilia at a bridge where the Viking ship Sebbe Als was moored. Prince Henrik was present to inspect the ships. Here the Prince said the royal words to the skipper of the Tilia: ‘Can I have a ride?’
These various voyages gave us some routine in paddling and manoeuvring the boat, while the composition of the guild changed to include more members whose main interest was sailing. Although our paddling skills improved steadily, we never got above 4.1 knots. We had to recognise that our abilities and strengths were not up to the task of uncovering Tilia's capabilities. We wanted to find out how fast and how far our predecessors in the original boat were able to sail. This would give archaeologists and historians a deeper understanding of the contacts between Nordic societies in both the Bronze Age and the early Iron Age.