Norske Røter (Norwegian Roots)

In June (2010) Gunn Aasen from NKR called and asked about the possibility of filming Tilia during sailing. The next day we received the following request by email:
(Translated from Norwegian)

Norwegian national broadcaster NRK is currently working on a TV documentary series called Norwegian Roots. It's about how Norway was populated, where they came from, who they were and how they survived the first people who came to our shores. Through mitochondrial DNA and archaeology, we search for our roots. We can't avoid our traces and connections to Denmark. How did they get across the Skagerrak to Norway? Although the Hjortspring boat found in 1915 is from the Early Iron Age, about 350 years before Christ, it resembles the boats depicted in Bronze Age rock carvings.

If we could film Hjortspringlauget's Tilia Alsie on the water at Nordborg Sø, that would be fantastic. I know it's a lot of work to find a crew to take part, but if you would try to make it happen, we would greatly appreciate it. The feature will form an important part of one of the three programmes in the series. Period costumes are not necessary, but if you have such clothes, we can think about whether you should wear them. It may well be that those who paddle should still wear modern clothes that are suitable when on board an open boat. We can come back to that if necessary. We want to film you paddling the boat on the water at Nordborg Sø. We may ask our young presenter Samina to join the crew. The photographer will also join you on board as well as filming you from the shore. This means that we ask you to paddle the boat on the go-ahead from our photographer. I reckon we can get the whole thing done in 3 - 4 hours, maybe it takes less time. It is not necessary to paddle far away.

If there are costs involved in getting the boat on the water, we can cover this by agreement. Of course, it depends on what it costs if we can do it all, but I think it won't be too expensive. It's good that you're investigating what it will cost.

And of course the Deer Spider Guild will receive a DVD of the finished programme so that you can see the result, but you'll have to be a little patient with us because the programme won't be finished until December 2010.

We suggest recording with Hjortspringlauget and Tilia Alsie at Nordborg Sø on Thursday 15 July, preferably in the morning if that suits you, but we can adapt to the time of day that suits you best. If that's not possible, is there an option for Friday 16 July? Possibly Saturday 17 July?

My colleague Ole Egil Størkson is producing the series and he will be meeting you together with
photographer Odd Arne Olderbakk and presenter Samina Bruket.

[...] 

Just let us know if you'd like to know more about our TV documentary series.

We look forward to hearing from you and hope that Hjortspringlauget will participate in our TV documentary with Tilia Alsie.

Best regards
Gunn Aasen

An agreement was reached and on the afternoon of 15 July, Tilia was driven out of the Linde shipyard and launched in Dyvig with a full crew. There was great support from the members for this event, which ended with a skippers' lunch in the Linde shipyard at around 8pm.

It was a short sail of a couple of hours. Departure from the shipyard at 16.00 and return at approx. 18.30. The purpose was TV filming for Norwegian TV (NRK). Maybe a 5-minute feature on how the Norwegians came to Norway. (I wouldn't dare sail across the Skagerak in Tilia).
The trip went from the launch site in Dyvig, out to the seaweed at Farresdam, where we went ashore. Then across the channel, and again across the channel, and all the way to the north side of the outer part. Out again to the centre and then directly to the pick-up point.
The wind was strong and we had a hard time getting round the turns. We had a lot of drift when we were lying with our side to the wind. It was not a day for cosy sailing. The filming went well and after the trip out to the headland we got the photographer into the support boat. So there is footage both in and from the boat and of the boat from a distance.

The boat was very tight. Especially considering we were 24 people on board.

The wind was strong and came straight into the launch site, so there was a headwind all the way out to the point at Farresdam.
According to. DMI measurement from Sønderborg airport, the average wind was 6-7 m/s during the time we were sailing. There was a lot of drift when we were lying sideways to the wind.

Captain
Dan Feldfos

The day after the event, we received the following email from Ole Størkson:
(Translated from Norwegian)

Hi. We're now back in Bergen, but we'd like to thank you once again for being so willing to help us out, and for making a huge effort to ensure that we got a good and exciting sequence for our TV series ‘Norwegian Roots’.

We also have to apologise that we couldn't take the time to eat with you when it was all over. We hope you understand our tight schedule. We arrived at the hotel at 11pm and got up at 6am. Say hello to everyone from us, and have a great summer.

Ole

The 3 programmes can be viewed at the Linde shipyard. It is also possible to streame the broadcasts directly from NRK.

• Newsletter, September 2010, no. 3.
• Norske Røter, 3 programmes about Norway's prehistory.

The text in this article has been translated from Danish to English using the free DeepL translation programme.