On the lake

During the day, there will be 3 - 4 demonstration trips with Tilia.
Members of the Hjortspring Boat Guild can join the tour, but they have to work for the pleasure - it's all about paddling!
You must be a member of the guild to sail with Tilia, because we are not allowed to sail with paying guests, as we cannot/will not fulfil the Danish Maritime Authority's requirements for commercial vessels. Thus, we are not insured either, the crew must use their own accident insurance. So far - 2020 - this has never been necessary.

There are many stories about the experiences of these historic days at Nordborg Lake. They cannot all be summarised here; instead, they can be found in the archive of News letters.
I've chosen one - though not representative:

Historical sensation: Tilia Alsie's Iron Age crew hijacks Sebbe Als' Faroe boat Ottar Als
Time: Saturday 12 August 2006 at approx. 13:30
Place: Nordborg Lake

We land on the northern shore of the peninsula and row to the beat of the muffled drums. The boat is travelling at a good speed. We round the peninsula...
But before we take shelter in front of the marketplace, our captain spots the strange, unguarded vessel Ottar, which has been magnificently moored to the shore without respecting our right of way to the place of honour. The same vessel that had dared to challenge our proud war canoe Alsie in the first race of the day - without the slightest success, of course!
The captain comes up with a bold plan. We sail silently to Ottar and grab the mooring. When we try to pull the anchor on board, the underwater - in the form of a tree trunk on the bottom - resists. They hold on tight. Eventually, however, they hesitantly let go of the anchor, after which we painstakingly manoeuvre away and speed up Tilia. With Ottar in tow.
Ottar's crew put up little resistance. Rather than boldly defend or even pay attention to their vessel, they feast on roast pork, beer and mead in the marketplace. Only shamefully late do they realise that Ottar has been hijacked.
The raid succeeded without a hitch - although a rather shameful situation arose along the way, as the Ottar's large rudder had been lashed, making it almost impossible to manoeuvre the Tilia. However, a resourceful act from a guest oarsman from Odsherred saved us from a disastrous sinking: He resolutely boarded Ottar and freed the rudder.
Tilia then proudly presented the ‘spoils of war’ to the crowd in the market square and then brought the booty back to land. Not back to the market place of honour, but to a remote bridge south of the peninsula.

For those of us who were not experienced members of the ship's crew, participating in the ‘Historic Day at Sea’ was an eventful day in many ways. Not least because of the hijacking. It was fun to see how a lust for adventure took hold of grown, mature men. A boat and fancy dress does something to people. It wasn't far from thought to action. Everyone was in on it and it was fun - and suddenly a little bit dangerous - but hey - it worked.

The fact that the ‘enemy’ experienced it in a somewhat different way is evident from the account on Sebbe Als' website. (They seem to have ‘forgotten’ it now, the post no longer exists! But we grabbed a copy in time):

Unfortunately, Tilia's crew are the envious kind. They took another trip around the castle island, found Ottar on the shore, and hordes of visitors standing admiring her. Excited, a couple jumped aboard Ottar, cast off and got a tow from Tilia, over to the bridge we had started from. There they tied Ottar up and then held a parade in front of the lawn in a vain attempt to steal the photo. Ottar's crew took the matter calmly. Mostly because there was a sale on the last of the roast pork, and both the beer stand and the mead seller still had a decent stock.

However, they also state:

‘Tilia’ is an exceptionally beautiful piece of craftsmanship. Although she is somewhat longer than Ottar, she has approximately the same turning circle. She seems very light and manoeuvres well with a motivated crew. The crew was even dressed in period costume, so they made a great impression.

But you can see from this quote that there was a "battle in the air":

We rowed our way to the bottom of the lawn and then the Hjortspring boat, ‘Tilia’, came round the castle island. They had to come over to us and say hello. We greeted them nicely and exchanged the obligatory small insults - they have a drummer with them, so there were some side comments about ‘galley slaves’ versus ‘free men’ etc.

Unfortunately, the fact that the day started with the floodgates of heaven literally opening and pouring out all the rain that had accumulated over a bone-dry summer meant that the crowds at the market square, at least initially, were not as large as expected. But by midday it cleared up somewhat, and more people arrived to experience the wonderful historical atmosphere in the beautiful surroundings of the castle.
The beautiful stalls presented the various market activities well.

Wild boar, mead and beer created a cosy atmosphere. Wild Vikings on their beautiful Icelandic horses showed us the pleasure of riding this special Nordic type of horse. Archery and much more delighted young and old.

A wonderful day in the company of dedicated people, including Svend Ulstrup and his companion from Odsherred, bringing the umiakken, a light Arctic skin boat (though the skin was replaced with canvas). Svend Ulstrup also gave us an impressive demonstration in his kayak, which he spun around in countless ways, with his head as much under water as above. It was great.

It's wonderful when, on a day like that, we manage to merge play and seriousness so that small and large, fun and pleasant experiences remain in the memory in a broad, colourful and deepened perspective.

Asta & Finn Broesby-Olsen.