The Gaia is a replica of the Gokstad ship , which was named after the Greek earth goddess Gaia . It was built entirely of oak in the winter of 1989/1990 in Bjørkedal in Norway under the direction of Sigurd and Jacob D. Bjørkedal using copied plans from the original and was launched on April 28, 1990. The ship was christened on June 17, 1991 in Reykjavík by Icelandic President Vigdís Finnbogadóttir , who also suggested the name of the ship. The ship is equipped with modern navigation, communication and rescue equipment and has covered accommodation for ten crew members as well as an auxiliary engine. Under sail, the Gaia reaches a speed of over 10 knots in favorable winds . The ship is dedicated to promoting cooperation between peoples in protecting the earth. In 1993, the ship owner, the Norwegian shipowner Knut Utstein Kloster, who gave Gaia the municipality Sandefjord , with a catchment area of origin of the Gokstad ship, the royal grave Gokstadhaugen , is located. Today it is maintained by the Sandefjord Museum. From there she undertakes day tours and also longer trips.
On May 17, 1991, the Gaia set off with a crew of ten under the skipper Gunnar Marel Eggertsson from Europe to North America to commemorate the discovery of America by Leif Eriksson . Ragnar Thorseth was in charge of the overall seamanship . Thorseth's motor yacht Havella accompanied the ship . The route led across Orkney - and the Shetland Islands , the Faroe Islands and Iceland. On June 17th, the Gaia entered Reykjavík amid festivities at which the formal christening of the ship took place. The first stop in North America was Newfoundland , which was temporarily given the historical name Vinland to celebrate the event . After a journey of two and a half months, the Gaia arrived on August 2, 1991 in the historic Viking settlement of L'Anse aux Meadows on Newfoundland. Thorseth said he was really worried once on the voyage when the ship got caught in pack ice about 100 nautical miles off the coast of the Labrador Peninsula in heavy seas . With the help of a searchlight, however, it was possible to bypass the ice field. From Newfoundland, the Gaia , accompanied by two other Viking ship replicas, the Oseberg and the Saga Siglar , which were brought to Newfoundland as sea freight, began a "Vinland Revisited" tour, which she took to St. John's , Halifax , Boston, among other places , Newport, New York City and Washington, DC . The ship was received with festivities in all ports. The arrival day in Washington, August 9, had previously been declared Leif Ericsson Day by US President George HW Bush . The venture was largely financed by the owner Kloster, who contributed over 2.2 of the total of 3.5 million USD spent. The governments of Norway and Iceland also contributed financially to the project. The arrival of the Gaia had led the Prime Minister of Newfoundland, Clyde Wells, to state that Christopher Columbus was a "late comer" who had merely rediscovered America. In a press conference, Kloster said that the Gaia voyage was not intended to relativize the achievements of others or to appeal to nationalist sentiments; Rather, it should point to the process of mutual discovery and focus on a common future.
Brazil trip
Immediately after the “Vinland Revisited” trip, the Gaia began the trip to the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in autumn 1991 . It was the last port in the USA to call at Orlando (Florida) , where it was welcomed by representatives from politics and business. Lectures were offered for the general public, especially for school classes and student groups. Gunnar Marel Eggertsson explained the cooperation of people of different social and cultural origins on a ship as symbolic of the message of cooperation between nations for the protection of the earth, which the Gaia wanted to carry to Rio de Janeiro. After the visit to Rio de Janeiro, the Gaia drove up the Amazon far into the interior of South America. On the way back from Rio de Janeiro, she was caught in a storm of hurricane strength , which she survived unscathed.
Ireland trip
In 2005 the Gaia went to the "Wexford Viking Festival" in Wexford . On the way she stopped in Dublin, among other places .
Trip to Brest and Newcastle
The Gaia at the Tonnerres de Brest 2012 (in the background the Kruzenshtern )
After visiting the 20-year anniversary of the parade "Les Tonnerre de Brest 2012" (13 to 19 July 2012) that broke Gaia on a journey from Brest on the Channel Islands to Newcastle upon Tyne , venue of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games on to appear at the "Olympic Festival". She arrived in Newcastle on schedule on the afternoon of July 29th and was moved by oar power from the estuary to Gateshead Harbor, where she moored. The ship and its crew in historical clothing received a lot of attention from viewers and the media. The Gaia crew brought the Bishop of Newcastle a letter from the Bishop of Oslo commemorating the proselytization of Norway. The Bishop of Oslo expressed gratitude for sending missionaries from what was then the Kingdom of Northumberland over 1,000 years ago.
literature
Judy Lomax: The Viking Voyage . London 1992, ISBN 0091747546
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