Viking Navigation

The Viking Age was from approximately 800 to 1050. The Vikings of Norway were Europe’s ablest sailors, they sailed first to the Shetland Islands then the Faeroe Islands then Iceland and Greenland. They finally made it to the North American continent in Canada. How could they have sailed across thousands of miles of ocean with out a sextant, compass, or a reliable timepiece? Or a GPS as every vessel has today.
According to the Viking sagas they used wind, sea swells, stars, birds. Other aids were the Solarsteinn or “sun stone”. These are crystals found in Iceland and were prized possessions and an indication of wealth. With a sun stone you can find the position of the sun when the sun is obscured by fog and low clouds, which are frequent in the north Atlantic. They used a Horizon Board to tell direction and time keeping. They also used a Shadow Pin to tell true north by the sun.
I plan on using these instruments when I sail from Greenland to Iceland and then to Norway. Yes I have two GPS’s and electronic charts, a sextant but I want to experience navigation as it was a thousand years ago. To read more on Viking Navigation read Leif K. Karlsen’s book “Secrets of the Viking Navigators” from Starpath Navigation, or do a Google search on Viking Navigation.

Want to learn more about the Sunstone, check out the Starpath website