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Summary
Summary
W. Hodding Carter admits he cannot sail a Sunfish, hates to be cold, and panics when he's lost. So why did Carter devote three years of his adult life, not to mention a small fortune, to dodging polar bears and icebergs on an open-decked wooden ship resembling an over-sized canoe? He wanted to be a Viking. Obsessed since childhood with Leif Eriksson and his triumphant voyage a thousand years ago from Greenland to North America, Carter hatched the admittedly crazy idea of reenacting Erikson's voyage in a replica of the precarious square-rigged Viking cargo ship known as a knarr. Never mind that he had a wife, twin daughters, and another baby on the way. Carter was going to make it happen. This enthralling, inspiring, occasionally hair-raising, and genuinely hilarious book is the account of how he pulled it off. With funding from Lands' End and expertise gleaned from Viking enthusiasts all over the world, Carter had the knarr constructed by an eccentric boat builder on a small Maine island. He then arranged to have the Snorri, as he dubbed the craft, shipped to the southern tip of Greenland, where he and his grab-bag crew of eleven would embark in midsummer. The departure was inauspicious, to say the least: for two solid weeks, the Snorri tacked back and forth in the windy fjord by Erik the Red's ancient farm, covering a grand total of eighty miles. Although that first attempt ended in defeat in the middle of the Davis Strait, Carter, his prudent red-haired captain, and their crew were not about to surrender. The next summer, in even worse weather, the Snorri was back on course and these latter-day Vikings were ready to handle anything Mother Nature dished out atop the icy, open sea. Well, almost anything . . . By turns thrilling and slapstick, sublime and outrageous, A Viking Voyage is an unforgettable adventure story that will take you to the heart of the most magnificent, unspoiled territory on earth, and even deeper, to the heart of a journey like no other. A celebration of the people and places Carter visits and a treasure-trove of fascinating Viking lore, this is a mesmerizing story of friendship and teamwork--and of accomplishing a goal that once seemed impossible.
Author Notes
W. Hodding Carter, the author of Westward Whoa!: In the Wake of Lewis and Clark, is a popular journalist known for this humorous adventure pieces in Outside, Esquire, and numerous other national publications. He lives with his wife and three daughters in Maine.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Adult/High School-Carter's candid story of the problems involved in re-creating Leif Eriksson's voyage from Greenland to Canada will disarm and educate readers, especially those interested in the culture and early voyages of the Vikings. Readers will also be warmed by the crew's ultimate bonding before they finally reached L'Anse aux Meadows, the Viking settlement on the northern tip of Labrador. It's a funny story of ignorance, bad planning, and awkward execution that somehow culminated in a successful, even triumphant, trip for the nine-man amateur crew of a knarr (an open Viking boat of 54 feet that utilizes both a sail and oars). If readers ignore Carter's leaving his wife home alone, with twin toddlers and a baby on the way (he misses them constantly), for months on end while he pursues his dream, they'll enjoy this entertaining tale of the vicissitudes of mounting such an ambitious expedition with no experience, no money, almost no sailors, and only a dream to keep one pushing past all these obstacles. It took two summers to complete the trip, but Carter was successful, thanks to a willing crew and an excellent-and eccentric-Maine boatbuilder. YAs will find all the setbacks and mistakes instructive (and humorous)-and they may wonder what all those other explorer/adventurers left out of their books and journals.-Judy McAloon, Potomac Library, Prince William County, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Travel writing has churned up a new subset: the Ironic Adventure, in which the protagonist, unlike traditional explorers, is unskilled, untrained and traveling on a whim. In this engaging but uneven adventure, self-proclaimed "chicken" Carter repeats the successful formula of his previous book, Westward Whoa, in which he retraced the steps of Lewis and Clark. This time he goes back over the voyage Leif Eriksson made from Greenland to the New World. Accompanied by a motley crew of friends (all except two have no previous sailing experience), Carter decides to accomplish his journey on a reproduction of a Viking "knarr" or cargo ship. Initially budgeted for $3,000, Carter's adventure becomes a half-million-dollar production, funded by the Lands' End clothing company. The most interesting parts of the book come before the ship ever sets sail, as Carter desperately tries to meet his deadline for building the knarr, hampered by unfriendly Norse scholars and aided by expert craftsmen. After he sets sail, the ship breaks down, and Carter must rouse support for a second attempt, which ultimately succeeds. This second part is precisely written, with careful as well as humorous details of sailing life. But the "ironic" approach here trivializes Carter's effort; at times it's hard to give him the credit due for succeeding in such a wild trip because his initial impetus was nothing more than a lark, and because his writing is undercut by his continuing attitude of "I can't believe we are doing this!" 5-city author tour. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
Carter's wanderlust takes the form of retracing the routes of "renowned or notorious" people: Lewis and Clark, Henry David Thoreau, John Wilkes Booth, and, lately, Leif Eriksson. His reenactment of the colonizing venture recapped in two Icelandic sagas--a jaunt, circa A.D. 1000, from Greenland to Newfoundland--rested on building a Viking knarr, recruiting a crew of Viking enthusiasts, and venturing out upon the Davis Strait and Labrador Sea. In the self-deprecatory tone with which Carter acknowledges the slightly nutty character of the whole project, he dives into the structural minutiae of a Viking ship, revealing, for instance, that the rudder's shape sparks bitter controversy among Vikingophiles. But travelogue is the narrative's central mode, though the voyage itself, despite its summer-campy demeanor, wasn't without real danger. That controversial rudder breaks, disabling the knarr. Happily, Carter and company enjoyed something Leif couldn't: the Canadian coast guard's aid. After rescue and repairs, Carter completed the voyage the following summer. An armchair adventurer's delight. --Gilbert Taylor
Library Journal Review
The popular journalist (e.g., Esquire) recounts his attempt, with 11 others, to re-create Leif Erikson's voyage to the New World in a Viking longboat. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.