The Sæ Ulfr is a 26-foot long copy of a late Viking age boat which was found in a reclaimed Danish Fjord near Gislinge, Denmark. From the original boards and parts, plans were drawn up, and then used by the world-famous Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde Denmark to build several examples. Our boat was built by Leetes Island Boatworks using traditional methods in Connecticut.  Active duty and veteran military were involved in the building process as they will be in the Viking Hall and Boat Shelter we plan to build.

 

The white oak planks of the Sæ Ulfr are axe hewn and were then covered in “Viking soup” a mixture of pine tar, linseed oil, and turpentine.  The boat has copper rivets instead of iron rivets for longer life. There are also some pieces of live oak and at least one beautiful white oak 30-foot board left over from the Mayflower II restoration a few years back at Mystic Seaport Maritime Museum is used for the inwales. Our master shipwright Matthew Barnes of Leetes Island Boatworks trained at Roskilde Viking Ship Museum and helped build one of their Gislinge boats. He also was the lead shipwright on the restoration of the Mayflower II (a major wooden vessel) when he worked at the world-famous Mystic Seaport Maritime Museum. His business partner and fellow shipwright at Leetes Island Boat works is Tucker Yaro. Tucker is a world class sailor and racer. He has skippered historic schooners, such as the replica 128 foot “Amistad.” They are the “A Team” and along with the father and daughter team John and Emily Waters of the historic Bradley and Waters Marine Railway in CT supported the building of the Sæ Ulfr for Odin’s Warrior Tribe by providing an on the water build site for almost three years.

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We started building our boat in 2020.  The project took over three years and was inspired by one of our combat veterans, who one day just started building a Viking boat to keep busy.  We had support from Tribe members; however, we learned though that while we had basic carpentry skills building a Viking boat that we could sail on safely with other military veterans was beyond our skill level – so we found the pros at Leetes Island Boatworks.

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The Sæ Ulfr has been featured at least four times in the ultimate wooden boat magazine “Wooden Boat.”  Also there were articles in "Midgardian.com" magazine, “Points East” – boating magazine of New England.  The launch of the boat was covered by National Public Radio.  The Sæ Ulfr was a huge star at the Annual Wooden Boat Show at Mystic Seaport in June of 2022 where guests could watch aspects of the traditional building process.  of this year. In fact, we found a great Maritime Insurer at the show who now covers the boat and our sailing. The shipwrights gave demonstrations of fire bending planks at the show. Mystic Seaport Museum also was a huge supporter offering access to some material and expertise. We sponsored two amazing Viking shipbuilding skills workshops with Leetes Island Boatworks that offered learning these Viking age skills to military veterans for free. Our attendees have included combat and disabled veterans.

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After the Gislinge was launched in front of an amazing crowd with National Public Radio present we began looking at other cooperative projects with Leetes Island and their woodworking affiliated business - Handlavet. They made Viking tables and benches for our Viking Camp in Maryland.  They have the skills to buld the Viking Hall and Boat Shelter and we have the track record of success with them.  We will continue to hold veteran boat building and woodworking workshops with them on projects.

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Listen to the launch of our Viking Boat on National Public Radio and interview with Odin's Warrior Tribe.  

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Our sail is a canvas sail in ocre colors that are known by some research to have been used in the Viking age. The sail was handmade in Ireland of canvas, leather, and rope and was used on the “Vikings” television show of the History Channel as the sail of Bjorn Ironside.  The Sæ Ulfr was funded by the generosity of our members, private foundations, individual donations, and sales of the Sæ Ulfr tee shirt in our Tribe store.

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The Sæ Ulfr is a work of art, skill, and love. The local community where it was built has been all in on the project and they dropped off numerous gifts of food to the veterans who have worked on the project. Tribe friend, and expert on all things Viking, William Short of Hurstwic visited the build and gave a lecture on Viking age combat from his recent book "Men of Terror" written together with Hurstwic's representative in in Iceland Reynir Oskarsson.

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The Sæ Ulfr is now at our Viking Camp in Maryland on the Potomac River with access to the waters of the Chesapeake Bay.  The boat is crewed by active and veteran military. We use the Viking boat in our activities and for free sailing outings for military veterans. Those of you who have followed this epic story from our own fledgling efforts to build a boat to pursuing a perfect replica of a Viking age boat know that it has been a long journey.

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We continue to build up our Viking age sailing skills by partnership with other historical sailing groups.