The History Of Gaia

The Viking ship Gaia is a copy of the Gokstad Ship. She was built in the winter of 1989-90 in Bjørkedalen village, situated in the area of Sunnmøre, on the Norwegian west coast.

Gaia means 'Mother Earth' and the ship GAIA represents the past and present in harmony with the natural environment. It was officially named in Iceland in June 19, 1991, by President Vigdis Finnbogadottir.

53 min video: The Viking Voyage

In 1991 Ragnar Thorseth sailed Gaia to North America to celebrate the 1000 year anniversary of Leiv Erikssons voyage to Vinland. Gaia would also be a part of putting the spotlight on the world’s environmental problems, and the environment in which our children grow up.

GAIA was appointed Ambassador for all the children of the world in New York. GAIA played an important role in the creation of the GAIA Network, in Manaus, Brazil. A series of prominent people visited her, like president of the US, George Bush and the Cuban President Fidel Castro. She sailed on to the UN conference for the environment in Rio. In this conference she was a focal point for the environmental work geared towards children. This work was organized in “Gaia circles” that was established in Manaus by the Amazon.

During the voyage to Rio, Gaia received thousands of drawings and written messages to the world’s leaders. Children in a series of countries sent messages relating to the environment this way. In Rio these drawings was handed to the environmental conference. Drawings and messages are now archived at the museum in Sandefjord.

In May 1993 the ship was given as a gift to Sandefjord Municipality from Ship owner Knut Utstein Kloster of the Gaia Ship Foundation. Members of the Gokstad coastal association sailed her to her home port of Sandefjord. A group was established within the Gokstad Coastal Association to sail and maintain Gaia. This group has turned in to a free-standing crew called the Gaia Crew that sail and maintain her. Gaia has sailed a few shorter voyages to Roskilde in Denmark. And generally she has been sailed on the coast of Vestfold and the southern coast of Norway. In the summer of 2005, Gaia sailed the old viking route from Vestfold to Dublin.

Sandefjord is now GAIA's home base, where she is managed by the Gaia Crew.

More pictures: A later manual landing

This family took six months to build the Gokstad replica and tried whenever possible to use traditional techniques.
These iron fastenings were couplings from the Viking originals. For corking to make the boat water proof, they use strands of hint to tied the boat just as it was a thousand years ago. The Gaia ship has full-length shadow heal and it has been out of pine and oak. Gaia has 32 rowing oar holes and one steering oar on the starboard side.
To lash the boat to the frames the Vikings used whale fibers. The Bjørkedal's have to use their frames with modern materials but they still have crafted theirs with the motion of the whales. The lashing of the frames is one of the secrets of the Viking Sea worthiness.
When she was launch people lend a hand as she was eased to the water. The island of Halhomen in the west of Norway was where Gaia was first fitted out.
They were two other Viking replica ships here: Saga Siglar, a Viking freighter and Dronningen , a replica of the earlier 9th century Oseberg ship.