Business owner working on Viking longboat

VERNON — The Viking spirit has long been a part of Vernon Township with its school teams.
Many Vernon residents proudly cling to their Nordic, Scandinavian heritage, culture and history. Gary Martinsen, owner of the Nordic House on Route 94, is always on board for perpetuating the lusty Viking heritage, whether it be through informative talks, organizing festivals or cooking or baking goodies in the shop.
“This year’s project is to build an actual half scale replica of a Viking longboat,” explained Martinsen. “A regular size longboat was about 80 feet or larger, we will still be constructing a good size 40 foot boat.”
According to their historic description, longboats were used in both battle and everyday merchant use. It needed to be long, light, flexible and slender to accomplish speed and needed a square sail with a mast but also needed to be rowed when it was windless.
To begin the May 21 initial longboat informational meeting, Martinsen composed and previewed a video for the group of a dozen hearty, future workers. The video displayed blueprint designs, possible tools and reviewed the Vikings simplest methods of longboat construction. Part of the video contained an animated Viking named Lars who lightened up the seriousness of the extremely physical work.
“If you’re a Viking, you simply say when do we start,” Lars said.
What Martinsen and the team need to do first is to find large, old preferably oak trees. The logs will be rived or split, trimmed, whittled and then planed. After all the lengthy work is completed, the longboat will be clinker built, meaning the overlapping planks will be riveted together.
According to Martinsen, the project will be ongoing through the summer of 2017. The finished longboat will be on display during the annual Winter Nights Festival held at Nordic House In late October.
Members of the Svinfylkin Tribe are helping with the project. Women, like the Viking women, are welcome to participate as well as all who appreciate hard work, creating and teamwork. Additional information is available at Nordic House.