Viking Magazine - November 2022 - 34

MEMBER MATTERS
Building His Dream
With the support of his Sons of Norway lodge, Tom Kottmeier is using his passion
for Viking ships to bring his Scandinavian heritage to life. BY SOFIA HAAN
BY THE NUMBERS
ow do you celebrate your
heritage? For many people,
this may look like cooking
traditional meals, observing
cultural holidays or wearing
traditional clothing. For Tom
Kottmeier of Norge lodge 6-060
in Vista, California, honoring his
Scandinavian background looks
a little bit bigger. Since 2020,
Kottmeier has been building a 33foot
replica of the Gokstad Viking
longboat ship, named Sleipnir (the
sliding one).
A PASSION FOR SHIPS
Kottmeier's interest in Viking ships
began in 2001, when a Scandinavian
community center in his hometown
of Vancouver, British Columbia,
began to build a ship. " I had to
check it out, " he says. " I ended up
doing some work on a ship, called
Munin. She was launched in 2001,
and I was her captain for the fir t
season. "
During Munin's construction,
Kottmeier saw fir thand the skills
needed to build Viking longboats
and developed a deep appreciation
for the style of the boats.
" They are amazing sailing boats,
and they perform very well, " he
says. " Most people would think
they are slow, awkward, tippy and
unsafe because they're so low to the
water. But they are really beautiful
sailboats. I was taken with them
right from the get-go. "
AN IDEA TAKES SHAPE
In 2003, Kottmeier moved to Santa
Barbara, California with his wife
and began to think about building
a Viking ship of his own. But he
was working full-time and didn't
have the space to build a ship. After
retiring and moving to San Marcos,
California, in 2018, he began to
work on making his vision a reality.
But he still struggled to find a place
to build.
" I went to the Viking Festival
at the Sons of Norway in Vista in
2019, and I told them that I was
thinking of building a Viking ship, "
he says. " I had been looking around
for places, and it's not easy to find
enough space that's convenient and
secure. The director said, 'Build it at
our place.' To have people who were
supportive and interested in what I
was doing was a win-win. I started
working on it in January 2020. "
Kottmeier decided to model his
ship after the famous Gokstad after
taking a trip to Europe in 2019 and
seeing the original ship on display.
Using the same building plans as the
original ship, he designed Sleipnir
to be a 33-feet-long, a little less than
half of the Gokstad's size. Given the
THE
SLEIPNIR
A look at the ship's
impressive statistics.
33
The ship's
length in feet.
15
The number of
planks layered to
build the keel.
27
The mast's
length in feet.
250
The number
of square feet
of the sail.
20
The number of
Learn More
Check out the latest adventures of the Sleipnir and learn more
about how she was built at vikingshipsleipnir.com.
34
November 2022
sonsofnorway.com
years Tom Kottmeier
has been dreaming
of building his own
Viking ship.
http://www.vikingshipsleipnir.com http://www.sonsofnorway.com
Viking Magazine - November 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Viking Magazine - November 2022
