About

A little about me …

Hello! My name is Tom Kottmeier. I live in San Marcos CA with my wife Pia.

I am nearing the completion of my 33′ Viking Ship, a dream I’ve had for about 20 years.

On this website I will write about the project, as well as post pictures and links to a series of videos about the construction and eventually Sleipnir’s adventures. I hope people who share my interests will contribute their own stories.

I have been a sailor for most of my life, always messing about in boats, built some both small and big, raced and cruised in both my own and on charters. I have a passion for sailing, and water is truly my element.

My interest in Viking ships started in 2001 when I got involved with a group at the Scandinavian Community Center in Vancouver BC, who had decided to build a 42′ Viking ship. The whole idea was so fantastic I immediately volunteered to help with its construction. In the amazingly short time of 9 months, working weekends, Munin was built under the direction of Arne and Chris Frostad, two master shipwrights from Norway. They are so skilled that they can take a piece of wood, make a few marks on it, cut it and it fits! We had people helping with making oars, shields, riveting, and in no time at all she was ready! I was given the task of working on the rigging and sail, and eventually became her skipper during her first season.

Sailing Munin was a fantastic revelation for me: she was such a fine sailer, fast, responsive, able to sail close to the wind and generally behave so well I was truly hooked! To think that the Norse sailed across the oceans in such ships was fantastic, in the true sense of the word, and here we were, sailing in a ship that was very much like the ones the Norse had built 1200 years before! From that first season I started dreaming about the possibility of building my own ship, and when I retired in 2018 I started working looking for a place to build it, which wasn’t easy! By a stroke of luck I thought to ask the Sons Of Norway in Vista if they would consider allowing me to build my ship on their property and when they immediately agreed I was finally able to begin making my dream a reality!