The replica Viking longship was provided by Leif Ericson Viking Ship, LLC, in addition to Viking reenactors. The group set sail in association with the 17th Annual Scandinavian Folk Festival which continues today and Sunday. The Viking ship was scheduled to sail to Bemus Point Bay and Chautauqua Institution from Long Point State Park early Friday morning.

Leif Ericson was an explorer from Iceland who lived from 970-1020 and is credited for being the first European to discover North America.

The ship, fit with Viking reenactors, media members and a captain, launched from the state park onto the lake. Prior to setting sail — in order to utilize the current direction of the wind — the sailors rowed across the lake to a dock near Wells Bay lakefront. Shortly after releasing from the second dock, the crew unleashed the red and white sail that guided the Norseman across Chautauqua Lake. Onlookers on boats and from the shores of the lake could see the Norseman’s colors flapping in the wind.

The Norseman was built in 1992 with a fiberglass hull, according to Hildegard Lindstrom, membership chairwoman and events coordinator. The ship does feature an engine which is required per Coast Guard regulations, Lindstrom said. She said the Norseman was the first ship into the New York Harbor during the boating series Operation Sail in 1992. The ship has been taken to places all over the world including St. Petersberg, Russia; L’Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland; and various locations on the east coast of the United States. The organization also travels to numerous Scandinavian festivals and elementary schools for educational purposes. “The goal is to educate children that Christopher Columbus was not the first European (to reach North and South America),” Lindstrom said. “In the year 1000 A.D. it has been proven that the Vikings did hit the North American continent and they had a settlement in L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland.”

Reenactors hoist the red and white sail over the Viking ship.

Once the ship ran its course on Chautauqua Lake, the ship was then scheduled to be hauled to Jamestown Community College for display during the festival.

Prior to the launch on Friday, the Leif Ericson crew was hauling the Norseman through the city of Jamestown when their truck’s engine caught on fire leaving their trip from Pennsylvania in doubt. Lindstrom said Tom and Michelle Stahlman towed the boat the remaining miles to JCC. The next day, Shawn Proctor, manager at Ready About Sailing, arranged for the Norseman to be towed to the state park to meet its scheduled launch. Greg Swan, owner of Ready About Sailing, offered the company’s services to the Leif Ericson group free of charge.

The Norseman will be on display at the festival that began Friday and is open until Sunday.

Kirk Johnson, Scandinavian Folk Festival Volunteer, who sailed on the Norseman on Friday noted the novelty of bringing in an authentic replica of a Viking ship to the festival.

“A lot of people who attend the Scandinavian Folk Festival and see the Viking longship have Scandinavian ancestry so it’s really fun and interesting to relive what it might have been like a thousand years ago for our ancestors,” he said.

The Scandinavian Folk Festival is comprised of exhibits, vendors, a trivia contest, a demonstration of Swedish Crafts and the Viking wooden log game of kubb. Additionally, the festivities will include a petting zoo featuring Swedish pygmy goats. The festival is scheduled to have two bands Oskar Stenmark, a Swedish jazz band, and Smorgasbandet, an accordion band from Long Island. Today at 11 a.m., a Midsummer re-enactment is scheduled to celebrate the summer solstice.

Dennis Phillips contributed to this story.