Lögberg-Heimskringla - 05.11.2004, Page 14

14 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • Friday 5 November 2004
Cutter Vakta christened in Gimli
Steinþór Guðbjartsson
Gimli, MB
i
Recently Gimli’s 2004
fjallkona Thelma Wilson
christened the new Canadian
Coast Guard (CCG) cutter in
Gimli, Manitoba.
The vessel is 16.76 m
(52 ft) in length, 4.4 m in
breadth and the maximum
speed is 25 knots. It is a
multi-task cutter, a vessel
built for aiding navigation as
well as search and rescue
activities on Lake Winnipeg.
It is capable of operating in
all weather conditions in
semi-sheltered waters and
will provide search and res-
cue coverage from April to
November.
The Canadian Coast
Guard wanted to pay tribute
to the rich Icelandic heritage
of the region and therefore
selected an Icelandic name
for the vessel. The verb vakta
in Icelandic means “to watch,
patrol or monitor” (the noun
vakt means “a watch,” vaktin
is “the watch”).
Canadian Coast Guard
Regional Director (Central
and Arctic Region) Julian
Goodyear said it was appro-
priate to have the Jjallkona
christening the vessel and
Gimli MLA Peter Bjomson
expressed the importance of
the right boat, the right name
and the right place.
PHOTOS: STEINÞÖR GUÐBJARTSSON
Above: Vakta in the Gimli
harbour. The vessel will pro-
vide SAR coverage from
April to November.
Right: Gimli’s 2004jjallkona
Thelma Wilson christens
cutter Vakta in Gimli. Cana-
dian Coast Guard Superin-
tendant Geoff Morris assists
her and to the left is CCG
Regional Director Julian
Goodyear.
Experience Icelan
lceland & Paris
$1659 From Toronto
$1815 From Winnipeg
$2199 From Edmonton
^Great..
Canadian
TravdSrny

...the way it was meant to be.
Iceland & London
$1509 FromToronto
III Oj From Winnipeg
$1965 From Edmonton
All prices are per person +
• Return airfare.
• 3 nights accommodation in both
iceland and Paris.
• Paris Vísite transport pass.
• Airport transfers with Blue Lagoon.
taxes forlowseason travel.
• Return airfare.
• 3 nights accommodation in both
Reykjavik and London,
• London Visítor Travelcard.
• Airport transfers with Blue Lagoon.
PhoneToll Free; 1 800 661-3830
iceland@gctc-mst.com
www.iceland-experience.com
New book
on sagas
from Gísli
Sigurðsson
A new book on the devel-
opment of the Icelandic saga
tradition is being published by
Harvard University Press.
The book, The Medieval
Icelandic Saga and Oral Tra-
dition, is by Gísli Sigurðsson.
In it, he applies field studies of
oral cultures in modern times
to this literature, and asks how
it would alter'"the reading of
medieval Icelandic sagas if it
were assumed they had grown
out of a tradition of oral story-
telling, similar to that observed
in living cultures.
Gísli Sigurðsson is a
research professor at Árni
Magnússon Institute, Iceland.
Donation
honours
Rubina
Kristjansson
Dee Dee Westdal
WlNNIPEG, MB
One of our faithful read-
ers, Truss Oliver, has made a
generous donation of $200 to
Lögberg-Heimskringla in
memory of her good friend,
Rubina Kristjansson, who
passed away on March 9,
2004.
Rubina was born March
19, 1926, in Winnipeg, daugh-
ter of Jakob and Steina Krist-
jansson. Thcy were very
active in the Icelandic commu-
nity. Jacob, known as
“Kobbi,” was president of the
Icelandic National League
from 1924 to ’26. He was
Chairman of the Federated
(Unitarian) Church, and both
he and Steina took an active
part in many of the Church
drama productions. He was in
the employ of Heimskringla
from 1925 to ’27. For some
years, Kobbi, working with
Kristin Johnson, organized
group flights to Iceland.
Rubina was very interested
in her Icelandic ancestry.
Truss Oliver recalls a wonder-
ful visit to Iceland with Rubina
and mentioned the pleasure of
renewing the acquaintance of
two librarians, Helga Pálsdót-
tir and Lóa Erlendsdóttir, both
of whom'had worked, though
at different times, in the Ice-
landic Library at the Universi-
ty of Manitoba. Truss was the
librarian at the School of Den-
tistry during those years.
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