About us
It’s the People You Remember
At Himmelblå Brygge, you become part of a community — a mix of guests, crew, owners and adventurers, all drawn here for the same reason. You might come for a meal, a night or a few days. For the calm, the experiences or the people you meet along the way. Either way, you become part of life out here — close to the ocean, nature and everything happening around you.
We Brought the Ocean Ashore
After many years of building and running SeilNorge
— creating a new way of travelling the Norwegian coast by sailboat, from harbour to harbour in the north — we felt it was time to create something ashore.
We had started a family, and had watched Himmelblå stand empty for a while.
“We can do this?” we said.
That’s how Himmelblå became what we today call our biggest ship.
Behind it all are founders Emil Engebrigtsen — general manager of SeilNorge, with family roots on Ylvingen through his father — and Linda Øverli Nilsen from Kautokeino, who over the years has become more and more shaped by life on the coast and the sea. Alongside them is co-founder Knut Kalland, office manager at SeilNorge.
Together, we continue to build on the story of this place — with respect for what came before, and curiosity for what it can become.
Today, Ylvingen and Himmelblå are the home harbour of SeilNorge, and we bring our experience from life at sea into everything we do — both on the ocean and ashore.
Built by People, Shaped by Community
We’ve carried the mentality from life aboard our sailboats onto land: community, adventure and learning by doing. Since 2018, together with a growing community of people, we’ve developed the place step by step. In 2025, we opened for community funding and welcomed more than 100 new co-owners into the project.
Himmelblå continues to grow through the people who come here. We believe in co-creation — that a place is shaped together by guests, crew, staff, owners and volunteers. Out here, you’ll meet adventurers, sea nomads, creators and travellers from all over the world.
We believe in active days, in challenging yourself and in the feeling of mastering something new. That’s why every day starts with our (optional) morning swim at 09:00. We gather on the pier — with just enough group pressure to make people jump in. And once you’re standing there afterwards, holding a hot coffee with saltwater still on your skin, the day already feels won.
For us, this is about more than tourism. We want to help build a place that feels good to live in — not only to visit. Because when it’s good to live here, it also becomes a better place to create, work and invite others into.
The Story Behind Himmelblå, from TV to reality
Long before Himmelblå Brygge
became a living meeting place on the Helgeland coast, it was the setting of one of Norway’s most beloved TV dramas.
The Norwegian series Himmelblå aired from 2008 to 2010 and followed a young family leaving city life behind to start over in a small island community far north in Norway.
The story was inspired by the British BBC series Two Thousand Acres of Sky.
Filmed entirely on Ylvingen, the series became a national phenomenon in Norway, with more than one million viewers and record-breaking ratings. The show was also broadcast internationally, helping put Ylvingen and the Vega Archipelago on the map far beyond Norway.
Today, the story still lives on here.
When you arrive on Ylvingen, you walk through the same harbour, houses and coastal landscapes seen in the series. Many visitors describe it as stepping into another rhythm of life — quieter, closer to nature and deeply connected to the people around you.
What once existed as a television story has become something real: a living island community shaped by the sea, the weather and the people who continue to gather here.
Photo from the 2023 reunion at Himmelblå with actors Line Verndal (Marit) and Hallvard Holmen (Roy).
