Haugesund's Cinderella moment in floating offshore wind?
When visiting Haugesund in Norway recently, for Norwegian Offshore Wind's floating wind festival, I dined with a local. He told me that Haugesund had, in recent years, suffered from being "the bit in the middle - the Cinderella", in relation to maritime powerhouse Bergen (three hours up the west coast) and the hydrocarbon capital Stavanger (two hours down it). With a population of around 38,000 people, Haugesund's population is just 13% and 25% of Norway's second and third cities, respectively. Its region Haugaland gave birth to the name Norway (which means Northbound Route), and notable resident King Harald Fairhair gave us a modern descriptor. But many of its most notable people are those who emigrated to the USA, when the herring boom ended, including the paternal grandfather of Marilyn Monroe (from where her birth name Mortensen originates). The author taking the plunge, before the sauna, at Floating Wind Days, Haugesund, May 2025. Modern Haugesund ...