We bought her in Ipswich, a Westerly Oceanlord 41 built in late 1988, first watered early 1989. Solid, seaworthy, a proper offshore cruiser (more than we are 😅) - but she didn't have a name that felt like ours yet. The previous owner called her Poppy of Orwell, perfectly fine but not us.

We were bringing her to Peel, on the west coast of the Isle of Man. Peel is about as Viking as it gets without actually being in Scandinavia. The castle on St Patrick's Isle was built by Magnus Barefoot, the 11th-century Viking King of Mann. Tynwald, the world's oldest continuous parliament, was founded by the Norse over a thousand years ago. When you live there, you don't need to go looking for Viking heritage. It's just there, in the landscape and the language.

So the name had to be Norse. And the boat had to be a she - not a princess, not a flower, not something delicate. A Westerly Oceanlord is ten tonnes of GRP and lead, built for the North Atlantic. She's tough, she's stubborn, and she looks after you if you look after her.

Lagertha was a Viking shieldmaiden, a warrior woman who fought alongside men and led armies into battle. The Danish chronicler Saxo Grammaticus wrote about her in the 12th century, describing her as a woman with the spirit of a man, fighting at the forefront of the bravest warriors. According to legend, she was Ragnar Lothbrok's first wife, and she earned her reputation not by being someone's wife but by being ferociously good at fighting. When Ragnar needed help, Lagertha showed up with 120 ships.

Her name in Old Norse was Hladgerdr, and scholars link it to the element gerdr, meaning "protection" or "enclosure." That felt right for a boat that's literally a protective shell keeping the ocean out.

She also carries a triskelion on her foresail and staysail - three interlocking spirals, an ancient Celtic-Norse symbol older than the Manx flag but cut from the same cultural cloth. So even when you can't see her name, you know where she's from.

A tough boat named after a tough woman, by two people who live on an island the Vikings built.