Les Bátar, A French Group, to Build the Fastest Longship in the World to Sail to New York

Vikings are popular. Really popular. So hugely, immensely, unreasonably popular that their name (which isn't even a word they used) and likeness (which is generally misrepresented) get tossed around in all manner of ways. People from Norway to France to the US have gravitated toward the Vikings and made them their own. A group in France who call themselves Bátar are no exception.

Bátar is a group of what I would call Viking enthusiasts who have made it their mission to build replica longships and sail them all over Europe. They are not the first such enterprise. Similar groups have emerged over the last century in Scandinavia, England, France, and even North America. Bátar's first attempts at building longships were successful and took them to Denmark and Norway. Their new mission: to build the fastest longship in the world and sail it to New York.

Let's start with the name of the group. Bátar is the Norse word for boats, plural. Those of you out there who know a smidge of French will r…