Some Rock in the Stockholm Archipelago - 59° 25' 16" N 18° 58' 27" E
To Scandinavian seafarers, these are what the rock anchors look like. They are properly known as 'archipelago anchors'. Like many of us, we spent a ridiculous amount of time watching YouTube sailing videos through COVID. One of our favourites was RAN Sailing Episode #225 where they moored up against a sizable granite island in Sweden and spent a day or two stepping ashore, exploring the island, having picnics, enjoying sunsets ... all without deploying or even needing a dinghy. This looked so cool, it inspired us to go to Sweden and try it for ourselves. Roll forward to this summer. We are floating around the Stockholm Archipelago where tying up to rocks is considered quite normal. We had the gear required, the shore lines, the stern anchor, the rock anchors and hammer, but the idea of driving Chinook towards a rock was very daunting and quite contrary to good seamanship! We were in Åkersberga and Niklas asked if we would help him sail ...