... try and find us

Guess where?! The Germans have very kindly built a canal shortening our trip into The North Sea by nearly 300 nautical miles.  The Kiel Canal was built in the late 1800s and is large enough to accommodate ocean-going ships.  It runs from Kiel in the north to Brunsbüttel at the mouth of the Elbe River which leads to the Port of Hamburg.  It is said to be the world's busiest man-made water way. Fun! Officially left the Baltic Sea! We hovered around the sea lock waiting for the combination of lights that would allow us to enter.  It was us, a small tourist paddle-boat and two other yachts in the 310 metre-long lock so it was very straight forward.  The water level drop was not very much (30 - 45 centimetres) and before we knew it, we were motoring out into the canal - a big, wide canal with big ships and lots of industry. The Kiel Canal (source: Wikipedia) The Kiel Canal can be traversed in a day but rather than push through the 60 nautical miles, we opte...

With the wind on our beam, we sailed along the south coast of Sweden and cut through the Falstrebo Canal from The Baltic to Öresund. The canal is short but has a bridge obstructing the passage. It's always nice to see it all the way open! The canal has an interesting story.  During WW II, the Germans did not recognise the Swedish four-nautical-mile offshore fishing limit so, just for good measure, mined the waters up to three miles from the Swedish shore.  This caused problems for shipping around the Falstrebo Isthmus due to the shallow water. So the Swedes built a canal! Great for us as it cut off some distance and we avoided the choppy waters that the shallow area around the isthmus is known for. We saw FORESTS of wind turbines.  Lots of wind here, so endless electrical generation. The Øresund Bridge is an impressive structure, together with the Øresund Tunnel , it connects Denmark and Sweden by road.  We didn't sail under it, but quite close t...

Stockholm to Gotland and beyond! All to ourselves tied up on Lila Husarn With Wendy and Graeme on board, we left the hubbub of Stockholm and started south.  Mooring on granite outcroppings is only part of the fun of the Stockholm archipelago.  We also were manoeuvring through narrow channels between cottage-covered islands, giving them a taste of what we have done this summer.  We had a very scenic and uneventful motor inside the protection of islands along the Swedish coast to Nynäsham.  With the weather stormy and a crew member ailing (poor Kate suffering from a nasty cold), we spent a couple of days poking around the delightful town.   Picking the weather to perfection, we had the most glorious sail across to Fårö on the Swedish island of Gotland.  With calm, sparkling seas and wind on the beam, we zipped across The Baltic Sea.  Sailing in The Baltic is just glorious.  Even Graeme who frequently suffers from 'mal de mar', w...

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 ...