54:57.287N 12:27.755E

Alloro
Colin & Belinda Laidlaw
Sat 16 Aug 2014 09:30

Having checked the weather, we decided to leave Kalmar for Mon at 0630 wednesday morning. Sadly, we had to say goodbye to Keith as he was flying back to the UK that afternoon. He had been great company, as always, and would be missed.
An hour after leaving our berth we watched as large storm clouds made their way up the Kalmarsund towards us. Then it hit - thunder, lightening, 40 kts of wind and torrential rain. Fortunately only lasting 20 mins or so, we sat huddled under the sprayhood not touching anything metal. We then had a day of lumpy, horrible seas and headwinds, before a larger storm hit us about 0100. We could see sheet and fork ligtening cracking across the horizon south to north and hoped that it would pass in front of us. Unfortunately it didn't. The radar showed a path through the two storms that we successfully transited - until halfway through, then the clouds closed in around us and sheet lightening crackled above us. When we got to Mon at 1530 the next day and shared our experiences with other boats we began to realise just how lucky we had been, as the boats who were 10 to 20 miles behind us got hit with up to 50 kts of wind and the full force of the rain as the storm moved towards them.
Mon is a beautiful marina with white sandy beaches butting up to the breakwater, three great restaurants on site and a good supermarket. This is just as well as we may be here for a while waiting for a good window to cross back to Kiel.
We have a pot luck bbq tonight, followed by the final tour and farewell crew dinner tomorrow. It will be a happy/sad evening!
Btw our laptop has died so we cant post any photos, which is a huge shame as we have some stunners!!!