Progress towards Kiel

Aquila
Alan and Sarah Bennett
Wed 2 Aug 2017 06:05
54:34.8N 11:55.2E

Peter, Rosalie and Mike joined Aquila at 0800 on 1 August as planned some 8 months ago. Wonderful!  Loaded with goodies they were - except Heathrow security had confiscated the marmite.  This has got to rate as the calamity of the cruise to date!   

We slipped at 0900:  Copenhagen has been a great stop, and enabled the fixing of the boat in yet another exotic place. A light northerly wafted us along under asymmetric, but by midday it had faded to nothing, so the iron topsail was hoisted. It sounded very happy with its fresh oil.

The wind returned as forecast around 1800.  By this time the skipper had picked a destination: Gedster, on the most southerly tip of Denmark. We romped along under full sail, enjoying a top rate spag bol courtesy of Rosalie as we ate up the remaining miles. By 2330 we were on finals in a properly dark night: haven't had one of these for a long while. The cockpit team did a superb job picking out with the search light the unlit (but reflector fitted) channel buoys, and we were safely alongside 5 minutes before midnight. The wee dram that followed was enjoyed by all.

We'll stay here for 24hrs, waiting for the current westerly to shift to the south at about midnight. We plan to then immediately use this opportunity to further progress towards Kiel before the westerlies return with a vengeance around midday on Thursday. In the meantime, George needs investigation: he threw a couple of unexplainable wobblies last night....