Hjellestad 60:15.35N 05:14.25E
17/18 July
We woke in Bergen to another dry and sunny day and
entertained the cruise ship hordes (and our fellow båtfolk) with a display of
our storm sails, a very subtle shade of bright orange. Always a good plan
to know how to rig them before anything too exciting happens.
Having downloaded the latest GRIB files, things are starting to shape up nicely
for a weekend crossing to Shetland, and we decided to head slowly back to our
friendly marina at Hjellestad to get the boat and us ready.
Another excellent day's sailing, with 10-15kts behind the
beam and flat seas giving us a good turn of speed. It is surprising how many
sailing boats here seem to spend all their time motoring - we feel
suitably morally superior, even if we do sometimes arrive a little later as a
consequence. We arrived at Hjellestad to find Windleblo already tied up
and after a quick visit to the fuel dock, Jack, Jocelyn and their new crew
(son, John) showed up on the pontoon to help with our lines. A quick tidy
up and then off to explore the Bergen botanical gardens which are a very pretty
25 minute walk from the harbour - and then an excellent dinner on Windleblo
followed by an amazing sunset. A fine day.
Jack has a 3G USB modem, so we went through the weather
again, and have pretty much settled on an early, 4am, departure on Sunday
morning. The worst of the rain should be through and the forecast winds
are SE 15kts most of the way - almost perfect for a due west course.
With a little luck this should see us in Lerwick around noon on
Monday. A relatively simple passage with no significant tides to factor
in and a harbour I know reasonably well from last year.
