After a slow start we left our anchorage at Allmagsvik on
Wednesday morning and motored the hour or so down to Stenungsund in no wind,
clear skies and around 25˚. We had encountered the first (and so far only)
problem in that the cockpit chartplotter decided to stop working. Normally
this would be of little significance but there are so many Islands, rocks and
shallow patches that it is quite difficult to follow on a paper chart - and
seeing your relative position on a screen is very reassuring. But getting to
Stenungsund was fine and we then had another first - a bow-to mooring picking
up a stern buoy. A bit like doing pile moorings but with a hard bit of dock dead
ahead. We took it slowly and after checking out the pontoons picked out a spot
and moored perfectly . Feeling very smug we attached our new bow ladder (the
bow was about 3-4 feet above the dock), descended in style and headed off to
find the Gästhamn office. As we did so we found that Swallow was perfectly moored
in a private marina a few hundred yards from the real (and well hidden) Gästhamn.
We thought about staying put, but may well have had to move later if the owner
returned - so into bow-to mooring number two. Different type of stern buoy but
again a smooth mooring -so feeling now quite good about this odd Baltic mooring
technique.
We were right in the centre of town so good to get some
shopping and laundry done before Peter and Clare showed up in time for a late
dinner in one of the waterside cafes. Unfortunately our chartplotter was still
not working, so after talking to HR decided to sail back to Ellös on Thursday
so they could sort it out Friday morning. A very friendly Gästhamn, with fresh
rolls delivered to your boat for breakfast included in the 175 Kr fee. Thursday
was hotter, clearer and really windy - with gusts up to 25 kts. So a brilliant
40 mile sail back "home" covering every point of sail - often in the
space of 30 seconds as the fjords and islands funnelled the wind through some
very strange angles.
As well as sorting out the plotter (which now works fine) today
was dedicated to cleaning the boat - in and out - getting the dingy launched
and tested and so forth. Having use our deck crane to lower the outboard onto
the dingy, we thought we would try it out for MOB recovery - a bit painful but
works beautifully and Ann hoisted me up from the dingy to the deck without too
much effort. A good decision to go for a model that uses the main winches rather
than just a block and tackle. The original plan was then to head off late
afternoon to a nice anchorage I stayed in last year, but with the wind now up
at force 6+ and in the NE it would have been very uncomfortable. So instead we
stayed put in Ellös, it transpired that it was our 27th wedding anniversary, Clare
cooked a great fish stew and we had a gentle evening with an early start
planned for tomorrow.
