The day dawned fairly grey and breezy, but no 'near gale warnings' so we decided to set off for Falkenberg ( 56:53.5N, 012:29.0E ).  We motored out and then set sails and had a great sail in a F4, making 7 kts on a reach when we got hit by the odd extra gust, and this with one reef in . The reef just reduced heel, wit virtually no impact on speed, and just made the boat more comfortable and reduced weather helm.

 

We checked out the internal helm position andf controlling the autopilot from the chartplotter inside...all worked fine, and we had excellent visibility under the sails from the internal helm position.

 

Later, as the wind started to drop we switched on the engine and motorsailed to keep up a good speed, since the weather remained fairly miserable and we were keen to get to Falkenberg, since it seemed an exciting place from its tourist info site.....it was apparently the place to go to  have fun. The entry to the harbour was a little tricky and this marina was very different to all others to date. It was alongside a river bank, and directly opposite a big commercial port and ship repair yard. For one night we thought this was ok, and it was quite interesting to see all the shipyard activity ( see pics).

 

Mooring was a challenge, since we were mooring into a box with a strong river current across us......a case of ferry gliding to the mooring posts and then straighten up and power at the last moment, followed by lots of reverse.  To our collective amazement it went without a hitch.

 

Then off to the Falkenberrg, the self proclaimed capita  of fun. The town had one of the highest concentrations of pizzerias you are likely to find, and they were all either empty or closed. Once again, we had found a Scandinavian town with no people. Either, a) they all go to bed at 6pm or, b) these towns are part of some big EU grant scam and there really are no people.  We finally chose a little pizza bar and, as the only customers, received attentive and friendly service from the proprietor......who told us that he was giving up serving this ***** and had put the place for sale. He showed no sign of being aware that this was the capital of fun, at least in the eyes of the tourist office.  To be fair, we had a good meal and then a nice walk down the river bank to the boat.

 

The last bit of excitement was just before bed, when we heard a lot of noise, and looked out to see a huge ship doing a 3 point turn in the river, opposite our berth. It was probably not as close as it seemed, but an impressive piece of close quarters manoeuvering nevertheless. 

 

All being well we will be off to the delights of Varberg tomorrow...