COPENHAGEN, 55.4n 12.35e
Restless of Auckland
Roland and Consie Lennox-King
Wed 10 Sep 2008 14:38
|
To recap on last update, we enjoyed the Open
day/Boatshow at the Halberg Rassy factory, especially Roland
and Alan, but sadly it signalled the end of 10 days of cruising around
Utafen, Hogo, Mollosund, Hallevikstrand, Orust, Gullholmen, Eriksberg, Karingon,
Kyrkesund, Kladesholmen, and a now deserted Marstrand (if you can ever find
those places on a map?). At least we had a nice sail back to Goteborg via a
few local marinas to finish off a very enjoyable cruise. We are very
suprised at the small size of yachts on this coast. Restless seems a
giant. Also how narrow most yachts are. Still, when one sees the width of the
passages they have to sail through, a small, narrow boat makes a lot of
sense. It is possibe to go from Oslo to Goteborg with next to no open water!
Almost all are 3/4 rig with low topsides--meter boat style. There are quite a
few modern production boats, but they mainly motor.
On a wet 27th August we left Goteborg and
waited out gales at Stora Kallo island, where once the weather
improved, Scottish friends Fairlie and Archie came in their friend Sten's
speedboat to have lunch with us. We waved goodbye to them and left 30
August to sail to Denmark, stopping for a night at Anholt island, a small
sand atoll belonging to Denmark about 50 miles south. Then it was another day of
similar length sailing on to the top of Zealand, arriving at
Helsingor, near famous Kronborg Castle, just as another cold front arrived
bringing a night of rain and wind. This narrow channel between Sweden
and Denmark was the collection point for the Sound (as in a sea passage) Tax for
all vessels passing from the Baltic to the North Sea. When we
went to see the castle with Holger the Dane (inspiration for Hagar the
Horrible?) sleeping underground, we could see what a strategic point it is
and how the Danes controlled the Baltic from it. This practice lasted for
centuries, but stopped some 200 years ago.
Our Danish friend Mogens, whom we had met in Stavanger,
joined us in Helsingor to go south to his marina at Vedbaek, and his wife Lena
made us a real Danish meal. We stayed there a few nights and Mogens took us
to see some of the small fishing villages, marinas and boatyards up the coast to
Hundested. Tuxen, our new friend who we met on the dock, appointed himself our
Danish sightseeing guide, and drove us to Louisiana art gallery, Sletten
fishing harbour, and Rungsted. He brought us fresh fish and oysters direct from
the fisherman, Jens. It was a change to be in a car, let alone a nice red
opentop BMW. Thanks to him we were able to sort out our gaz bottle problem and
perhaps get a bottle that we can use across Europe instead of buying new bottles
at vast expense in each country.
We spent a couple of nights at Langelinie, a very
expensive circular marina, right by The Little Mermaid, maybe one of the most
famous statues in the world. From Langelinie we walked into Copenhagen,
took the tourist boat from Nyhavn through all the canals, saw Hans Christian
Andersen's statue and his home, and walked through the lovely old streets. We
also had a surprise visit from our friend Hugh from Auckland, who had
flown to Sweden on business, and took a train back across from Malmo to
Copenhagen to have a meal on board with us! He is James' stepfather, so we
talked about the wedding, planned for 2 April in HK.
We are now off to explore southern Denmark, which is
supposed to be the best part. It is interesting to see how this country is all
sand and pine trees, where the west of Sweden is barren rocks until you get
inland.
We hope to be in HK in October to help Olivia and James
with some of the wedding arrangements, after we have tucked Restless away for
the winter. A full report on the rest of our cruise
around southern Denmark and laying up will follow in the next update.
|
