Northeast Sweden to OREGRUND at 60.29.52N,18.22.13E then south towards Kiel
Restless of Auckland
Roland and Consie Lennox-King
Fri 21 Aug 2009 10:54
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On Saturday 2 August we started out from Helsinki for our
trip "South to the Med" (as we are not going any further north) by making a
big start and motoring in glassy calm, in warm sunshine,14
miles to Larsvik, where we saw an elk swimming from one island to another.
We stayed at our RCC friend Max's marina and saw his beautiful
wooden boat 'Gefion'. We were talked into staying an extra day to enjoy his
and his partner Jane's hospitality. A swim in a nearby lake while watching
osprey teach their young to fish from a tree nearby was a special
treat.
A good day of sailing took us south to the famous Barosund
the Finns are so passionate about. It is a very nice stretch of water, but not
very long. We found a nice bay to spend the night and were visited by a local
couple who owned the surrounding island. They were keen sailors and members of
NJK, so had lots of suggestions as where to go and what to see as we sailed west
through the thousands of islands.
We wanted to return west by a different route to the one
we had taken east with Prue an Warwick, but had to overlap in some
places as the coast has points where all routes coincide. After Hanko we
headed southwest and had a dream day where we sailed in 8-10 knts of
breeze in cloudless sunshine with the wind on the quarter for hours. As
all good things, the breeze petered out and we had to motor, but eventually
anchored at Bono-on island at 2130 hours to discover a pirate sailing ship
hidden behind the nearby rocks!!!
Consie was keen to see her Hong Kong childhood friends
from 40 years ago, so we made a long day and set off around the south
of the Aland islands and across to the Swedish island of Gräsö. We motored for the first half of the day,
then had a glorious beam reach for four hours, when we overtook a tow
heading north with the biggest barge of coal either of us had ever seen. Then it
was a long motor north through the archipelago to Oregrund, where we
arrived at 2115, some 68n miles for the day, to be met by our friends
Christer and Jeannine. Little did we know it was "the" weekend of the year, for
the next day was the great powerboat race and town was humming as we
wandered through it that evening.
Next morning we motored another 9n miles north to the
northern tip of Gräsö, where we spent
two days with a stern anchor and a bow line to their concrete dock.
During our stay we talked, walked, picked
thousands of wild blueberries and strawberries and generally had a good
time. Jeannine taught us the words for the Scandinavian drinking song
"Helan gå
A poor weather forecast saw us scuttle south on Monday
10/8 as the barometer dropped and we were keen to get going as we plan to be be
in Holland in early/mid September. A long beat brought us to Anholma at the top
of the Stockholm archipelago. This perfect anchorage was a good spot for the
depression that swept over us the next day. After another good sail past the
holiday home "belt" that runs north from the capital, we arrived in Vaxholm in
time to refuel at the same bowzer we had managed to find duty-free fuel on our
trip north.
We have seen thousands of holiday homes, and have
compared them with our home in the Bay of Islands. We have asked
each other "Would we swap?" but the answer is always "No!" The Finnish and
Swedish archipelagos are staggeringly beautiful, almost freshwater, some
islands are bare rocks, some have pinetrees, elk, deer, wild berries, but
most don't have sand, we have seen very few beaches and it is very lake-like
with no tide and a lack of salt.
No trip to this part of Sweden would be complete, for
Roland, without a visit to Sandhamn, the Cowes of Sweden and one of the homes of
the KSS, the Yacht Squadron of Sweden. A light wind motorsail through the
archipelago was our next day's sail, where we picked up a buoy outside the
club's marina. Sandhamn is a very picturesque village, originally the coastguard
station, with old wooden houses painted with the Scandinavian red, and narrow
lanes, dominated by the very large old clubrooms of the KSS, which have been
modernised and made into a fancy hotel. The famous bakery sells kanell bullar
and sailors' buns.
We are starting to meet up with boats we have seen in
other places, Esox, Sir Francis, and others, which makes us feel almost like
locals! The days are getting shorter and in my mind I picture a gigantic skating
rink. Time to go south!
Two days of pleasant sailing south were interrupted by
severe thunderstorms where we had 40 knots and cold, cold rain. The next two
days we sheltered from gale force winds in Marskaren on Lindskar island, then it
was south again and instead of rounding the great Landsort Island we
took the inside route; passing the picture postcard island of Kroksk.
This way we found ourselves back in Ringson, a most beautiful
landlocked anchorage, where we had spent a couple of days in June on our
way north. Next day was Consie's birthday so we motored in very strong head
winds the 12 miles to Oxelosund for a birthday dinner with Scots friends
Helen and Dave on Seewolf II, who we had last seen in Mariehamn in the
Aland Islands.
As we type this, we are anchored in yet another
pinetree lined bay just north of Vastervik by Kråkmarö island. We hope to reach the Kiel
canal, another 330 miles south, in the next couple of weeks. We will then wait
for a good weather window to sail west down the Elbe and enter Holland at
Delfzijl. From there we will cross Holland by the "standing mast route" to
hopefully be in Amsterdam by late September. We are very excited to be meeting
up with Consie's Dutch relatives, most of whom she has not seen for 30
years, and seeing how Holland has changed in that time. We are currently
negotiating with a Dutch boatyard to leave Restless for the approaching
winter.
Time flies too fast and these northern summers are so
short!
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