From 2-3 meter to mirror

Salsa af Stavsnas
Ellinor Ristoff Staffan Ehde
Wed 20 Jul 2011 06:20
It is amazing, one day we sail in rough sea with steep waves hunting us along the Dutch and German coast, next day we float on a flat water, we are now in Rensburg up the Kiel canal, also known as the Nord Ost sea canal.
We sailed in very tought weather 30 knots of wind most of the time (15 meter/sec), the hardest part being that the German Bite or the souhern Nord Sea is very shallow. It does not matter how far you go out, it is still 20 meters under the keel. That is shallow when hard winds are blowing and the waves build up very steep. Some of the sailing has to be done against the tide and during that time the waves are very confused and high.
After 18 hours we made it to Cuxhaven, and at 5 in the morning we motored into the harbour just before the current would have changed direction in the Elbe and forced us to painfully work against a five knots tide. We slept short and the kids where up and dandy as ususal about eight o cklock. 11.30 we took the next "train" towards Bunsbüttel, that was when the current was right for us in that direction.
Going through the locks we said good bye to the tide tables and currents for this time.