Eastward ho

We are in Travemünde, which is the port and beach resort for Lübeck, just up the river Trave. In fact we are in a marina in Prilwall, which is just across the river, and somewhat to our surprise it turns out that we have crossed into the old East Germany - the river was the border. That explains the vast, gloomy buildings which line the waterfront here. Beyond them, however, there is a nice beach and lots of tall trees. On the river, vast ferries depart for Scandinavia, towering over the yachts.

We had another early departure from Heiligenhafen, with light north-westerlies and blue skies. We passed under the huge bridge connecting the island of Fehmarn to the mainland, before turning south. Eventually the wind veered north-east and strengthened slightly and we had a delightful, gentle sail, the last hour with the cruising chute and the wind strengthening to a force 4 or so.

The good news is that the mesh food-cover from a posh department store in Bremen seems to be doing a good job of holding the anti-magnetism cover on to the cockpit speaker, and the autopilot now works, which makes long passages a bit easier.

We had several goes at finding a berth. Our first attempt was definitely marked green (available), but was along the main entrance pontoon and we had our stern to the wind, and to the swell which evidently comes in here when the wind is northerly, so was somewhat bouncy and splashy. The harbourmaster suggested an alternative, but although we told him our beam we very definitely didn't fit between the posts. Now we are in our third option, a tight fit, but head to wind and a lot more comfortable. The only problem is that we don't know how long we can stay; we're planning three nights here to get some rest, visit Lübeck, do some washing, shop for food and hopefully let a day or two of bad weather pass by. We may have to move again, but we hope not.

Miles covered today: 37.