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| Kalessin is here. The island of Als seen from the easyJet flight |
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| A typical day in the Baltic... |
We strolled east of Fåborg to a little beach, where Camilla braved the breeze, wavelets and sub-20° water temperature to have what she thought was a last swim in the Baltic. The water isn't fresh, but it's a lot less salty than the Med, for example, which means you feel more refreshed and less sticky afterwards.
At 6pm we gathered with Jonty and Wyn for the South Fyn Boules Championships, although Wyn didn't play because of her back. We are proud to announce that after two sets Sam was declared champion. He claims it's the result of many misspent hours in the Vendée. Jonty was runner-up and Camilla third. Then it was back to Lady Cressida for a delightful farewell dinner. They will be seeing Sam before he leaves Augustenborg, but not Camilla because of her early departure.
The forecast for Sunday was gentle southerlies, a reasonable direction for the passage to Augustenborg. In the event Denmark decided to treat us to a delightful farewell sail. After a misty start the sun came out and shone warmly, and the wind was ESE force 3-ish, which meant a comfortable broad reach or run for most of the distance. It was so warm Camilla was even able to sail with no clothes on for a while, a rare luxury at 55°N. We had a guaranteed berth in Augustenborg so no real need to hurry, and we were able to beat most of the way down the Als Fjord before giving up and motoring for the last hour or so. We couldn't have asked for a better final sail of the season.
Augustenborg is right at the end of the fjord and very sheltered - when we arrived, the anchorage just before the marina was absolutely stuffed with weekend boaters. The harbour manager Anders Dahl was there to greet us and take our lines. We are next to Kissen, whose website advice (www.kissen.com) we have been following all season. Sadly the crew are not on board - they may overlap with Sam for a few hours next week.
We made the most of the light winds and good shelter to take off and pack both the mainsail and the genoa, together with most of the running rigging. By the time we'd done all that and enjoyed a cup of tea, we were so hot that Camilla was forced to have another final farewell Baltic swim off the back of the boat - the water is a couple of degrees warmer here than at Fåborg.
This evening we went out for a meal in the little hotel by the marina. The food was very good, but at 7pm we were their last customers of the day and possibly for the entire season. The marina is livelier, probably because this is a top spot for laying up. As well as lots of Germans, there are also a number of Dutch boats here and a few Brits - it's highly recommended by the Cruising Association. We were glad we'd taken the sails off when we were lashed by a brief thunderstorm - at least they are properly dry.
Miles today: 38. Miles since leaving Suffolk Yacht Harbour on 29 May: 1,107.
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| Square-dancing in the rain, Kalvehave |
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| Kalvehave bridge |
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| Fish shop, Omø |
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| Carefully groomed field, Omø |
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| Omø lighthouse |
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| Stevns ships laid up in Svendborg |
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| Civic pride: manhole cover in Svendborg |
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| How we feel about being in a safe location. Sale in Fåborg |
We managed to get a new 3kg gas bottle at the chandlery, and also to top up with diesel from our 20-litre can and refill it (at non-marine prices) at the filling station just across the road. Sam was shown a new way to reinforce our special patent siphoning tube by a man in Barhöft, and here in Svendborg he managed to get the necessary piece of plastic extension tube - plus an extra one and a half metres we don't really need - so the system now works well.
Jonty from Lady Cressida has discovered that this harbour was completely rebuilt three years ago after endless complaints from visitors. The loo/harbourmaster block is floating, apparently the only one in Denmark, although we've seen several in the Netherlands. Last night it was full in here, but tonight many of the boxes are empty, so people are definitely going home.
We walked eastward along Svendborg Sund for a couple of miles and across a bridge to the little island of Thurøby. It was all very pretty, with views across to various other islands, a nice sandy beach and a kiosk selling good coffee in polystyrene cups. The weather has alternated between bright, warm sunshine and showers all day, so we were able to paddle on the beach and 10 minutes later were hiding under a tree to escape the rain.
This evening we went out for a meal and decided to go Italian after being slightly shocked by main-course prices of 250kr or more (about £28) in the posher places. Afterwards we wandered around the docks, which surround an island within the harbour. For some reason we don't understand this seems to be a top spot for laying up, or even effectively abandoning, old ships. There are six coasters all called something Stevns, two more in front of the maltings, half a dozen small, grey, military-looking vessels, and three or four work boats of some kind in a very poor state. There's no sign that most of them are being worked on, although the docks also houses Denmark's top yard for building and repairing wooden boats, Ring Anderson.
The forecast now shows quite a deep low tracking over Denmark in the middle of Friday. We want to be somewhere secure for a couple of days, so once more will be following Lady Cressida, this time to Fåborg 16 miles away. Fortunately Jonty and Wyn don't seem to mind, and it is very nice to be able to compare notes and share drinks with another British yacht.
Today's passage was initially west, then south-west. Naturally, the wind was also west and then south-west (fortunately very light) so what would have seemed like a lovely day with the wind behind us felt like a chilly slog as we headed straight into it. We motored across the shipping lanes of the Store Bælt, then hoped to be able to sail between Langeland and Fyn. We beat into the wind for an hour and a half, then gave up and motored. When we turned into the winding Svedborg Sund we had a really great sail for another 30 minutes or so, but it's a bit traumatic hurtling along a twisting channel that you don't know, leaning right over at speeds up to 7 knots and unable to see anything behind the foresail, so eventually we put away both sails.
The Svendborg Sound is lovely and Svendborg itself is a pretty town. The town harbour seems to be entirely devoted to visiting yachts, with a very grand toilet block, all smart-card operated, which eats all your money while you shower. There is a very convenient supermarket, perfect as our supplies were running a bit low after Omø, where Sam found Newcastle Brown and pork scratchings. And there's a museum-harbour, only open to wooden boats (although they seemed to have made an exception for a steel Dutch botter).
We're not currently sure what we'll do tomorrow. We'd like to go to Ærokobing, but if the wind is SW it would be straight into the wind. We might stay here and sleep.
Miles covered today: 29.
This is a pretty civilised island, with among other benefits a free wifi hotspot for the harbour. With its aid we were able to determine that Monday looked like being a nice day to stay on Omø: westerly up to force 5 (ie on the nose for the next passage, so not very attractive for sailing), but with sunshine and improving visibility. Also, Tuesday looks quieter, although we haven't seen many properly quiet days recently.
So we stayed, and have been rewarded with a lovely day on this beautiful island. There's so much to do here:-) The ferry runs every two hours (as I type, the 8pm ferry has just whizzed out and I'm back in the sun again), and is often greeted by a small dog who trots on board to say hello, and narrowly misses being run over by the cars coming off. The restaurant also has a little shop selling basic foods. We bought two seriously fresh plaice straight from the fisherman when he came in.
And best of all, as you can see from the picture in the previous post, Camilla bought a scarf from the tiny handicrafts shop at the end of the toilet block. It's knitted by a lady called Lili, who normally makes socks, so it's double thickness. How wonderful it will be to wear a warm scarf this winter and know it came from a lady who spends her winters knitting on a tiny island in the Store Bælt.
This afternoon we dug out the folding bike, and separately went for rides around the island. As the visibility improved the views got better and better. You can see Sjaelland, the other little island of Agersø and the fabulous Store Bælt bridge to the north, Langeland and Fyn to the west, and from the other side of the island back east along the Smålands Farvandet. (South is mainly Germany, which is too far to see). But the island itself is pretty too, with thatched houses and tiny farms. Almost 200 people live here all year round and it's been a real delight to get a glimpse of their lives. This is what we hoped the Baltic would be like.
Tomorrow, if we can cope with plugging into the wind and if we can find a berth, we plan to go to Svendborg.
Bridges done, there was a bit more wind from right behind us and we managed to get the cruising chute up for a couple of hours. But as we sped out into the wider end of the channel the waves started to build behind us, the wind strengthened, and we had to drop the chute, which was an interesting challenge. We experimented with combinations of sails and ended up running with just the mainsail. We can do this thanks to our expensive new toy, the GybeEasy, which acts as a preventer and stops the boom smashing violently over. It's expensive for what it is (a metal pretzel and a bit of high-class rope) but good value for what it supplies (peace of mind when running, and less banging of the boom when motorsailing).
We arrived at the island harbour on Omø at around 2pm, just as it started raining, and it hasn't stopped since. We are alongside an inner wall, as the boxes here are very wide (posts miles apart) but with very little turning space between the rows. When we came in it was pretty empty, but there is now an entire German sailing club in here, including a Halberg Rassy rafted to us :-( And the weather is unspeakably horrible: bucketing rain, wind still up to 16 knots or more, an uneasy motion made worse by having a heavy Halberg hanging on to us, endless banging from bits of rigging, yuck yuck. It's the sort of night when you leave clothes handy in case of a 3am crisis.
The annoying thing is that in nice weather this must be a lovely island. Camilla explored a bit, and there are little beaches, small cliffs, a lighthouse, and nice Danish houses with pretty gardens. We found a fish smokery where Sam, at 5.30pm, was the first customer they had had all day. The season is definitely ending. There's a little restaurant where we had several beers with Jonty from Lady Cressida (yes, they are here too) and then a meal for two of us, all for 390 kronor, about £43. Not haute cuisine, but hot, tasty and served in a nice warm room which is not rocking around at all.
From here it's only about 75 miles through the channels to Augustenborg, and we have around two weeks to get there. There are numerous options to explore en route or the whole of the Lille Bælt. But if it keeps on raining, it will be hard to work up enthusiasm.
Miles today: 42.
Jonty popped over from Lady Cressida at 8.30am to say he had chatted to the harbourmaster who said the passage should be safe this morning for anything up to 2.1 metres draft. Wind and waves had both eased at Rødvig, so we set off, having deployed a nice bit of springing off to get us out of the berth.
The bay, the Fakse Bugt, proved to be not as smooth as we hoped, in fact for an hour or so it was unpleasant. We approached the outer, dredged channel with some trepidation, expecting to see breaking waves, but it was ok - a bit hairy with the waves behind us, but Sam did an excellent job of helming with engine on and a bit of jib.
Most of the channel is well marked, although it could do with a few of the fluorescent German port-hand marks, which are brilliantly visible - these reds were hard to see and the greens even worse. Also from time to time there were cardinals or isolated danger marks, in one place (according to the chart) a depth of less than 1m inside the channel, and further on suddenly no buoys at all for half a mile. At this point we were suddenly engulfed in rain, which didn't help with buoy-spotting, and also meant we couldn't see the prettiest bit of the passage.
Like other places including Rødvig, Kalvehave has a two-part harbour. We initially went into a berth on the marina side, but we had only 0.1m under the keel and we suspect water level is high today - if it drops, we could have been stranded. So we ducked around to the "fishing" harbour and rafted up to Lady Cressida.
Kalvehave is a pleasant, sheltered spot on the south side of Sjaelland, in the shadow of the bridge to Møn, and surrounded by other little islands, with stunning sea views - this is what you imagine the Baltic to be like. Today they are holding a harbour festival, mostly musical. We've seen square-dancing, heard a Leonard Cohen soundalike, and are currently enjoying yet another set from the main band, who seem to be able to play anything.
The wind is due to go south-east 3-4 tomorrow and then go round to the west on Monday. We want to make the most of the easterlies to get as far west as we can, especially as these waters are pretty sheltered so waves should be modest. If we feel up to it we may get as far as the island of Omø tomorrow.
Miles today: 20, of which around 12 were very shallow ones.
In the late morning we went out to discover all that Rødvig has to offer. We visited the Ships' Engines museum, which has a wonderful collection, mostly of diesel engines from around 1918 to the 1960s, but plenty of other oddities including a couple of British Seagull outboards. We got in for somewhat less than the going rate because they were desperate for change, so just took all Sam's small money and let us in. It's run by volunteers, who all apparently troop in on a Wednesday evening to work on the engines. The chap on the desk spoke excellent English (of course) and started up a couple of Junkers engines for our entertainment. One had been recovered from an E-boat at the end of the war, spent 20 years as a working engine out in Greenland, and is now 79 years old, still all original and starting on a swing of the handle. It seemed to have two vertically opposed pistons, not sure if we got that right. When we left he was explaining the engine to our German harbour neighbours, in fluent German.
Other than that Rødvig offers a small private railway with no sign of trains today, a baker/grocer/minimarket/video rental store, one posh restaurant, two cafés, and a boatbuilder - who was running a noisy extractor right by our boat this morning, but fortunately turned it off at lunchtime.
We also discovered that the green ticket which Sam obtained from the harbour ticket machine actually says "sorry, your credit card transaction has failed", in Danish. It takes you through the transaction in English but if it doesn't like your card it reverts to Danish, which is slightly unhelpful. Fortunately this happens quite often and we were able to pay the harbourmaster in cash.
We spent a pleasant couple of hours on board Lady Cressida, an Island Packet 42 from the Solent. Jonty and Mrs Jonty (memory failure, sorry) have kept her in the Baltic for four years and are overwintering at Augustenborg, so we may well see them again over the next couple of weeks. We also discussed the dreaded Bøgestrøm - it seems two Dutch yachts set off this morning but came back after seeing breaking waves at the entrance. The word is that it should probably be better tomorrow afternoon, when the wind is due to go slightly more southerly, or failing that on Sunday when the wind goes properly SE and moderates. Camilla has used almost all her 25MB daily data allowance on the iPhone looking at weather charts. Hopefully the upload of this blog post won't bust the limit....
We left Svanemølle at 7am in the pouring rain, with a forecast of not much wind. The rain has been consistent all day, but the forecast has varied considerably, at one point suggesting we were going to see a force 6. In fact we never saw more than a 5, but as it was from the east, we started to see quite big waves building.
When you read shipping forecasts as a sailor, you tend to focus on wind and possibly waves rather than rain. But really non-stop, drenching rain gets you down quite quickly. It's cold, the sky is grey, the visibility is poor, and you have to wear full oilies which are always uncomfortable, the water drips off your hood, and (today's special) every quarter hour the wind gets a knot stronger.
Camilla, not having expected waves, didn't take a Stugeron and felt more ill than on any previous passage this year. No actual vomiting was undertaken, however.
We reached the approach to Rødvig around 1.30pm and remembered that one reason we didn't come here on the way up to Copenhagen is that the approach was said to be unpleasant in easterlies. Indeed it is, but not as bad as our approach to Oostende last year when Camilla had to hide below while Sam surfed the boat between the pierheads.
Once in we had to make a high-speed choice between the marina, described as "congested", and the fishing harbour. The fishing harbour was the only option with enough room for us to rig ropes and fenders before tying up, so in we went, to be greeted by a cheerful harbourmaster who told us to go anywhere there was space. So for the first time this trip we are tied up to a wall alongside old car tyres. We tucked into a small space rather neatly, and had it to ourselves for a few hours, but we've just acquired German neighbours.
All this time the rain has varied between steady downpour and bucketing down. We strolled into Rødvig briefly, chatted to some nice Danes who told us it would still be raining tomorrow :-( and we could get through the Bøgestrom ok with 1.7m draft, we got a bit wetter, paid at the ticket machine and came back to the boat. At least the wind and waves have eased a bit.
Miles today: 36.
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| Lauterbach. This cloud followed us all day and never rained |
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| Goodbye to Germany |
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| The stunning cliffs of Møn |
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| New headphones - Ben is happy |
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| The authentic little mermaid |
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| Yum yum, smørrebrød |
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| Sam and Henry Moore, Louisiana |
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| Invisible art in Copenhagen |
For the first time on this trip we have dug out the folding bike. We need another Camping Gaz bottle, and the chandlery which might have sold us some is yet another victim of the flash floods from the weekend we spent in Wulkow. With the aid of the bike, Sam has identified a filling station a mile down the road which stocks the correct cylinders.
The other use for the bike has been a quick whizz around to the harbourmaster's office to top up The Card. Smart cards, on which you pay a deposit and/or a preloaded amount of cash, have been featured in many of the marinas we've visited from Cuxhaven onwards. Depending on the location and the technical complexity of the installation, cards may be used for access to the marina (rarely) and to the toilet block (almost always), to pay for showers (which can be measured by the microsecond), electricity, water and even parking your car. In here you can even check in to the marina and pay automatically, without seeing a harbourmaster. Of course there are a few snags: losing a card (which we haven't done yet) could be expensive, and you have to remember to return your card before you go. It would be interesting to find out how it works for a permanent berth-holder.
Currently it's drizzling quietly but the strong winds, due to arrive some time overnight, are not yet in evidence. Camilla is cheered by the prospect of wandering around some of Copenhagen's wonderful shops on her own tomorrow. Sam may sneak off and visit the Carlsberg brewery.
We spent the afternoon admiring Egyptian, Greek, Etruscan, Roman, Danish (oh dear) and French sculpture, and some nice French Impressionist and Post-impressionist paintings. Ben liked the Greek sculptures best, while Camilla was rather taken with the bronze casts of Degas' quick sketchy sculptures (originally just made in wax and cast by Degas' family after his death). There are also various Rodins including versions of the Kiss, the Thinker, and as a reminder of 2008 for us, the Burghers of Calais.
We had a couple of hours to kill before our meal, so strolled across to the canalside neighbourhood of Christianshavn, and then in a burst of bravery we popped into the anarchist hippie neighbourhood of Christiania to admire the graffiti and inhale the fumes (in fact much less than you smell on an average Amsterdam street).
As a farewell to Ben we had a meal at Peder Oxe, famous for its terrific burgers (for Sam and Ben) and help-yourself salad (for Camilla). For pudding we went for rødkål med fløde, a kind of fruit soup, which is a Danish pronunciation challenge equivalent to Scheveningen in Dutch.
Tomorrow we have to spend the morning getting Ben packed and ready to go on his afternoon flight. He can't wait to get away, but we will miss him terribly. The wind still looks strong for Tuesday and Wednesday, but Thursday is now looking a little bit more promising for departure.
Travel here is not as cheap as Germany, where a slightly shorter journey such as Peenemünde to Lübeck costs less than €4 return. But then, Denmark is generally more expensive for most things - eating out, eating in, travel and of course drinking.
Louisiana was originally a 19th-century seaside villa, with wonderful gardens going downhill to the beach, and now extended with stunning modern galleries. Much of the sculpture is outside, backed by fantastic views across the Øresund to Sweden. It was a beautiful day with blue skies and big fluffy clouds, and the ever-changing light was so gorgeous we spent the first couple of hours outside, exploring the grounds and enjoying delicious Danish coffee and rolls outside the cafe with views of three works by Alexander Calder.
The interior was also fascinating, although Camilla is less keen on Giacometti than Sam is, and the summer exhibitions included some striking architectural concept stuff and a wonderful collection of the works David Hockney has been creating on iPhone and iPad.
In the end there was so much to see that we all felt a bit overwhelmed, and in Camilla's case convinced that she'd missed out on Important Stuff. Ben managed to lose our locker key, possibly while rolling down a hill :-) but we resolved that quite easily despite his worries, and no-one stole our backpacks. And we participated fully in the retail experience by buying a collapsible Swedish designer fly swat for Camilla's office.
We thought we'd make the most of our 24-hour tickets with a quick trip to Helsingør, or Elsinore as Hamlet called it. It turned out Helsingør was being shut down for the round-Denmark cycle race, but we managed to get some ice-creams with home-made cornets, a view of the castle, a walk around the town and a shared plate of chips in a nice pizzeria before getting the train back.
Our berth is still marked as green and the promised evening rain hasn't developed beyond a few minutes of warm drizzle, so we are able to enjoy the distant sounds of live jazz from the harbour cafe, and relax. Tomorrow we plan a morning on board and more museums in the afternoon, with a farewell (for Ben) meal out in the evening.
The S-tog (urban train) from Svanemølle was efficient and very quick, once we had found the station which is only about 10 minutes' walk from the boat. It was a quiet, warm, rather grey morning with poor visibility, so we were glad to be exploring rather than sailing.
The route took us through the Latin Quarter and along some quieter shopping streets to an amazing music shop, where Ben bought a pair of long-desired Sennheiser headphones and Sam very nearly bought a travel guitar, and we discovered that the shop lost more than a million krone-worth of stock when their basement flooded in the rain which we escaped while were in Wulkow.
Then on to the delightful Kongens Have (Royal Gardens) where we enjoyed iced coffee at the Hercules Pavilion. Ben, as a classics student, is very taken by the classical statuary all over the city.
Sam lived in Copenhagen for a year more than 30 years ago and we went to look at his flat in Olfert Fischers Gade. As we photographed him next to the sign, a Dane appeared from nowhere to ask (in perfect English) if he could tell us anything about the building, or the neighbourhood. It was a great chance for Sam to blether a bit. In fact Copenhagen has changed of course since he was here, and memories fade, so he remembers some things in the wrong places or looking quite different.
On through the Kastellet, which although continuously in military use since 1660 manages to be very pretty. Ben, who was already delighted by the green grass in the parks and the headphone shop, was so impressed with the cleanliness of the public toilets he asked if we could all move to Copenhagen. This is a very different boy from the one who loathed cities five years ago on our Mediterranean voyage.
Of course we had to visit the Little Mermaid, who is actually very little indeed and slightly uncomfortably perched just a few feet offshore. By this time it was starting to drizzle slightly and was definitely well past lunchtime, so we hastened down through the royal palace to the picturesque Nyhavn canal, where we went totally touristy and ate smørrebrød under big umbrellas (you even get a blanket) while watching the world go by.
Finally in slightly heavier drizzle we came back along the "walking street", the top shopping area, and managed not to buy anything at all, perhaps because we were all a bit weary, although we did admire the Lego shop.
We got back to the boat to find that our green board had gone red. This means that the berth occupant is due back some time quite soon, but we had no indication of whether it would be tomorrow or later. Actually this is the first time this has happened to us. Possibly this marina is more efficient, or possibly it signifies the approaching end of the Danish (and north German) summer holidays. Anyway we walked about a bit and eventually found a suitable berth which says it's free until 14 August, and moved over. Interestingly Svanemølle charges and controls berths by width rather than length, and all the other free berths we saw were much too narrow for our 3.5 metre beam.
Distance today: about 200 metres.
As expected, the first few miles around the corner of Møn, straight into the wind, were slow and bumpy - although the pain was eased by a great view of Møn's cliffs in the morning light. Once we headed north, however, our speed increased to more than 6.5 knots. It became clear that we would reach Rødvig so early that if they were feeling mean they could charge us for an extra day for arriving before 12 noon.
Was it worth making the most of this excellent wind? Copenhagen was still 50 miles away but at these speeds we would get there before 5pm. Conditions were bumpy, but manageable. A quick re-plan was undertaken and we decided to go for it.
And what a passage it was. The sun shone, the sea was blue, another yacht was on the same course as us a mile ahead (it's always helpful to have an aiming point in bumpy conditions, it's so easy to get knocked off course). And for mile after mile we made better than 7 knots. From about the halfway point, with Sweden on our right, the sea even got a bit flatter.
We covered 56 miles in 8 hours and 45 minutes, an average of 6.4 knots - and that includes the first hour where we were lucky to make 4 knots into the wind, and the last hour where Camilla got nervous about sailing goose-winged (one sail on each side, with the wind dead aft) up a narrow channel to a place we didn't know, so we dropped the mainsail and used just the genoa. Normally we might have expected that distance to take around 11 hours.
We were hoping to go to Hellerup, which is a little harbour north of the city. But we came in late enough to be uncertain of getting a berth, and we couldn't reach them by phone. So instead we are in Svanemølle, about a mile south, which is apparently Denmark's biggest marina. It feels quite manageable though, and it's full of traditional wooden boats, and numerous dayboats and dinghies sailing into the marina - which would never be allowed in the UK. Apparently they had to rebuild the whole marina in 2007 after a chronic infestation of, would you believe it, woodworm.
We have until Monday to recover (a long bumpy passage leaves you feeling as though someone has been kicking you for a few hours) and explore Copenhagen. Currently the forecast is for strong winds on Tuesday and Wednesday, so if these appear, Sam and Camilla may spend even longer here.
Miles covered today: 56, with almost 50 miles under sail. Top speed on the GPS: 9.4 knots.
The other German legacy is dozens of Barhöft mosquito bites decorating Camilla's arms, legs and feet. The itchiness was bad enough to require taking a Piriton in the middle of last night. Most of them were probably acquired while waving the iPhone around to get a good enough signal to post the blog entry on Monday. See what we suffer on your behalf.
Klintholm is a remarkably international spot, considering that it's a little harbour on a small island loosely attached (by a bridge) to another island which is attached to a small country. Cars and camper vans seen here come from Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, Austria, Italy, Spain and Luxembourg, and boats from Denmark, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands. No other Brits though.
Today has been one of those annoying days when it sounds scarily windy but is actually only a force 4, occasionally gusting 5. The forecast is much the same tomorrow, although the sea may be a bit lumpier after a day of easterlies.
And our plans have changed, slightly. We realised that we were just killing time ahead of Ben's flight, and after he goes Sam and I would have to rush back through an attractive part of Denmark, the narrow channel north of Møn. So thanks to Mr easyJet we have moved Ben's flight four days earlier, which gives us a couple of days to get to Copenhagen, three days to explore it, and a bit more time to sail back to our winter base in Augustenborg. Mr easyJet was quite modest in his demands really, we pay the extra on the fare (£32) plus a £35 admin charge, and they don't charge us again for Ben's luggage or using a debit card - I'm sure Mr Ryanair would.
Tomorrow we head for Rødvig, which is a convenient staging post en route to Copenhagen but can get very full. Hopefully if we leave here pretty early the wind will be a bit more modest (especially for the first five miles around the corner of Møn, which will be into the wind), and we'll be able to find a berth in Rødvig.
Barhöft is a passage port, a convenient jumping-off point for yachts heading north and west from Rügen, and numerous people were already up and about and getting ready for sea. By the time we left at 7am we were in the middle of a flotilla of departing yachts, but the vast majority turned left out of the channel, heading westwards towards Warnemünde, Lübeck and the other ports we've just visited. Only one headed, like us, north towards Denmark.
It stayed warm and sunny, with very light easterlies, all day. We managed an hour's sailing while we had lunch, but otherwise it was all motoring. A north-going current gave us a bit of a lift, and we reached Klintholm on the island of Møn by 2.30pm and were able to go straight into a space in the little marina.
So, a new country, and although Sam once lived in Denmark for a year this is the first-ever visit for Ben and Camilla. For Camilla, it's the first country she has sailed to without ever having visited it beforehand by other means. It also means new currency - no Euros here, so we had to visit the bank to stock up on kronor. On the other hand, our pontoon here features a couple of Swedes, two or three Dutch boats, a dozen Germans and possibly one Dane, so the mix is pretty similar to Germany.
Klintholm is another passage port, but a pleasant location with a little fishing port, a nice beach, various holiday homes, a Spar supermarket, a delicatessen selling local delicacies and smoked fish, some cafes, and even a bank (only actually open on Tuesday and Friday mornings). What else could you need? For the first time on this trip we have managed to be in a place with a beach at the same time as experiencing beach weather - Ben and Camilla even went for a swim. So we have decided to stay here another night to help us acclimatise to Denmark.
We have a bit of a problem from here. We have to be in or near Copenhagen by the 12th for Ben's flight, and for a few days beforehand so we can explore the city. We don't have quite enough time to go the long way around Møn, and anyway Sam and I may go back that way. So we may explore a bit to the north of Copenhagen, or even cross to Sweden for a brief visit. We'll have to see what the weather does next.
Miles covered today: 39.
Nevertheless, heading out between the pierheads of Lauterbach at 7am was pretty scary. Within two or three minutes of departure we could see nothing except our own boat and one cormorant, and grey murk. I would guess at its worst visibility was less than 100 metres. In some ways it's no worse than night navigation, with the advantage that if anything went wrong all we had to do was turn left out of the channel, anchor, and wait for the fog to lift. But good god, it's hard work.
We hoped that things would clear by the time we reached the main Strelasund channel around 9am. Indeed, it was possible to see one or two buoys ahead, and eventually even see the land. But the fog has never really cleared all day.
The object of today's early departure was to get through the Stralsund bridge at 1220 and avoid the terrifying 1720 rush hour. We made it, in fact we were early and had to trickle along for the last three or four miles at a couple of knots. When we finally got through, along with about 35 other yachts (where did they all come from?) we all took an interesting shortcut out of Stralsund harbour and roared the next 9 miles up to Barhöft, where we found a berth with no problem despite the rush hour.
Some time in the next 12 hours the wind is due to go easterly for a couple of days. If this has happened by tomorrow morning, and it is possible to see across the channel outside the harbour, we might go to Denmark (40 miles to Klintholm). If the fog is still there - and it's now 8.15pm and visibility is closing down again - we will be here another day. We can cope (just) with a quiet inland sea in zero visibility, but not the open Baltic.
This is a lovely spot, but I think we are all getting quite keen to leave Germany.
Miles covered today: 32.
