Long passage to Cherbourg
Strong southerlies is forecasted for next week so I wanted to make as much progress as possible before I get stuck somewhere. The 180 miles to Cherbourg looked possible without too much motorsailing. Except for some thunder and rain in the night it was a smooth ride - until I came close to Barfleur....
Obbola
My stay in Obbola became a bit longer than planned. After the first night at the buoy I moved into the little club marina. I was back and forth about where to go from here, but after talking with the the local sailors, I decided to skip going south on the Finnish side. The waters there are very shal...
Going north again
While waiting for the mechanic in Köpmanholmen I discovered that the charger didn't give any power to the start battery. The problem seemed to be a poorly insulated crimp joint on the cable. After I made a better joint, I tried to start the engine and now it worked without problem. Could the start b...
More start battery problem.
There is a major problem with the electric system. Less than two weeks ago I had to change the start battery - today it was dead again. This time completely dead, the volt meter showed zero. I planned to go in to Ulvöhamn, an old fishing village at noon today. Nothing happened when I turned the key,...
The High Coast
Today I reached the little city Härnösand, and the beginning of a famous stretch of the Swedish coast called the High Coast. The name comes from the the exceptionally high coast line, hundreds of meters in places, falling steep into the sea. It is also a World Heritage site due to it's natural beaut...
Lill-Lubban
There seems to be no end of the southerly winds. Strong winds from southwest was forecasted today, but not until early afternoon it got really strong, well over 20 knots. Atlantis was doing over eight knots, not just momentarily but for a bit longer periods also. I felt safer with first one reef in...
Start battery problem
It was nice sailing and nice weather up to Segelvik, but a bit slow and lazy on a southerly. Until I was almost there - when I tried to start the engine for taking down the sails, the battery was completely dead. I had about a mile to go with some narrow passages before the little harbour, and a ver...
Arholma
Very short trip today. I was aiming for Öregrund, 53 miles from Blidö, but just before I was coming out to the open sea the wind piped up. I checked for the latest forecast on met.no, and now it said winds up to 30 knots, right in the face. 25ish miles beating against that on the open sea is not my...
Ornö
I decided to go outside the archipelago today, too tricky navigation for going downwind singlehanded as I remember it from last year. At noon I passed Landsort lighthouse, which is the "official" landmark for the entrance to Stockholm's archipelago. From there I turned to port in among the islands a...
Oxelösund
Navionic's autorouting suggested another route the the "official" charted one. It looked actually better, more straight and coming out of the archipelagos a bit closer to Oxelösund than the other route. I decided to go for it, except for a modification in the beginning that looked a bit risky becaus...
Sailing inside the skerries
At six I took off from Kråkelund in very little wind, far from what was forecasted by the Windy models. When I checked Norwegian met.no they hade a more accurate view of the reality. For a change, yesterday they were as bad as the other. They promised more wind from ten and even more around eleven,...
Oskarshamn
I got much more wind than forecasted on my way to Oskarshamn. It started with almost nothing though, the first two hours I covered about five miles. At twelve I went down to make some food when i noticed the boat started to heel. A quick look outside told my the wind had turned almost 180 degrees an...
Kristianopel revisited
Strong winds from south and west forced me to stay five nights in Karlskrona. It was my first visit here, and I might return on my way back. The city (close to 70 000 citizens) is quite charming, built on several islands. It was founded as a naval base in the 17th century and is still the biggest in...
First becalmed, then in the fog
Four to six knots of wind was forecasted for Monday morning, enough to go for the gennaker it seemed. So that's what I prepared for Sunday evening. Before six a clock I hoisted both the gennaker and the main while still in the windless marina, and six sharp I was on my way. On a windless see as well...
Downwind problems to Bornholm
Fresh westerlies was forecasted on Friday, so the 65 miles to Bornholm shouldn't be a problem in one day. I took off at six in rather weak winds but soon it piped up. So did the waves, coming in an irregular pattern that made it difficult to go goose winged on a run. Also the wind changed direction,...
More great sailing with the gennaker
The 90 miles between Rödbyhavn and Falsterbo Kanal took me 18 hours and offered great sailing almost the whole distance. Only for an hour in the early evening I had to start the engine when the wind became to weak even for the gennaker. Which I had up for five hours in the afternoon. When condition...
Long trip to Helgoland
The 130 miles to Helgoland took me 27 hours and offered a lot of what you can experience at sea. No really serious conditions though but some adrenalin-filled sailing in the late night and morning. I left Vlieland one hour after high water a bit before 12, which is not ideal since I would start with...
Close encounter with the Dutch Coastguard
I started at nine from Den Helder which is not ideal for the current, but I wanted to take advantage of the northeasterly that would turn more from the north during the day. To begin with I could hold a course not too much diverging from the coast, but soon the wind backed and I had to start tacking...
Taking a break in Leiden
Yesterday and todays morning I was going through an gigantic industrial area. Not much else to see. In the afternoon the landscape became more rural with small towns and villages here and there. Many bridges to pass. Some important ones opens just a few times a day on fixed times, smaller bridges op...
In the canals again
It wasn't that much wind, and it came mostly from east, when I steered out of Blankenberge and for a while I was tempted to go for Scheveningen. But short after I passed Zeebrugge entrance it started to get stronger and after a check at the latest forecast update I changed my mind and took the neare...
Cherbourg-Boulogne
I had to stay five nights in Cherbourg, waiting for suitable winds. The first two nights I stayed at anchor outside the wall, then two nights in the marina. When the forecast showed good winds for Sunday and very good for Monday-Tuesday, I moved out to the anchorage again to make an early start to c...
New speed record for Atlantis
It was ice on the deck and extremely slippery when I woke up this morning in Treguier marina. But as soon the sun was up it disappeared and I could start moving around without having support for every step I took. All the forecast models promised a fresh southeasterly up to a bit over 20 knots and n...