Mastless in a warm shed

Two days ago Sirena IV finally had her mast taken off at the Weilandt yard in Burgstaaken in northern Germany, and she was lifted out of the water. 

The night before we had had a terrible evening - Nic managed to turn his foot black and blue slipping on wet wood and we were caught in vicious downpours as we tried without success to moor up close to the crane ready for next morning.  The harbour master harangued us in German saying it was forbidden so we were forced to raft up next to a friendly boat. It blew a hoolie that night. 

So we were on edge the next day and Nic was still sore in the foot when we got ready for the mast lifting. All the awful ends of wires at the bottom of the mast had been labelled (god knows how it will be when we have to reconnect them) and we had tidied all the ropes around the mast and tied them to it. 

Here starts the series of photos - from when Detlef and Alexander started to ease the mast upwards. (It was attached halfway up its length to the crane) Nic was in the cabin ready to stop things if the mast got stuck - Lesley was taking photos outside...and amazed to see how much mast kept appearing through the cabin roof. 

At last it was all out and our poor boat looked very odd without it. Then it was her turn to be lifted out- a much more familiar and easy process.

For much of Thursday and Friday she was out in the yard and in pouring rain as we had various craftsmen on board giving us estimates for work to be done, and as we put her to bed. 

Yesterday we followed as she was taken by a tractor into a 'warm shed' where the minimum temperature will be 5 degrees C through the cold snowy winter. It is very quiet and peaceful and calm in there with only the sound of the rain on the roof. She is inches from the boat behind her and soon will be hemmed in completely until May when we return.

It was with a pang we turned away and shut the shed door. But she is safe and in good hands. We totted up the statistics for this year's journey to the Baltic - 902 nautical miles....that's 1038 land miles.

Who knows how far we will sail next year?  Will it be Sweden, Norway or east to Poland and beyond? We hope you'll join us for next year's adventures in our blog.  

Mast madness

In two days Sirena IV will be lifted out of the water - nothing new there.  What is new for us is that her gold coloured, heavy, 45 feet high mast will be lifted out of her before she comes out of the water. 

Attached to the mast are all kinds of wires for all kinds of stuff, none of them labelled as we discovered today when we looked underneath for the first time.  See pic. Aargh.

We have labelled each of six main cables and their constituent wires and photographed and diagrammed them. 

We don't know which does what. 

It's a bit of a nightmare. Let's hope we can get it all back in place next May when we return and have the mast back up!

Excellent last sail

Up at 6am and away from Bagenkop, Denmark by 0715. This to maximise our sailing time on our last passage of the cruise. 

The forecast was a Force 4 from the NW and it did not disappoint - indeed it delivered at 7am and kept it up all day, with sunshine as well. Full sail up as soon as we cleared the small harbour entrance, a turn to south and off we went for 30 miles of running before the wind. For 4 hours we never dropped below 6kn, and touched 7.4kn surfing a particularly generous wave. Golden stuff. Germany rose up out of the horizon to meet us.

Due the wind direction, both boat and helmspersons were happier sailing slightly off the direct route which took us nearer the German mainland. A patrol boat approached us and addressed over his loud speaker, with us replying by mime; the gist was that we must change course away from that area because they are having firing practice. Humpf. 

On we roared into Fehmarnsund, the stretch of water between the mainland and Fehmarn island. With the wind dead behind we furled the genoa because it just flaps when shadowed by the main. It was too rolly for goose-winging without deploying the spinnaker pole as a whisker pole ... and too rolly to be on the foredeck wrestling with the spinnaker pole. Catch-22. With just the main we kept up 4-5kn,  under the Fehmarn bridge (pics: here it comes; is it high enough; phew we're through).

Then a last few miles tearing along with the wind on the beam before reluctantly hauling down the mainsail for the last time this year, and motoring into Burgstaaken marina where we are near one of the Weilandt sheds (pic) that will be Sirena IV's home until next May.

Tomorrow the prep starts for taking the mast off and lifting her out and deciding what goes into the car to go home. We have a surprisingly long list of tasks.

Painted ship upon a painted ocean

Another short hop today of just 19 miles from Aeroskobing to Bagenkop, a fishing port, in our odyssey through Danish islands.

It was yet another windless day of motoring although we did raise the main sail just in case. And later on Nic decided to try using our horribly heavy spinnaker pole which lives its life vertically attached to the mast. It was a tricky job to get it attached to the foresail (the idea is to stretch the foresail right out to get more wind in it) but he did it!  (See pic) 

However the sail still drooped forlornly, as there simply was no wind. The glassy Baltic was like a vision from the Rime of the Ancient Mariner. 

Earlier in the journey we spent a lot of time carefully negotiating narrow channels marked by buoys. What we had always assumed would be a straight line journey from A to B turned out to go over nasty shallows. We discovered that last night,  when passage planning,  and noted the narrow buoyed channels that took us safely where we needed to be. It meant we sailed into Marstal harbour (where we had gone by bus yesterday) and out again!  (See pic of Marstal with blue tanker on right) 

Bagenkop turned out to be a pleasant enough harbour though with a fishing section which smelled very ripe indeed. We climbed a small tower to take a picture of Sirena IV in her alongside berth. This is effectively the last day of the sailing holiday before we return to Germany and the complex bedding-down process, so we treated ourselves to ice cream to celebrate.

Lazy day on Aero

After a bit of a lie-in we hustled up with shower and breakfast to catch the free hourly island bus at 1030. We headed to Marstal, the largest of the three towns on Aero island. If you hadn't been to Aeroskobing you'd say Marstal was very pretty (pics). 

Whereas Aeroskobing felt like a town going to sleep for the winter, Marstal seems a bit run down with some empty shops. The ship repair docks were also slumbering and they look like the town's main industry, along with fishing, but in fairness it was a Sat. Soby where we were two days ago you would describe as already asleep except that they are building a new jetty for an electric ferry, and it's pile-driving time ... from 0830 to 1830.

The centre of Marstal was humming when we arrived - streets closed, a police car with blues on, what could it mean? A charity fun run by small children (very fast) and some mums (more dignified). The children's reward appeared to be the biggest inflatable bouncing thing ever seen (pic).

Again the Red Cross charity shop was as big as any and right into middle; if not so fussy you could furnish a house very cheaply here. It didn't take long to quarter the town. We purchased a tasty and surprisingly economical lunch from the bakery - two large filled rolls and an almond slice for a fiver - and scoffed it by the quayside waiting for the 1400 bus back. The bus is a pleasant 25 minutes through rolling bucolic countryside - although it's mostly crops here, there are the occasional small groups of cows.

After a refreshing cuppa on the boat we set forth again, this time on the 15 min walk to the beach where we could see some pretty beach huts (pics). This turned to be their equivalent of our beloved Studland beach though in miniature. We paddled, we considered a swim but on balance decided we have nothing to prove and both water and air were pretty cold despite the dunes being warm.

Walking back behind the huts along the grassy edge of a one track road, there was a crash and Lesley went from holding Nic's hand to being on her back on top of a bicycle on top of the cyclist. As we recovered from the shock and checked Lesley over for damage the group of middle-aged Danish cyclists were profusely apologetic. The perpetrator had apparently been blinded by the sun, but given we'd have been visible to them from 100 yards away that cut little ice. We expressed our anger in a very English way and they were very concerned in their polite Danish way. The perp's wife gave us address and phone in case of any follow-up. Lucky it seems Lesley got away with a scratch on her arm and no damage to clothes which is remarkable.

After that excitement it was back to the boat for another reviving cuppa then some planning for the next two days of sailing (probably motoring in no wind) towards our winter quarters.

Airy charm

Aeroskobing was a mere eight mile motor from last night's rather dull harbour at Soby. No wind, and thank heaven no rain,  just dark blue sea and bright blue sky with the usual cotton wool clouds. And when we arrived it was our good fortune to find yet another 'alongside' berth - no need to struggle getting into a box berth and climbing over the bow.

We set out to explore Aeroskobing - a place known for its historic beauty and simple Danish charm. It was a very pleasant and relaxing walk. The pictures show the town pumps, and various striking doors and windows of 17th century cottages in the winding cobbled streets. 

But it was much much quieter than we expected. Aeroskobing is a honeypot for tourists in high summer but this is very much out of season.  Look at the picture of Nic with his strange grey icecream - liquorice flavoured! The woman who served it told us the shop will close next week,  until Easter 2018.

The Danish mania for displaying the national flag continues. We spotted a lovely old dinghy (see pic) with an oar bearing the conspicuous red and white flag.  

We did a small top-up shop for food,  and we are now counting the days to the end of this cruise, so we had to avoid over buying. Tonight Nic is cooking turkey breasts - we don't often have fresh meat so it will be a treat.

Into the South Funen Archipelago

Late last night the little cafe on the quayside was busy because the sailing club was having an evening race (they finished with their nav lights on) and the veteran car club gathered including a Skoda Octavia, an American muscle car, a 2CV, and a gorgeous, open-top, flame-red Jaguar XK140 - Lesley's favourite car.

We woke to the same grey skies and patter of rain. Aargh. The little cafe (it's on the way to the toilets) was busy again with little old fishermen and their retiree mates on mobility scooters.

While Nic did some work on reviewing a document for the NOS, Lesley had another swing through the shops netting some books and ... a small table from a shop that appeared to be selling its fittings. The table cost £3 and is just what we need in our living room!

Around 11 the rain eased so we set off for one our shortest passages ever, a mere 10 miles to Soby at the northern end of the much-lauded island of Aero. We could have sailed slowly across after negotiating the narrow channel out of Faaborg and dodging the ferry ... but the rain came on again and it's cold so we opted for the quicker passage by engine. 2 hours later we were snuggled up alongside a pontoon on Soby harbour (pic). Suddenly the Harbours are all half empty, which suits us.

After lunch on board we walked around the tiny town with its two shops, a restaurant and a pizza house. Much more interesting were the numerous houses that appear to have permanent garage sales (pic) with honesty boxes or numbers for 'mobile pay' - all very cheap and we saw a few things that are quite collectable. We bought one thing, a blue glass vase. A couple of buns from the bakery and back to the boat for tea. Finally the sun is out so everything is hung around the cockpit to dry.

Torrents and currents to Faaborg

Yes another 'borg. Huge contrast to yesterday where in Svendborg the sun was burning hot - the pic shows a bit of the old harbour, looking down from the old town and you can just see SIRENA IV's bottom if you look v hard just to the left of the concrete silo that every port seems to have.

Today was rain, torrents of it. Still, we're not made of sugar, so on with the wet weather gear and off we go. No wind as per forecast so motored a relatively short passage of 16 miles westwards along the south coast of Fyn to a small town called Faaborg (in Danish that's one 'a' with a little circle over it). Pic does the weather justice if not the town - all is grey and wet today.

The current was with us as we left Svendborg and a good thing too. We swept under the high road bridge at almost 8kn ... coming the other way we'd have been down to 3kn and the rain for twice as long. 

A late lunch with a hot drink and some book reading in our cosy cabin was much anticipated, and very welcome when it came.

Finally the rain eased enough for a stroll round town - it's small and very pretty. You'll have to trust us on that because one didn't take their phone and the other had a flat battery. Tsk. Nic had a nice coffee & cookie while Lesley rootled around in the charity shops, though no bargains this time. 

There are lots of 100 year old wooden sailing boats here, as in Svendborg - 1, 2 and 3 masts and all lovingly maintained. It's a real thing around Denmark, and on the southern coast of Fyn especially. 

Boats and booty

Another day without sailing but this time on land. Svendborg gave us great charity shopping and a wealth of maritime history. 

In the afternoon we hit the ships museum where Lesley posed innocently for a photo with a great green buoy sticking out of her head. 

It was a  wonderful local museum chock full of classic wooden sailing boats from the 1930s to 70s. There were original 'Folk boats' and such humble vessels as a Wayfarer and even a tiny Mirror dinghy. 

Note the bag held in L's hands. Earlier we had been to an astounding antiques and collectables shop based in a half timbered old railway building  (see pic) with a huge array of lovely things to wear and decorate the home.  We bought quirky presents for family birthdays and a couple of fun things for ourselves. Prices were not astronomical!

Earlier still L had bought a jacket and jumper at the Red Cross shop - total £12.

When we returned to Sirena IV loaded with bags we tackled the question of where to go in the next three days and marked up charts for tomorrow. Then we made a ludicrously long list of what we'll have to do before and after the boat is lifted out in Germany next week. 

Lesley tweeted about her Radio 4 programme going out tonight, Nic did another food shop and we had tuna salad for supper. A long and productive day. 

Borg to Borg

From Nyborg to Svendborg on the island of Fyn, we motored south for 25 miles in glassy waters with not a breath of a breeze. 

It was the first day we had not been able to sail since we came back to the boat. It was sunny but boy, it was cold, motoring gently down endless wide fjords with green land at either side, fluffy white clouds above. 

We arrived at 'the Danish Riviera' as Svendborg is known. It is very pretty, but the long winding approach had something we hadn't quite expected which felt suspiciously like a tide in this tide-less Baltic.  It was a fierce current of 2 knots or more against us, dragging us toward buoys and cutting our speed from 5 knots to 3. The currents apparently result from water building up, pushed by strong winds. 

Once inside the inner commercial harbour we managed to go alongside a pontoon, (see pic) much easier than struggling with a bows-to space with the dratted poles at the stern.

Not only is the town more cosmopolitan than many of the ports we've visited, even the harbour is. 

Here we encountered the first British sailors in our Baltic trip, and a French boat too. Otherwise it is solidly German. Ninety per cent of the boats we've seen on the move in the last week have sported German flags. Germany's summer holiday season lasts longer than the Danish season. I suppose Danish marinas must be very grateful for the custom. 

We sauntered around Svendborg to see churches (see pic) have coffee and er..a Danish, and track down the two charity shops (one closed,  one open)

Tonight we dined on salmon on a bed of hoisin noodles and tomorrow we will stay here for more culture and fresh food shopping. 

Almost a bridge too low

Last night we pored over the charts and the weather forecasts to make a rough plan for the remaining 9 days before we are due at the boat's winter quarters. The policy now is to get south to within striking distance of Fehmarn in case of sustained foul weather. There are plenty of islands to visit south of Fyn.

There was fair weather today, NW F4-5, that's roughly behind us, therefore we have come south to Nyborg because it's a convenient stopover en route to Svendborg at the south end of Fyn. Nyborg does not feel as well to do as our previous ports, certainly in terms of the marina. It is one of the 'ferry towns' that wad blighted when they built the motorway bridges between the islands at the end of the 20th century. It has history though, being the ancient seat of the Danish parliament. 

The high point of today's 3 hour sail, or rather the low point was passing under one of these road & rail bridges. The top of our mast with aerials and wind vane is, according to Nic's calculations, 15 metres. The chart states the bridge has 18m at the centre of the arch, 16m by the pillars. The sea level can change by 1m depending on the weather and we were in 1m waves. So we head for the centre of the span, rolling along at 4kn with the wind behind us and the engine on in idle just in case. The pics don't do it justice of course and bridges always look close when you look up even if they are 40m ... but this must have been close, less than 10 feet to spare. Of course we could have taken a 7 mile detour to go under a different section thar has 65m clearance, but where's the fun in that? The sequence of pics could be entitled: thar she blows (with a coach for scale); oh ... really?!; AARGH; Nic smiles on the other side.

Danish Navy day

Everyone loves a military band and today we were lucky enough to see a band playing as a modest Danish Navy ship entered the small port of Kerteminde for a celebration of its 75 years as a naval Base.  A snide German sailor watching sniggered to us 'that's the whole Danish Navy!' Uncalled for, from an old enemy. 

There were ranks of old sailors with white beards, sporting blazers and medals, (see pics) and an official lunch later (we saw them tucking in through restaurant windows) The ship put out its flags (dressed overall) but there was a hitch in the proceedings when they couldn't make the gangplank work.  

The rest of our morning was spent at the museum and studio of local artist couple Johannes Larsen who was known for his delicate bird and nature paintings and Alhed Larsen who painted flowers. It is a delightful house and studio (see pics) with tantalising views of the dark blue sea, set in lush gardens full of geese, ducks and chickens. 

Back to the boat for our cheap in-house lunch (2 drinks and a small pastry at the museum had cost £12!) And then it was time to get out the charts and pilot books to decide the course of the rest of the journey before we take the boat to her winter home in Fehmarn. We mapped out a southerly route taking in the most interesting ports. All very soothing to have some idea where to go next.

Then it was time for jobs. Dull stuff today like washing clothes,  filling the water tank,  repairing a sail cover...you get the idea. Dinner was breaded fish bought at the supermarket which Nic put in the microwave. Alas the fish exploded and decorated the inside of the microwave in an artistic fashion.

We ate the fish anyway. Boat rules. Never waste food.

Phwoaargh worra sail

Please forgive the robust subject line - it was a v good sailing day. The Baltic delivers again. We are working our way around the island of Fyn and last night positioned ourselves for the expected wind and it worked. A steady F5 Westerly and we had 6 hours sailing with the wind on the quarter and then the beam to take us across the top of Fyn and down its east coast to Kerteminde. 

In the biggest gusts we saw 8.1knots SOG (speed over ground) on our GPS plotter. The maximum hull speed of our boat, even assuming the heeling over increases our waterline from 27' to 30', is 7.3kn so we must have had a 1kn current with us too. No tides in the Baltic but there are currents which flow roughly with the wind.

We threaded two narrow channels between Fyn and smaller islands, crossed a narrow shipping channel that leads via a canal to Odense (the main town/city on Fyn) without any ships in the way, saw a few yachts but not many. The open sea had decent waves by Baltic standards but nothing compared to the Channel in this wind. What a joy. No pics though cos it just doesn't transmit the joy. There is a random pic of people sailing at sundown from a couple of days ago.

We've had enough of canals and commercial ports which is why we skipped Odense. 

The last few miles across the bay to Kerteminde were dead upwind, and rather than beat ourselves to death tacking in we put the motor on and dropped the sails. Quit while we're ahead seemed a good plan. 

Now we are nursing our aching shoulders and arms (heavy weather helming syndrome) and cooking dinner in our berth in the large marina (pic - note the German flags which are very common). There seems to be some issue about this berth being for charter yachts, however it had a green available sign (rather than red reserved) which is the system in the Baltic ... so there.

Of Wind and Water-tanks

Today we ran short of wind. Started well,  with a sail in light breezes through narrow channels between scenic wooded shores. Nic even managed to 'goose wing' through the winding route (main sail out to the left and foresail out to the right,  wind behind us). A tricky manoeuvre. 

But the wind switched to dead ahead as we approached two giant bridges. We motored under one (33 metres high) and managed to sail under the other. It always looks like the mast will get stuck,  but in fact the bridge is twice as high as us. 

From there we had a long run in open water from the island of Fyn to the mainland of Denmark, Jutland. We were expecting a cracking sail but the wind dropped to nothing leaving only a northward current of about 2 knots to drive us.  Engine on, with much complaining. We come here to sail, not motor.

Dratted wind picked up as we were approaching Juelsminde - annoying if it's blowing a hoolie when you have to drop the main sail with one of us thrashing around at the mast piling the sail back into its cover.

Searching for a berth is not easy. We have to find one with poles that suit our length. Today we went in a very long berth which was a tough job in wind. We crushed our fender holder and two fenders popped out and fell in the water. One we recovered immediately but we had to go for a walk with a boat hook and a crawl over rocks to recover the other later!  The upshot is that Sirena IV is dwarfed by the two massive motor boats either side.  See if you can spot her small bottom in the picture. 

Walking to the office to pay, we passed many Danish flags. They are seen everywhere in Denmark as a symbol of national pride.( See pic)

Once in our long berth, attention moved on to the release valve on the hot water tank which has been playing up. It's meant a leak of fresh water into the bilges which sets off the automatic bilge pump. Nic decided to replace the valve. It took a couple of hours of hard work and much testing before he was reasonably confident it was working.

Now we are cooking dinner, a veg stir fry. The wind is in abeyance again. But we hope for a good westerly tomorrow to take us away from Jutland and right round the top of Fyn to a port on the island's eastern side.

As we write this at 1830 sitting in Middelfart Marina the yachts are pouring out, some of them sailing out from their pontoons, all with large crews of stocky men. We surmise it is a club race night. Sadly for them the wind is very light as it has been all day.

We've had a splendidly gentle afternoon, catching the bus into Middelfart, strolling around the town and quayside - an icecream here, a coffee there, a lovely church, a cemetery where individual plots were little gardens edged with yew hedges, a huge charity shop, some very old buildings. Pics galore. We did a food shop in the one supermarket and were 70% successful - some things you just can't find but gradually you substitute - at least we're in one country for 2 weeks now.

This morning from 9 til 12 we motored up from Assens in a flat calm and for 45 minutes we were in fog which we were not expecting. We blew our little horn every 2 mins as prescribed. Then a huge horn sounded behind us - it was a tanker overtaking us. Hmm that's the other rule ... get out of the shipping lane. There's very little commercial traffic about it seems, but there's always one in fog.

So there's our day in reverse. We're back in the cruising groove.