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.

Augustenborg to Assens - contrasts

What we didn't say about y'day is that we are in expensive Scandinavian territory now. That meal last night was in a simple restaurant by the marina, two main dishes which were fine but not exceptional, only water to drink, DKK420 which is £70. Ouch! On the plus side what we've seen of the country so far is very pretty and extremely tidy and well-ordered.

Today started with a 3 hour motor into the wind. We got the mainsail up as we left the marina - our policy with headwinds is to have it up anyway because it stabilises the boat and can assist the engine if the wind is slightly off the nose. This part was not too bad because the Baltic does not seem to throw up the short steep waves that you get in the North Sea and Channel, so progress was not so slow and wet as we are used to.

Then as we left the island of Als behind and shaped a course for Assens on the island of Fyn (or Funen in German) the wind was on the beam and sensible F4 - we had a cracking sail 3 hours. The sun even came out and it felt slightly like August. Sailing 2 days in a row - gosh. Pic is a 3-master beating us into Assens.

We passed a large number of yachts going the other way, heading south for a big regatta in Sonderborg. They are welcome. Perhaps because of that the marina on Assens has many available places which is a relief. It's still tricky to find one that is the right size with a green panel meaning it's available - you can't tell until you get close and of course we're not good at backing out of a wrong choice.

It was so hot when we arrived we were down to t-shirts. After a drink and nibble it was up to the Haven Kontrol to pay for the night and in our exploration we found an icecream shop so had to have one. As we ate it the temp dropped and the heavens opened ... back to October.

One final contrast - the boat sailed beautifully today, doing what she's designed to do. The shaft seal seemed to behave so we left it alone. Our water system is still overflowing into the bilge. The bow thruster is only operating at 50% which makes tight manoeuvring tricky. The depth meter is randomly not working - pic shows us apparently aground and doing 20kn, neither being true. One of the ties came away from the increasingly decrepit sail cover. But I did manage last night to fix our broken flag halliard so we can once again fly the Danish courtesy flag.

Y'day we thought the cruise might be over, due to the shaft seal (a catastrophic failure, which is extremely unlikely, would flood and sink the boat). Today we are determined to hold things together through our planned time until we haul out at Fehmarn on 7 Sep.

August in Augustenborg

First day sailing after a 5 week gap, and there were a few nerves. Luckily the rain stopped just before we left Flensburg heading for Dyvig in Denmark.

We had three hours of downwind sailing in force 5-6 with just the foresail out, before we reached Sonderborg (see pic) and its lifting bridge. 

As we headed into the big winds (we had dropped the jib by now) the speed dropped and we added a bit more power. There was a horrific squeal from the engine. Nic solved it temporarily by 'burping' the shaft seal but we changed course downwind for Augustenborg where there are more repair facilities than Dyvig.

Arriving at Augustenborg we were delighted to find a proper pontoon mooring - with a pontoon  on each side!  We can step off like humans, not climb awkwardly over the bow as usual with Scandinavian moorings.

The shaft seal is still a bit of a mystery. We got some advice on the phone from Andy who fitted the seal and decided that we should just carry on and keep an eye on it.

We have just had a pleasant meal at the local hotel and will resume the journey to Dyvig tomorrow. A bit shattered after our first day back! 

Sent from Samsung Mobile on O2

Floods continue, animals restive

Still in Flensburg due to appalling weather. Thunder & lightning and frequent torrential downpours. For two whole days. Yesterday we did venture out to the Schifffahrtsmuseum (Shipping Museum) which was very good with stories of the sugar and rum trading history of the town with honest admissions on their slave trading too. There's a working wooden dinghy building section with ancient machinery and one boat that's clearly beyond repair (pic).

Today was just little jobs around the boat and quite a bit more reading, some chart work for where we might go into next few days, and a lot of refreshing the weather forecast online in the hope of some improvement. 

Noah in Flensburg

Coming back to the boat after a time away always means a massive shop in a foreign supermarket trying to find rough approximations of the food you know and love. It can be tedious. Yesterday we shopped in Edeka, Lidl and a middle eastern supermarket here in Flensburg and eventually found almost everything we need. 

We called a cab as it was too heavy to carry the 15 min walk to the boat. You know the thing with minicabs...It was a long old wait. We were annoyed and hungry as it was way past lunchtime.

Later we noticed all the worrying stuff on the boat like the sea cocks which really need replacing and the persistent leak of water through our new cockpit lids and the broken line which should carry our German or Danish courtesy flag. It all made us rather grumpy, as we are now out of reach of Andy and Hugh, the stalwart guys who have repaired much of our vital equipment on board. 

Every so often (usually at the start of a trip) we feel a bit overwhelmed by the challenges of running a forty year old boat.

Then we realise that you just have to get on and do it. 

Except today, the day we are meant to get on and go to Denmark, we are weather bound by continous heavy rain, thunder, lightning and strong winds. We feel a bit like Noah floating in his beleagured Ark but the only livestock on board are a couple of mozzies and a lively Dutch cheese.

Time to get out the books and hunker down until the Flood has passed.

Back to boat

After the successful introduction of our first grandchild to the world - nothing to do with us, all credit to his parents - we have journeyed back to the boat in Flensburg. 

We left Greenwich at 0530 yesterday 16 Aug and drove 1,000Km via the DFDS Channel ferry to Fehmarn, the island on the German Baltic coast where we will leave the boat for the winter. After an expensive hotel night (peak hols) we signed the storage contract, parked the car in the shed where the boat will go, and got a taxi to the station. 4 trains later and ano taxi we are on the boat at 9pm. 

We spent a few hours in Lubeck on the way, visiting the 3 main historical buildings (pics) and relaxing in a couple of excellent off-the-beaten-track cafes. 

Amazingly all the logistics of the 2 days travelling worked perfectly.