A final season in the Baltic
Then it was Monday. Melodrama was lifted out of the water, and Mads and Rikke Christiansen arrived from Holbæk to inspect the hull and keel. After a few questions, and a good look at the keel bolts and the sails, we shook hands on the deal, the funds were transferred, insurance sorted and the new […]
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And suddenly, we were back in Augustenborg, to begin the hard work of returning Melodrama to peak condition. After a long day removing most of our possessions from the boat, it seemed to sit higher in the water! The following day, the hard work of cleaning the hull and deck began…. … while the reassembly […]
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Without our genoa it was time to break out the ´emergency’ storm sail. It’s a cool device, a tiny red sail that lives in a yellow bag and wraps round the forestay We had a lot of questions on the pontoons about why we had it rigged – did we know something about the weather […]
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My love of liquorice ice cream is well known and every harbour is an opportunity to seek out the local purveyors. But here in Rudkøbing was an additional treat – the ice cream waffle maker demonstrating his art. The waffle mix is poured onto one of six grills which then sets off in a circuit […]
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Day 1 The windy conditions from the ‘wrong’ direction sent us to the island of Agersø instead of our plan to revisit the Dodekalitten, twelve wind-singing statues in Kreganæs. But there were other delights there, including a great fish and chips shop, excellent ice cream (of course!) and a barrel sauna with a picture window, […]
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It’s Sunday morning, and here we are on board, with a day of rain ahead. The ‘sitooterie’ * has been put up in the cockpit to keep the rain off, there is electronics oddness for Skipper to investigate, and you might spy Danish pastries waiting for Elevenses. On which note, I’m off to boil the […]
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We love Faaborg. We had another fantastic day, with a sail to windward in warm sunshine, followed by a long reach at speed towards Faaborg harbour bay. It’s a pretty town, with three significant attractions – an ice cream shop, a huge chandlery (which takes exactly the same time to walk to as it does […]
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Wednesday was a super day, with a pleasant breeze and sunshine for sailing. We planned to go through the Sonderborg bridge when it opened at 38 minutes past each hour (yes, it’s that precise) Then we had a lovely beat to windward into a very sheltered anchorage, where we took stock of what little jobs […]
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Next task was to rig the sails. Despite keeping copious notes, we seem to have to rediscover the process every year. And it takes a full day of labour. One tricky moment is when ten long but thin lines have to be attached individually to ten points along the boom cover. “Whatever you do, don’t […]
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Tuesday morning, and Anders is back from Japan. He had a look at the mast crane and said they would have another go at 1pm. So we settled down to a leisurely breakfast, and had reached the toast and marmalade course, when a mast was spied dangling over the hole in the cabin top. Anders […]
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We have just accepted a very good offer on Melodrama from a really delightful young Danish couple who came to look at the boat yesterday. They seemed to love the boat and it was a good fit for what they were looking for. Unbelievably, they contacted us through the Dehler Owners group on FaceBook! We […]
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Our loyal followers will know that this is a time of great change in our lives. And we have taken the very sad decision to sell our beloved Melodrama. There has been some interest, but yesterday a sailor we had been corresponding with withdrew his interest because he said he’d seen our blog and he’d […]
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