A Pin Tale

We are working our way round the coastline of Sweden, heading generally towards Denmark. From Kalmar, going south, the wind was a southerly. When we turned West, the wind was a westerly, and then we turned southwesterly – you don’t need me to tell you!

Generally the wind has been 15-25 knots, occasionally gusting over 30, so we’ve been well-reefed, and the short chop in the Hanobukten, known as ‘Little Biscay’, has made for some tiring days.

There is a general migration now, of boats heading home for the winter, so it’s nice to meet friendly fellow sailors again, mainly German, in various harbours.

So it was that on a splashy day, we put into Hanö, a lovely island to visit, with a very safe but often overcrowded harbour, where we knew from previous visits that the tradition is to raft up, with up to 3 boats side by side along the quay.

When we arrived, all the space was occupied, and all boats were two abreast, except for one 36′ Comfortina, Pintail, which was the obvious boat for us to go alongside.

‘Ahoy Pintail’ we called, and the skipper appeared, we assumed to take our lines, which to be fair, he did.

But then began a diatribe of complaint.

‘There are better places over there’ he said pointing at some small motor boats. ‘It’s too shallow for us’ we replied. ‘How do you know this?’ He said. ‘We’ve been here before’ we replied.

‘A bigger boat then you has just left’ . But how could he know its draft or ours? Bigger does not mean deeper.

‘Drop your anchor and motor in’. ‘We have no stern anchor’. ‘Move your bow anchor to the stern’. Really??

At this point he appeared to settle down, and we finished tying up alongside him, taking long lines to the shore so that we would not cause his boat to pull against ours.

An hour later, as we asked if we could walk across his boat to go ashore, he said grumpily, do not cross our bow, go round the stern. Later, he asked why were we crossing his stern and to please go round the bow when they were not sleeping. Sigh.

Then his wife told us he was not feeling well. But we think this was lost in translation, and perhaps we were the reason for his illness, because when William spoke to him later to say he was sorry he was unwell, he just grumped again.

‘You are a bigger boat than us, you should not be alongside us ‘. We are approximately the same size, maybe 2’ longer and he is definitely heavier.

And finally, in desperation. ‘Why did you come along alongside us?’

To which William just smiled and replied ‘Yes, it’s all very difficult in a busy harbour isn’t it’. Our neighbour grumped again and headed below.

I’m sure that we caused him no discomfort, and almost no inconvenience, apart from crossing his boat perhaps twice. Generally, boats accept that from time to time, they must share the space with others. Some even welcome a chat!

But we definitely spoiled his day, and he left us totally bemused. Thankfully, he is only the second sailor we have met that has been anything other than friendly and helpful, and my guess is that we are not the first boat to annoy him.