Last weekend, we decided to sail to the pretty German city of Flensburg. We’d been chatting to German sailors who assured us there would be no Covid travel issues. And in fact all that we encountered was the harbour master there asking where we had sailed from, and when we said Denmark, he was happy. No paperwork to show, all good.
What a super place. It is at the innermost end of a long wide fjord and is a real sailing mecca, with harbours and marinas on both sides. When we were sailing towards the town, we were met by upwards of 200-300 boats sailing out. I was convinced it must be their annual regatta weekend, but it was just a normal Sunday.
On arrival, we found a dedicated visitors pontoon, with waterfront bars and restaurants, and people just boat-watching. The plan had been to visit one of the museums there on Monday, but disappointingly, Monday was closing day for all of them. Still, it is such a great place, that we enjoyed just poking around the town, having a beer in the bar shack, and we will be back!
One thing we really noticed was the number of Covid test centres with queues of mostly young people waiting for tests. It was a bit worrying, until we realised that they all needed a test result before going to a bar or café, so this was the norm. (I notice that Germany is changing this shortly to encourage uptake of vaccines among the young)
We had a cracking sail back to Denmark, side by side with another Dehler 38, brand new, and both of us with different sails up, trying to out-perform the other. We had Code 0 then spinnaker, they had a larger Genoa than ours, then an asymmetric. In the end, we just about level paced each other, though excitingly, sometimes we were ahead and sometimes we weren’t. It was great fun, and the nearest thing to the ‘Lough Swilly Worlds’ regatta weekend for Melodrama this year.
What a great place to sail out of
Weather typical august here, glad to see you getting good weather
Plenty of rain here too, but in-between it’s summer! Yesterday we started in shorts, came into harbour in full foulies and goretex boots and ended the day back in shorts
And here in Kent the last month of torrential downpours with thunderstorms and funnel
clouds has given way to a mini heatwave, temps around 25deg C. But the tomato crop is diminished as ‘early blight’ from all the humidity has taken its toll. No matter, still have 30 plants!!
…. And here in Portland, OR, there is a heat advisory for the next few days, with today’s high around 39C!
So enjoying your posts. Louise showed 30 visitors around kilmacrew garden on saturday and we had great weather. Another fun thing we did in Denmark was bridge walking.
We saw the scary bridge !