Germany to Sweden

Saturday evening, 21st April 2018, and we were packed up, trailer loaded, and off to catch the overnight ferry to Liverpool. It was a beautiful evening in Fahan, and we felt a little strange to be leaving Donegal for the entire summer. The trailer and car were so stuffed, it was almost impossible to squeeze inside.  This had been our ...

Our plan was to arrive at the factory in Greifswald a few days before handover, to be on hand to answer any queries, and check that everything was as expected.  This turned out to be a VERY good plan indeed. We arrived late on Monday evening and set off to find our boat on Tuesday morning. Three hours later, with ...

And here at last is our lovely boat! Ready to sail, with two wheels, and we are just waiting for the wooden bridge down river to open at 13:00. Richie, our commissioning engineer from Inspiration Marine, had flown out for four days to ensure everything went smoothly, and that (most) things got finished, and he kept us right as we ...

After our handover sail, we began a week of filling up the boat with our gear, and fitting all the little bits and pieces that make everything run smoothly, and all the little bits of necessities that we had forgotten. And completing the small list of snag items and missing bits.  Among the snag items to be resolved this week ...

Saturday morning and we are filling up with water, plotting our route and making ready to leave Greifswald. All the work was completed yesterday, pretty much on our schedule, amazingly, and thanks to the huge efforts by everyone from the yard, rigger, sailmaker, chandlery - Ollie, Ollie, Paul, Stefan and Sebastian and our agents at Inspiration Marine, Miles Andrew and ...

Our first stop was a totally charming little wharf at Seedorf in among the reeds, and our first experience of the dreaded box berth.  This consists only of thick wooden, metal or plastic posts stuck into the water, a few metres away from the shore.  First we have to pick two posts which are wide enough apart to squeeze through, ...

On Steffan's recommendation, we skipped the ferry port of Sassnitz, and sailed round the coast to the small harbour of Lohme.  On the way, we tried out the Code 0 sail, and were delighted to find that on the beam, in a light 5 knot breeze, we were sailing as fast as the wind. On arrival, we walked uphill to ...

We set off in flat calm on Monday to cross to Bornholm Island, and made Norrekas Marina in Ronne our port of call. On the way, we left Germany and entered Denmark, so we changed our courtesy flag. In the middle of the sea is Wikinder Windfarm, still under construction.  We counted 70 windmills, and about 70 more being built.  ...

We had a great sail up to Allinge on the NE Coast of Bornholm, having altered course (again!) at the request of NATO Warship A090 exercising in the area. We could not see what they were doing, but we think it involved a man fishing from a dinghy. Meet the harbour master: Fill in the form, pay and a ticket ...

Everyone we have met has said we must not miss Christianso Island, so we left Allinge with a good breeze to windward, probably half an hour behind our 9 Polish neighbours in their chartered 50 foot Bavaria. We were determined to get there ahead of them 🙂 Despite their extra size, we did have the advantage of new sails, a ...