Midsommar

Midsommar 2007

Midsummer is not the time to be in the city - unless of course you like being on your own. In cottages and villages around the country family and friends gather to celebrate the longest day, with dancing and feasting .. and having a good time.

And what you can do in a cottage in the woods, you can just as well do on an island out in the archipelago. Which is why on midsummer's eve Mata Hari pointed her bows south west and in company of Ander's Misil we set sail for the southern end of Ornö, for a party with some likeminded salseros.

It's a short and familiar trip - apart from the last part, gliding into Björkosund in the wind shadow from the island. We turned up just in time to be pipped for a place on the quay by Karim's Albin Express - so, most unusually for Sweden, we ended up rafted on the outside.

With a genial host, good company, an enormous barbecue, music, and a broad verandah for a dancing... well you can imagine how that is can't you?

Morning dawned bright and early (I must fix a curtain for the window in the washboard) and breakfast was followed by a morning stroll through the woods and along the shore. The forecast - 80% risk for winds over 10m/s (20knots)- was not inviting, and the winds over the bay were enough to hint at how it could be out in open water. Plenty of time for more herring (and just a little nubbe). But the winds are due to drop later...

Much later, around four o'clock, the wind seemed much the same, but it's time to be on our way. But, good fortune or good planning, by the time we were ready to leave the wind had shifted towards the south and dropped a point and in the lee of Ornö the homeward trip was easy sailing.

....................
22/23 June 2007
Karlslunds to Björkösund: 12,6nm round trip.
Paul, Karin
Winds:
Outbound E 4-7 m/s
Inbound SE 5-8 m/s

See it on the map...