Sunday 31 July 2011

Playing tag



From Björkskär we head off in company in fresh northerlies beating towards Stora Nassa. Sunny and blowy... that's what we like.

We have a bit of trouble with the halyard when we hoisted sail so we end up playing catch up, but they have a quicker boat so we are forcrd to work on our pointing to keep up.

When we get there there are boats all over and we motor round... checking out a sheltered lagoon we'd picked out on the chart. Taken.

So finally we settle on nice sheltered cobb just west of the main sound. High cliffs and deep close in.

It proved not to be quite as good as we had hoped. As the wind got up it came round the bluff not giving as much lee as it promised. But enough at least.

The following day is still blowy and we set springs to offload the mooring lines. A quiet day with a book before a quiet night in in good company.

High cliff

Breakfast and away for a short reach over open water heading for Björkskär. The forecast is strong northerlies and we want a place with good shelter.
We arrive in good time and pick a spot in Hemsundet, close under a high cliff in time for a late lunch and a swim as we while away a sunny afternoon waiting for friends to join us... Explaining to the stream of boats coming in that that space is taken....
Still. All's well that ends well and it's not too long before we are sharing sundowners with the neighbours

Stocking up

Our first stop for the day is Möja Långvik, to stock up the larder. But first we have some light wind sailing to do... close haulee and beating into light easterlies.
Långvik i small, but has all the necessities. Just make sure you are out the way when the Cinderella boats come in.

From there we set off for the outer islands but it was soon apparent that the wind had gone.... So we motored instead to Tistonskär. After some chugging around we settled on a small skär.. Our own island :-) Just us and the mosquitos! Great views and a lovely sunset.

Vivo


We sailed on to Träsköstorön on a fine sunny morning. Not a long trip and not hard one either. We anchored to a small headland, alongside another IF... a yellow boat called Vivo. We had just time to exchange pleasantries though before they were on teir way
It was anyway a pleasant spot and it wasn't long before we had new neighbours, including three Italians on holiday in a hire boat still learning how coming ashore works in Sweden...

Monday 25 July 2011

In the Säck

From Stavsnäs we went in search of an anchorage... reaching over Kanholmsfjärden and turning in to weave among the islands... One by one we passed and crossed spots off the list. Too near to buildings. Too shallow, already taken....
In the end we settled.on a safe bet and motored in to Säck.. It was past seven already and well settled so we ended up squeezed in in the shallows. Still it was a safe spot on a blowy night..
We stayed on another night too as it continued to blow, rewarded by a fine sunny evening... perfect for the grill

Sunday 24 July 2011

Just passing through

After a pleasant run from.Vindalsö we stopped in Stavsnäs to restock the larder. It seemed like rush hour when we got there with boats coming and going from the jetty and the fuel station.
Once we did get alongside it was out with the rubbish and off to the shops... And then lunch from the grill.. Tasty if not so nutritious... ;-)

Head winds

Our next stop is Vindalsö, to dine and dance with friends.
Discrrtion is the better part of valour, so with strong headwinds we chose the simpler route up Nämdöfjärden rather than pick our pay through the isles to get there. Even so we had three and a half hours with 16knot winds on the nose. On on the last hour did beats turn to reaches..
A really tiring leg.. but not so tiring that we weren't still dancing at 2 and relaxing in the sauna at first light...

Wednesday 20 July 2011

Lazy days

We set off after a lazy breakfast on an easy reach in bright sunshine. This time we really do expect strong winds in the night so when we passed a sheltered bay on Böteskobb it was too good to miss. Lunch, a swim, blög a little, and put the meat in to marinade.....

First night out

After a lazy lunch at the marina we set out late in the afternoon for a couple of hours aiming for Mortö Bunsön... But as we got near I checked the forecast on the mobile. Two completely different stories from two differebt sites. So we sailed on to Grönskär to find a spot that covered all eventualities. A good fast sail averaging over 5knots
And then we rounded off the evening with a grill and a sunset. What else?


Picture to follow...

Thursday 14 July 2011

A step forward


One of the winter jobs was fitting a removable step on the bow.  Coming ashore is normally OK-but once in a while it's tricky for the crew to come ashore without a great leap of faith. 

The IF-båt is not that well suited for a step though - the bow is quite swept under which means that the strut from the step doesn't transfer all that much of the load to the hull... Most of the weight seems to be on the deck fittings.  The strut length makes a difference and the strut is adjustable - but not to any degree of finesse.  I tried drilling it but cutting a large hole in a curved tube without a pillar drill didn't really work.  So as a last resort I've added packing to the end, both to protect the hull and to lengthen it just a little.

Back on the boat it all seems to work in the marina - although the packing tends to move a bit under load so it is only partly doing it's job.  We''ll see how it goes when we get out to sea.....

Under a cloud

The homeward trip had the luxury of  a following wind - at least to start with and we made reasonable pace in modest winds under blue skies.

Too good to last you might think - and it was.  By half way home the weather over the land was threatening with trains of dark clouds skirting along just inshore of us.. getting closer and closer as rumbles of thunder echoed over the water.  We'd edge away towards the sunshine, only to lose the wind and fall back into the shadow.

After an hour of playing tag the clouds rolled overhead and the rain started...

...but by then the thunder had moved on and we just got a shower for ten minutes or so.  More annoying was that the wind died and to get us home we had to fire up the outboard. 

I've not been chased by a cloud before.....

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25 June 2011
Sittuviken - Kalrslunds
Paul, Kia

Midsommar by sea

This year midsummer saw what's getting to be our traditional trip south to celebrate with friends out in the country.
The weather for the trip down was good - breezy, and maybe a bit too much on the nose for a quick sail but we set off with full sail and were soon close hauled and well heeled over on the leg out from Karlslunds. To keep us pointing we took the winch to the jibsheet to tighten it in - which proved not to be the best of plans. Not long after I noticed the leech was fluttering a lot - and a look behind the mainsail showed the genoa had split a seam. So down it came and the rest of the trip was beating with just the main...

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24 June 2011
Karlslunds - Sittuviken
Paul, Kia