Wednesday 14 August 2013

To Furusund

The next day we took our leave and sailed north up Blidösund.  The winds were light from th southeast but we made good speed to start with.  In the narrow sound though the wind proved elusive and we were ghosting along if not stopped for the best part of two hours.
Eventually we caught a breeze and had a gurgling reach out to the north end of Yxlan.  From there we close hauled into Furusund to approach the harbour with the same name. Sails down we motored in looking for where to anchor up to the guest jetties. Then we spotted a young man from the marina hailing us. "What`s your beam?" he asked... not something I've needed to know before. I stuck out my arms and guestimated...and obviously gave the right answer as we were pointed further in to the harbour to nose into a Y-boom space. Luxury.. and no messing around with the anchor in a confined space.
More luxury was dinner where we traded the grill for the värdshus... a proper posh dinner with great views of the passing ferries on their way to Åland.  Surprisingly, given how close they pass, there was very little swell...

Tuesday 13 August 2013

Själbottna

Holiday moved northward... making good progress looking for a good spot that would take three boats with lee from the fresh south westerlies. Eventually after trying a couple of nearby spots we settled on Själbottna.  And as is often the the case our quiet spot soon filled up.  It was our last night in company as we planned to head on northwards and our companions were only out for the long weekend.  Still its nice to have company when the chance comes.

Monday 12 August 2013

Off on our holidays

The long awaited day arrives...   this years sailing holiday begins, and we are heading north again, aiming for Grisslehamn a little north of Stockholms archipelago.
To get us off to a good start the first leg is a brisk 30nm witha good wind from the south carrying us on at good speed.  We plan to meet up with friends for the evening so the final destination is a bit up to how far we come - and where they've got to.  This slightly flexible equation resolves itself as wecome past Stavsnäs thanks to the miracle that is the mobile phone and we settle on a sheltered are in the midst of Möja skärgård..  picked from THE book to have reasonable all round shelter, and good prospects of space for three boats together.
Both of these prove to be true.  The last mile or so south down a narrow sound we take by motor and tie up towards the outer end of a promontory in what is a fairly busy spot.  About an hour later company arrives and we are soon three boats tie up to shore with the crews assembled on shore swapping stories and enjoying a beautiful sunset... 
Midsummer is well past and the skies are get darker.. starlight is also back on the agenda and from our rock we look right out at Polaris and the Great Bear
August 5th 2013
Winds - S-SW 7 to 8 m/s
Distance 29,5nm

Sunday 11 August 2013

Kymmendö

We set out for Mikkelsland,in the islands south of Dalarö, but when we arrived at what looked like a good spot on the chart the shelter int he prevailing wind wasn't really up to scratch - so we changed plan and sailed on to Kymmendö - just a little further round off the end of Ornö, by Jungfrufjärden.  We anchored in to an open bay just inside the cove - which by co-incidence was about where we anchored on our first and only other visit here.  It wasn't long before were joined by a string of other boats.
After a spot of lunch we took up miniHari and took a test run on the oars up and down the bay.  Not bad was the verdict..  very light to turn, but still not too bad for course stability.  And of course we ended the day with the grill out - crossing the headland for a fine sunset....