Deja vu

It's that time of year again. The sun is up bright and early and fresh breezes entice the sailor down to the sea.  Somewhere a year has gone.. or more... without me capturing it here on blog.
It was a quiet year for sailing it has to be said, but when I find the time I will backtrack and fill in some of the missing detail. On the boat I finally got round to the fridge project- upgrading the battery, adding a solar panel, and wiring in for a small Weico electric coolbox. Time on the water on the other hand was limited. We sailed away at midsummer and took a few days down around Landsort, and later in the season a few overnight stops. And that was it. Life had other plans.

So now it's May and Mata Hari is back in her berth with the mast up and, almost, ready to sail. Life had other plans this summer to... But we will see whether wanderlust gets us out on the water more in any case.

I have in fact been thinking about moving up to something bigger- mostly because I saw a boat I liked at a good price. But a bigger boat is more work and more expense at at time when time on the water is at an ebb. So instead, there's a new plan. ..a plan to catch up with some of those things on Mata Hari that after 15 years are due some attention. And a new project on the horizon. Time for an auto-pilot? If nothing else I will get more time for blogging.....

Homeward bound

We arrived at Nämdö from Vindalsö as the sun set after four hours beating in 20 knot winds... Hard work after a week on the beach.
Nothing wrong then with a lazy breakfast in the sunshine 😊

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Vindalsö

After a beautiful, hot and sunny day on the water, broad reaching in 6 knots of wind, we have arrived at Vindalsö. We're joined by three other boatloads of happy dancers... With more arriving tomorrow.
The forecast is for magic sunsets and good company ahead..

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Kalvholmarna

Holiday time..and a chance to get out and enjoy the fantastic weather.
A somewhat roundabout sail past Dalarö to a busy but quiet bay on Kalvholmarna. Light light winds.. And all is still.....

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The shape of things to come...

A fine sunny day in March. Time to take down the covers and start thinking about getting the boat ready for the season. I did say thinking about...it doesn't do to rush these things.

Coffee in the sunshine, check the berth, find where in the mast rack we left the mast... um and ah a little bit on how much anti-fouling it needs this year. That must be enough for one day.

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...