Lasse and Birthe Ebrup from Nibe, Denmark joined the crew
Heading south from Oxelosund, 13 May
Ar Risö
Sunday 13 May 2018
Ar Risö, in the 6m pool behind Högholmen, at N58deg24min and E16deg 54min
After a wonderful night in that lovely anchorage in Hummelviks, Ringson, we set off at 0830 to get to the town of Oxelösund, near to Nordköping before midday. Lasse and Birthe Ebdrup from Nibe in Jutland, Denmark, were joining the crew for the sail to Denmark, and Karen, who had to leave to go to the Nordic Ruralities Conference in Jutland starting tomorrow, was driving their car back – a very convenient arrangement for all. Alas, it also meant that I lost Karen as crew.
We did arrive in Ozleösubd on time, and Lasse and Birthe duly arrived a few minutes later, having followed our progress on marinetraffic.com
As usual, B & L brought tons of food and wine with them to sustain us during the voyage. Including cakes from the christening of their latest grandchild (in Frederikstad, Jutland), a lasagne, salads, meat, rye bread, and so on.
The sun was up all day, with blue skies again. We are getting spoilt with this good weather.
Tonight at anchor in another lovely anchoring spot, but further south, we were again listening to a whole range of birds, including the cuckoo and woodpecker. An added sound was the mooing of cows grazing ion the forest. There was one more sailing boat moored in the bay – a Swede, moored to belay pin hammered into the rock ashore, the Swedish way. Here we enjoyed yet another dinner al fresco on the deck – the lasagne with salads and red wine. We were all very hungry, for some reason!
Beyond Stockholm archipelago
Blog Day 3 Beyond Stockholm archipelago
We left the wonderful anchorage, at Rano, after a great evening with Patience, hearing funny stories from her, her mother’s and grand parents upbringing in Zambia – strong men, feminist women, crocodiles, hippos and why the Pan-African flag is black, red and green ( It symbolizes bloody revolution, the courageous African people and the green fertile land.)
Went to Nynäshamn with Patience and bought smoked herring for lunch with ryebread and trout for dinner with coriander, lemon and potatoes.
We got some sun during the day, had up the staysail – we are having a few technical hitches with the other sails.. Lasse’s skills are needed!
We ended the day at Hummelvik on Ringsön island. A hummer is a lobster! Today we saw fewer people and boats- and having rescued an international folkboat with a family with 3 kids lacking petrol enroute! The gas stations are not yet open.. Had a wonderful trout dinner in a peaceful spot with cuckoos, wood peckers and ducks of all sorts. … what an adventure.
We head tomorrow to Oxelosund, where Karen leaves us and we welcome Birthe and Lasse.
On to Rånö
Day 2! We got the stay sail up for a bit of a sail today. Karen worked on the pumps and drains – modern sailing boats are full of pumps and pipes, that have to managed.. The hosing down of the anchor as it gets pulled up is a nice piece of kit that this HR has!
Patience has learned to steer and tie a bowline, and loves to tidy up the ropes, very appreciated by the Skipper. Several boats surrounded us from small sailing boats, to large old clunky wooden ‘pirate’ boats. We ended the day with mint tea and chocolate!
The anchorage , Rånö, is as beautiful as last night, with lots of birds enjoying it with us.
At anchor, North Harbour, Härsö
It is a fantastic eve at Härsö in the Southern Stockholm archipelago. Spring time with birds singing and peacefull and calm! Of course the departure got delayed due to a non-working bilge pump, but thanks to Jan’s skills and creativity it all got solved. Meanwhile friends came around to say farewell, with Russian, Finnish, Swedish, Thai, Zambian etc origin! Leif blew the horn and we – Patience, John and Karen – finally departed! Shetland, Skive, Lisboa, Brazil here we come! Day ended with Danish hakkebøf and Patience’s wine and peccorino cheese!
New helmswoman Patience, and skipper John
Farewells from Jan, Peter, Art, Tania, Tanja, and Tobbe.
Here we go..
We are setting off tomorrow , destination Oxelõsund or nearby, aiming to arive by morning of 13 May where we will be joined by crew members Lasse and Birthe.
Follow us
Dear Follower,
When we are on the move again (May 2018) you can follow us on http://www.marine traffic.com
First blog post
Last year, we acquired Svalen, then called Annamaria and registered in Keil, Germany. Now, she has been re-named and registered in Inverness, Scotland. We did it because of Karen’s new job in Sweden and my forthcoming retirement. We needed somewhere to live in Sweden, and the new boat had to be well insulated and heated for the Swedish winters. After a long search, and quite unexpectedly, we decided on this beautiful Haalberg-Rassy 49, built in their boatyard near Goteborg in Western Sweden in 1992.
We sailed Svalen from Amsterdam to Stockholm via the Keil canal and the Limfjord (and many other places en route including beautiful Gotland in the Baltic sea), with the help of friends and family. This allowed us to get to know the boat, and discover any problems, most now happily resolved.
In 2017 we mainly pottered about in the Stockholm archepelago, getting to know our local surroundings.
In 2018, we plan to sail to Denmark, Norway and Shetland before having a tour around Scotland, again all with family and friends. We plan to leave Stockholm towards the end of May. We will return to Stockholm in September.
This blog follows on from our previous one at aldarionrundtrussia2104.com which was about our adventures with the staysail schooner Aldarion, including the sail around western Russia and Scandinavia using the Russian inland waterways, lakes and rivers, the White Sea, the Barents Sea and North Cape, completed in 2014. It is simply a space for friends to follow us on new sailing adventures.
Svalen can also be followed in real time while sailing on the marinetraffic.com website, her callsign being MBLN 3, and her MMSI being 232009732.
Sailing with Svalen 