When Runa, Mattis and I returned to Chip-Chip after visiting the Stralsund Aquarium, Esben was nowhere to be seen. He had stayed behind to change filters on our motor and to take a walk in the old city and do some grocery shopping. We began preparing the boat for leaving, and went up to get our deposit back for the shower card. Of course it turned out that the deposit was lost, as the harbor office only opened for one hour at lunch, and naturally there was no other way of returning the card. This is Germany after all. We wanted to cut up the card and leave it in their mail box with an angry note, but ended up giving it to our neighbors instead. Continue reading
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From Bornholm to Stralsund
As time passed on Bornholm, I became more and more aware of the departure date that was looming in the distance; we had planned our return date so I would be able to catch a plane from Hamburg to Tromsø, to join the Polarstern on a Fram Strait expedition. And the south-westerly winds, which had been such great help in getting us to Bornholm, were still there – and now they didn’t seem so appealing. Continue reading
Bornholm
We arrived in Hammerhavnen in the morning, and after getting some breakfast, we decided to take a walk in the area. Bornholm has many hiking paths, and one reason we had chosen to go to Hammerhavnen was its location right next to the nature reserve Hammeren. On this northern tip of Bornholm, granite makes up the ground, making it very different from the rest of Denmark. We filled our backpack with drinks and snacks in the hope of making Mattis want to walk the whole route with us, and started the route that took us up the coast. We soon came past goats and sheep living in the reserve, and met many other tourists taking in the beautiful nature. When we reached the ruins of a small chapel we consulted our guidebook and decided that the 7 km route was too long for us. Instead we started back and crossed over and up towards the light house located at the highest point of Hammeren. The road up there was steep, and Mattis didn’t find the hike that great anymore, but in the end we made it, and from the light house we could see all the way to Sweden. On the way back to the harbour, we made our way along the man made lakes in the area that originate from the granite quarries. Nowadays, they are impressive rocks which I guess most people visiting Bornholm go to see. Continue reading
Back to the Baltic
The kids had gone to Denmark to spend some time with my parents, so Esben and I could sail the first leg of our summer holidays alone. As it turned out, that was lucky – the weather was not cooperating, and I ended up motoring directly against wind and waves from Bremerhaven to the entrance of the Elbe, while Esben was dying from seasickness below. As we turned and sailed down the Elbe towards Cuxhaven, we finally had following winds and I could pull out the genua, turn off the motor and continue inwards by sail. And after a while Esben came up to join me for the last part of the day. After almost 12 hours of sailing, we tied up in the harbor in Cuxhaven where a seal greeted us at the pontoon. Continue reading
Restoring the teak seats
“STOP PULLING THE WOOD!!!!” Mattis jumped when I started screaming at him. It was summer and he had been playing in the cockpit, and was checking out how the seats were made of marine plywood with a teak coverage. Only problem was that the teak coverage was basically paper thin and peeling off. And while it’s not really a big issue, it’s not aesthetically pleasing, and if the teak is not fixed, the marine plywood below would slowly be damaged by the water creeping in. Continue reading
First sail in the North Sea
Chip-Chip had spent a week in Rendsburg, after Esben and I sailed there from Maasholm. The little harbour in Rendsburg was really well protected and the berths small enough to fit our boat. Also, it’s right next to the train station, so no more crazy maneuvers to get there like we had to to get to Maasholm. Continue reading
Starting the long trip home
Since we bought Chip-Chip we have been wondering if it would be better to leave her in Denmark, right by the great sailing grounds of the Baltic Sea, go whether we would prefer having our boat near our home in Bremerhaven by the North Sea. Several of my colleagues have argued that the North Sea isn’t great at all for sailing, but we weren’t convinced. Continue reading
The Kattegat
In the two first weeks of our summer trip had been south of Fyn and Sjælland, and we were now ready to continue northwards. The trip from Helsingborg in Sweden to the island Anholt in the Kattegat was about 60 nm, so we opted for a fairly early start – it did, however, become around 9 before all last minute preparations were over, the kids were dressed and we were out of the harbour. Continue reading
Sailing south of Fyn
Because of my broken arm we have not sailed as much as we would have liked in the spring, but luckily, my doctors allowed me to go on a sailing holiday in July – as long as I would make sure not to use the arm too much. So we were off, on a three week sailing holiday in Chip-Chip. Continue reading
