Part 3
SPINDRIFT GOES OFFSHORE
No sooner had John and Brian left in their taxi for what turned out to be a very exciting ride than Alan called from the quayside. His wife was at university with my sister and her husband, Mike and for 20 years has been crewing on a racing Contessa 32 on the Solent. I wanted to show him this city so we spent the rest of the day sightseeing. What he really wanted to do was to widen his experience by sailing offshore and internationally rather than follow a heritage trail along the coast. Although we had to meet up with Mike in Szczecin he hoped we could sail across the Baltic to Sweden en route. It was Sunday morning so the chandlers was closed and we couldn’t get detailed charts. The one Swedish port with a reasonably detailed plan in the pilot was Karlskroner. It was just the job as it was due north of Swinoujscie which is at the mouth of the river leading to Szczecin where we were to meet Mike.
I began to doubt the wisdom of leaving Gdansk that Sunday afternoon as we had very variable winds, thunder and prohibited zones guarded by a gunship. As we clawed our way from the land in the late evening the wind settled to the south-west and the heavy cloud started to break up. We settled comfortably into a night routine. Daylight came early and at 0430 we had a magnificent sunrise. We had a lumpy sea with little wind which made it very uncomfortable but as the day wore on the wind increased: we were sailing in bright sunshine with a deep blue sea all to ourselves.
On Monday 16th June at 0055 EST the anchor went down in 3 metres of water. We were in a creek outside the main channel. It was quiet. The route into Karlskroner had been well marked by sectored lights and leading lights, with an occasional lit buoy. When we found ourselves passing unlit posts I thought it was time to stop as finding the unlit marina channel was most unlikely.
Next morning we motored into the marina. The Harbourmaster was most helpful and there were no immigration formalities. Alan is widely travelled and through the whole trip was amazed that no one ever asked us for our passports.
It was Wednesday, 19th June and as we were to meet Mike in Szczecin on the Sunday Bornholm, being about half way to Poland, would make a convenient break. With a Southerly 4 it was going to be yet more motoring. Overnight the wind often dies down so we decided to leave late afternoon. We had a curry in the Indian restaurant in the marina, being careful to use up all our Kroner, as we were leaving Sweden, and cast off late afternoon.
It was about 2300h when I was updating the log before taking over the watch from Alan. From the chart table I looked out of the window and for a minute or two was fascinated by the fireworks on the horizon. As I took over the helm I mentioned that it looked as though there was some artillery going off to starboard. Alan looked. “Yes,” he said, ” heavy ordnance. Those showing an arch are being fired parallel to us and those going up and flashing are being fired at us. Should we be here?”.
“Look on the chart”, I said.
He plotted out position.
“It says ‘Firing range’. We really ought to head due East...”
“But it will take us well of course away from Bornholm. Take the helm and I will look at the Navtext.”
At home my NASA navtext machine rarely gives useful information and relevant messages it does pick up are sprinkled with asterisks to make them totally ambiguous so that I had assumed that it was faulty. Once in the Baltic it gave its messages reliably and clearly; maybe because the signal is stronger. Not only did we have good weather reports but we had constant messages about exclusion zones and firing ranges. Now we were in Swedish waters I stopped reading them as they were mainly Polish or Lithuanian. I scrolled down to the Polish warning and started checking the longitude on the chart. It was those Poles alright and fortunately we were just outside the exclusion zone.
As predicted, the wind died and we had to motor to Rønne. We got in at 1030 and it was a beautiful morning. Alan was anxious that we did not just sleep off our tiredness from our overnight trip and found the bicycle hire depot. We had a very enjoyable ride through the woods to Hasle. There was an old smokery, now a museum, where we picked up on the island’s history before looking at the marina. From the chart it had looked like a good destination but it was small and filled with day boats for the holidaymakers in the surrounding chalets.
The forecast of SW 6-7 meant another day in port. Alan consulted his map and suggested that as it would only be 20k each way we could easily cycle over to Nexø and back. It would be interesting to cross over to the other side of the island.
With continued strong winds we spent Saturday doing repairs to Spindrift. Mike could not make it after all, so as we were on an island in the middle of the Baltic we had the luxury of choosing where to go. Copenhagen.
We left Rønne for Gislövs Läge, a large marina distant from any town back in Sweden.
With variable winds we alternated between sail and motor until we received a gale warning on the VHF which sent us running for cover into Ystad. Of course, the wind did not pipe up straight away but I went down with a fever, so when the gale did arrive I was happy to be left to sleep whilst Alan explored this interesting town.
As the gale blew through the sea level fell and we had to shift berth. Spindrift kept hitting the bottom so with help from other boats we carefully cast off and had the lines ready for the new berth.
On Wednesday, 25th June at 1000EST I turned the engine on. Nothing happened. I removed the engine isolator switch and Alan set to. One of the advantages of an old boat is old equipment that you can take apart. Alan disassembled, cleaned and reassembled the isolator switch and I put it back. At 1140 we started the engine, cast off and departed for the Falsterbokanalen.
In the 1920’s Germany was proving a threat to Swedish shipping. Shipping could not pass close round the extreme south west peninsular of Sweden at Falsterboro. Sand banks pushed the channel out near German waters so the Army built the short canal with a lifting bridge. At the north end of the canal is a spacious marina . By the chart the southern entrance to the canal is well marked but the buoys are thin sticks, very difficult to spot against the land. The bridge only opens hourly so we expected a hold up, but as we entered the canal I saw how short the canal was and put the engine on: we made the next opening.
It was a grey day with a north westerly wind with just enough west in it for us to make Copenhagen. The most amazing feature in the Sound is the bridge from Sweden. Four miles long it has a suspension bridge section over the shipping lane. As we looked we realised the deck was double with a railway below the roadway. And then, even more remarkably the bridge descends onto a small island and road and railway enter a tunnel to go under the shipping lane and so to Denmark.
As we beat up the channel where Nelson had taken his ships against Hyde Parker’s orders we came to the narrow channel for sports boats and there ahead of us was a huge Cunard cruise liner. And so we arrived in this beautiful capital city. The old buildings, the Naval splendour and the tourists made me feel we had really arrived. We motored down one of the side canals and a chap with a white naval hat directed us to moor up alongside a street by the canal.
I booked for 3 nights. Having made the effort to get here I did not want to rush off, and Alan was very happy about the arrangement. So we had time to wander round this neat clean capital city.
We could make a whole TV programme about Copenhagen and could have shown that it is very unwise to eat in the tourist area.
We had enjoyed Copenhagen and the south Danish archipelago now beckoned. There is a group of islands with broad channels and small marinas. Although there are no tides, wind driven currents sweep through them.
We had threaded our way through narrow buoyed channels and arrived in Kalvehave. It was late Sunday afternoon and the thought of cooking after a long day did not appeal. After our experience in Copenhagen we were sure that in such a small marina there was no chance of finding food at the end of a weekend. We tied up and wandered off to find the harbour master.
It had to be a mirage. There was a café with tables outside. We could not believe it. There were these delightful young people who seemed amused that we were surprised that we could have beer and food. We went for the fried chicken and sat outside with our beers in the sun waiting for it. We anticipated the English type fast food chicken and chips philosophically. It would not be very good but at least we did not have to cook. Then the attractive blonde arrived with large plates filled with chips, a half chicken each and salad.
We stayed next day as the wind really got up, but as there was a supermarket next to the marina that was not a problem. So it was Tuesday, 1st July when we cast off to motor through the narrow channel to Vordingborg.
Waldemar IV opposed the power of the Hansa in Denmark. On top of the main tower of his castle at Vordingborg he put a goose as a wind vane to show he thought the Hansa cities were a gaggle of cackling geese. So when Lübeck defeated him in 1369 by the Treaty of Stralsund he had to concede all the claims of the Hansa. You could say he had cooked his goose.
As all the guide books emphasised the significance of this castle we thought we would give it a visit. The marina was tidy with free showers and it was nice to see non-sailors using the facilities as well. The town was very like an English provincial town. The castle was just like Hadleigh castle, except that the one tower still standing had been restored so visitors could climb to the top where, on its conical roof, the wind vane is a golden goose.
Next day was hot with a strong east wind. Once out of the channel we poled out the genoa and goosewinged down wind all day. When we arrived at the small island of Agerø in a good 5 gusting 6 we found the harbour full. We were given lots of advice in good English, and a space was found. I took a long time and made sure that everyone knew what I wanted before I cast off out very temporary mooring and motored into the space. Next day more wind was expected but I wanted to get back to Germany. The course was due south and the easterly 6 kept Spindrift at hull speed all the way in a roller-coaster ride. To the exhilaration of fast sailing we were excited with the constant lookout to avoid ships sailing down the Big Belt or crossing us to go further up the Baltic.
It was dark as we made our way to Heiligenhafen, the wind had died down and we moored up in a box. Next morning we left for Travemünde. We arrived at Böbs Werft in time to go to the supermarket.
Saturday morning (5th July) and the local boats were out in force in the sunshine and light breeze. Some were sailing, others were motorboats whilst there were a few sculling. It was a pleasant morning but it was still strange not to have any tide either helping or hindering us. We had to wait about 15 minutes at the new bridge and then we were at the marina.
Spindrift was alongside in Lübeck once again. I was able to show my new discovery to someone who had not previously known of its existence and who found it just as fascinating as I did. We had intimations of the weather breaking, a heavy shower, a roll of thunder but we were able to enjoy the Old City.
On the evening before he flew home Alan generously treated me to dinner in the Seamen’s Guild. This remarkable building was built in 1534 and had been spared bombing during the war. There are fantastic paintings on the walls, historic model ships hanging from the ceiling and collectors items everywhere. On the old pine tables they serve excellent food and Burgundy wine that is matured in Lubeck for at least 6 years. The waiter is proud to describe the history of the institution in excellent English. “This is where the skippers sailing to Bergen sat and there the skippers sailing to Stockholm. This was where they exchanged information.” So from Gdansk to Copenhagen to Lübeck we were now at the centre of trade and political power in northern Europe in the late Middle Ages.
Ystad
Sweden to Denmark Bridge
Spindrift in Copenhagen
