Best sailing day so far!

The day started out with overcast sky and drizzle. When we wanted to cook coffee our gas bottle was empty, so we decided to postpone breakfast and just grab a cappuccino at the restaurant. But the restaurant would not serve cappuccino until 9.30 o'clock.
Then we decided to just cross over to the island next north that had a small store and how we read the harbour book also gas bottles.
Well as soon as we left harbour it started to downpour as if someone had turned on the shower!
You would think with so many things not going our way even before I had had my first coffee to wake up, the day could only get worse!
Far from what happened!
Motoring over to the other island Enklinge worked well having my whole rainwear on from boots to pants and jacket. I actually forgot to put on my awsome bright yellow "Südwester" but was fine anyway. The distance was only 1 sm under motor so we were fast after just 30 minutes after we left Glada Laxen.
Now at the next pier we just waited until the rain stopped and then went to get our gas. Everything worked out smoothly and the guys even found more fishing gear at the store.
On the way back we found strawberries again as big as I have not seen before!
Back at the boat we finally had coffee and brunch. Then the guys tried their fishing luck at this pier. Martin soon had 2 Abborre and Antonio also.
The sun came out again and the wind suddenly surfaced.
So just before 14h we set out to sail our longest stretch so far with winds as strong as 6-9 m/s with gusts that made the lines whistle (more than 10 m/s)!
What an awesome sailing day it become with more than 6 additional hours on the water of which we sailed at least 4h.
Coolest, but also exciting was tacking between islands and a lot of stones in the water west of Simskäla north of Ålands main island.
We reached Bomarsund that I visited a bit more than 2 weeks ago with Daniel, Margret and Thanya. Then we arrived around 16h and got one of the last spots, today we arrived shortly before 20h and had still plenty to choose from.
I have to compliment my crew, without their spirit to keep sailing I would have turned on the motor a few times either because passages got to narrow or wind on our nose requiring a lot of tacks. Also beeing on the water grew our appetite that Antonio knew how to tame with excellent snacks or food creations.
Well now Ulrike tries to bake a "Zöpfe" while the guys again are fishing at their next pier!
All in all we did 30 sm today with the strongest wind I have been sailing with any of my guests / crews so far. Without an experienced sailing crew that would not have been possible!  Ulrike's navigation skills also were great especially during our tacks between islands.
I am very grateful for this cool day that started so crappy!

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My 45th birthday

Antonio steering

Fiskö night sky

Ulrike on the helm

Lunch snack

Lunch company

Storm coming

Tapas

Oxfilé

All of us

Harbour

Viewing tower

Sauna platform

What an awesome day I had!
Martin and I sat and enjoyed the light summer sky after sunset in Fiskö. Shortly before midnight we retired to bed and when it turned midnight he gave me my first present a wonderful set of earings and matching ring,  just so beautiful!

This Jewelry I had on with my green Desigual dress he had given me in Barcelona in March during his marathon. All dressed up even with a bit of makeup we headed to have dinner at Glada Laxen for my birthday dinner. Oxfilé and we even got treated to a Prosecco on the house.
After swimming in Fiskö and breakfast, we headed out with good wind to sail to Glada Laxen south west of us. A treat again was the harbour passage zigzag with bearing marks out and two other narrow ones between islands. We set sails and just with the Genoa we almost hit 5 knots so most of the way we needed to reef the main.
Wind wise I think this was the strongest wind we have had this week. The weather forecast was not in unison about thunder storm approaching for the afternoon,  but we wanted to arrive before 16h as recommended by the innkeeper.
Well we arrived shortly after 12 and decided to go on a bit enjoying the strong wind. So at 13.30h we were docked with back anchor and tied up at the pier with the front.
Immediately we headed to the restaurant and ordered our lunch which was a great snack. Martin got one of the last fish soups, yeah!
Then we found out that the island had basically nothing else to offer except a viewing tower and a 5km hike around the island.
Ulrike, Antonio and I set out for the hike, after a long path through the woods we had coast on both sides and were lead with white dots on the rocks along the coast back. We heard grumble which turned out to be thunder in the distance and the sky was all about dark. Half way along the coast it started raining and we had flash and thunder coming closer, but still counting between 8-11 seconds light and sound. I called Martin to turn all electronic off on the boat.
Just when we slightly soaked with warm rain returned to the boat Martin informed me the anchor had loosened.
Funny actually last year a summer storm also caused us to do an anchor maneuver which went sour on my birthday.
Here in the shelter of the Glada Laxen harbour while on the other side of the island the waves had had white caps it was almost calm. Martin took the anchor into the dinghy rowed out a bit and let it go and we were back in business.
Therefore my birthday could continue to develop very pleasant with sauna together with just Martin before dinner as the next activity.

After a lovely dinner we headed up to the viewing tower and enjoyed the sunset from the top.
Back on the boat I finished my great birthday by loosing in backgammon.
At midnight again we went to bed very satisfied!

Thanks everybody for all the great birthday wishes via all channels!

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Just a very nice day from start to end

Lappo

Our natural harbour was a hit, we slept really well and almost the first thing we did was go swimming either before breakfast or after which was really refreshing.
After that we set out sailing to Lappo to fill up water and have lunch. It looked like a raincloud would pass our path after that on our way to my most northern place Fiskö. The passage to the harbour was almost as great as to Karlby last week with lots of bearing marks and white stone heaps for orientation. Very fun to navigate and check according to see chart.
When we arrived at Fiskö we were a bit upset to find most of the pier occupied with 3 sailboats that were docked longside almost taking up all the space. We found one of the free spots to put the boat and are now enjoying a beautiful view and evening sun. So things worked out in our favor in the end.
Antonio and Ulrike cooked us an awesome dinner and now we are so stuffed and just chilling. Everybody is doing what he likes: Antonio trying to catch another fish; Ulrike reading ; Martin buying stuff online ; Sofia blogging!

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Instructions and information to my next 3 crews

Both crews:
No need to bring cloth dish towels anymore, we have by now about 10 on the boat, because I inherited most of the previous ones.

Crew Katja and Lukas: The boat will be in the MSF Mariehamn east harbour when you come on spot #1. I will pick you up at the ferry terminal on the west side when you arrive Saturday assuming you are coming with the ferry arriving at 14.10 o'clock.
We will discuss which route we take to get back to Sweden, but I plan to end up in Arholma, which is accessible via ferry.

Crew Anna, Lovisa and Maria: Please expect the boat be in Arholma and inform me which ferry you will arrive with on Saturday so I can pick you up at the ferry.
I am not sure how far south we go during your week we will decide when you arrive.

Crew Christin: I will inform you which harbour I will pick you up at latest Monday before you arrive.

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Söderlandet east of Kumlinge

Natural harbour at Söderlandet

We are just enjoying our second night away from Mariehamn. Yesterday we stayed at Granskär with just a pier for visiting boats and bouys for members of the club the area belongs to. We could tie up the boat along the side and used the pier to grill.
Antonio an experienced fishermen started to pull out one Abborre after the other from under the pier after a while Martin joined and they ended up with 17 within an hour. Absolutely amazing!
Tonight at our second real natural harbour Söderlandet we enjoyed Jahnsons Frestelse with all the Abborre, wonderful!
To get here today took us just 4,5 hours that started out with rain and thunder grumble in the distance and hardly any wind. Wind shifted and picked up and at the end of the day we sailed butterfly and hit 5,6 knots with sunshine and turquoise water.
I enjoy my dear friend Ulrike's company who is an experienced regatta sailor, so she optimizes the sails without needing instructions and we have fun getting the most speed out of the boat. Discussing which route to take and reading the sea charts together is also fun. I notice how I am more relaxed in her company,  because I am not carrying the whole navigation burden myself.
Having Martin on the boat again is also great, I am less tense than 5 weeks ago and going swimming and enjoying the warm weather is pleasant.
Ulrike's boyfriend Antonio that I have met a few times before, but not really had the chance to get to know is a great cook, good sailor and awsome fisherman! On a boat all qualities I adore.
We have just watched the sun set and still can sit outside reading or blogging.
Life is very good momentarily!
Tomorrow we head north to Fiskö which will probably be my most northern place, yeah!

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Heat wave continues over 30 degrees

Pommern arrived 80 years to the day back from Australia

Last selfy

New haircut and steer a big sailboat

Green workpants

New lines for Genoa

Ella

Jakob

Eva &Daniel writing in my guestbook

Friday lunch

Boat is clean

Thursday dinner

Well deserved cappuccino

South and north mark

After a good nights sleep swing anchoring in Stegskär Wendsday night after a wonderful sunset and a sunrise around 5.10 o'clock in the morning we set out to return to Mariehamn after almost 2 weeks. We basically had no wind, but a beautiful golden morning light finding all our different sea marks north, south, west and east for safe navigation. One passage between north and south mark was just a bit wider than our boat.
As soon as wind came up we tried to sail, but only had 30 minutes until it shifted and died down again. We arrived at 11.30 o'clock knowing that our #3 spot probably would still be occupied, it was but the boat was almost ready to leave, so we sailed again a bit just in front offug the harbour.
Then the big scary harbour maneuver was on, that 2 weeks earlier didn’t go smoothly with 4 people on the boat. We had lighter wind from the opposite direction and I had booked the last spot on the pier in safe distance from the power post that we had almost mowed over last time. Also I took over the back position that Thanya had struggled with last time.
Well I can proudly tell you we did the maneuver like champions completely smooth and stress free!

We went and had our deserved lunch and welcome drink immediately!
Actually our plan had been cleaning the boat that afternoon,  but it was over 30 degrees hot. We decided to postpone until next morning. So our afternoon got filled with shopping at Marimekko and ice cream as well as cappuccino drinking. Also having Wifi was great getting some bills out of the way and adding pictures to some of my posts.
At dinner on deck suddenly first Thanya's phone rang then mine rang. It was Jakob and then Daniel on the phone,  they were also in Mariehamn because Ella had gotten so dehydrated that she needed hospital attention. All was well again luckily after a rocky last days with the heat and tent in Kökar that had led to a fast (37 kn) sea transfer of the whole family from Kökar to Mariehamn 2 days earlier. So we agreed to meet for coffee at 10 o'clock Friday morning.
Thanya and I managed to clean the boat up before that great rewCy ard with nice company and another cappuccino the next morning at the local bakery. It was so nice to see Ella full of mischief and energy again!
After our paths parted again with a commitment to all meet as soon as possible, when I am back in Switzerland, Thanya and I rented bicycles to go boat spare parts shopping. We were even more successful than expected, I got myself some cool green workpants in a female cut. The Scandinavians actually expect women to use tools and provide according practical clothesnot as a couple of months ago I noticed in my Swiss hometown Solothurn that there only were male workclothes to buy!
We finished our day with an excellent dinner at the ship-restaurant F. P. Von Knorring! Two weeks with Thanya my dear friend from Switzerland is hard to top especially since we had such summer temperatures reminding us of the Rivera rather than being in Åland north in the Baltic Sea.
I will miss her cheerful nature!

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Last days with Thanya

At the bar with a last drink

Dinner at F.P. Von Knorring

View from Knorring onto the harbour

Just a short update: Thanya who is the only one who committed to 2 weeks sailing with me leaves tomorrow from Mariehamn,  so sad. We had a great hot week mostly over 30 degrees here in Åland together. Tonight we went dining nice to give our lovely time together a worthy ending.
More tomorrow!

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Motor repair while sailing

Red rocks at Stegskär

Stegskär in the evening

Flies everywhere, so disgusting

Möholm

Rödhamn labyrinth

Rödhamn harbour master and café

Lunch at Rödhamn

Rödhamn

Old impeller

As usual we woke up early, but that we could have breakfast just in our T-shirt and shorts is amazing! Well this heat wave will last until Friday, when my next crew arrives Saturday temperatures will drop and weather is predicted to become more unstable after that.
Our plan was to make a lunch stop at Rödhamn which apparently is popular among Swedish sailors as a first harbour after crossing over to Åland.
Yesterday I came up with the idea that the seawater cooling system for the motor must have a filter that needs cleaning after all the algea in the water. So at the harbour I pulled out the Volvo Penta motor instructions and found out where and how to clean the filter.
Today suddenly after sailing most of the way just before reaching Rödhamn suddenly the oil overheating alarm went off! I always check if water comes out the cooling system for the motor when I turn it on and when the alarm went off that was what I checked first: No water!
Quickly and Thanya was a champion we set the front sail and I turned the motor off.
Now my boat motor course and book came in handy knowing that the first thing to be replaced is the impeller, we had 3 spare parts on the boat.
We set Alfons to steer the boat while I got my instruction books, toolbox and spare parts out. It took me about 30 minutes to exchange the impeller,  but then still no water came out. After trying to fill water into the filter I had cleaned yesterday evening, it dawned on me. Today I had closed the sea valve before changing the impeller, but yesterday working with the filter no such instructions had been asked of me,  but probably I should have. My assumption was I had drained the seawater out of the cooling system by not closing the valve so now I needed to fill it again somehow. After some tries and a lot of bottle sea water I got the cooling circulation of sea water working again. Without my course I would have been lost!
In the meantime the wind had died down completely and we finally motored towards Rödhamn for lunch. Still all sweaty from working with the hot motor suddenly a swarm of small flies "attacked" forcing me to put my hand in front of both my mouth and nose to not breath them all in: GROSE!
10 Minutes later at the harbour they were gone, so strange!
Now we had a great lunch Thanya first skeptical about smoked salmon ate her whole bit, because it was so tasty.
After resting and regrouping we continued with our original plan to go on to a natural harbour for the night. Wind had picked up again so we had another 2 hours of great sailing arriving at my first Åland harbour from over 2 weeks ago again: Stegskär! This time I did not park between rocks we choose to swing anchor.
Right now we are enjoying the evening sun after dinner and swimming. Life is awesome!

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So hot needing shade

Sofia, Eva, Daniel, Jakob, Thanya (from left to right)

Waking up in Utö a sunny day welcomed us again. Sadly our smallest guest Ella (3 1/2) had fallen ill over night. Eva and Daniel did not get to much sleep therefore, but luckily Jakob had slept with Thanya in her cabin, so the rest of us were well rested.
Expecting that Ella would return to health soon we set out early to return to Kökar,  but this time to Karlby harbour in the heart of the island. Since we didn't have much wind and both my new guests and Thanya were interested in experiencing open water without any islands on the horizon,  we took the southern route back only having islands north of us and open Baltic Sea south. The reaction to this experience was mixed, Jakob (7) and his mother loved it, Thanya and I imagined weeks of this and only thought - boring!
We passed Källskär and saw the bronze "Hermesstatyn" on the rocks before we started the lovely but challenging passage to Karlby harbour. Going more than once between stones and small islands in a zigzag route following white marks on rocks to get the right bearing was awesome! Absolutely the coolest harbour passage so far and we did it backwards today in the morning light!
Finally in Karlby we got a great spot and because it was so hot almost all of us immediately got into the water cooling off. Some of us, even if the water was at least 20 degrees, needed a long time to dip ;-)!
The harbour looked like a big swimming pool with kids and grown-ups swimming everywhere!
We mounted a sheet to get more shade and the feeling of being in the Åland riviera crossed my mind.
Today is not much different, just a bit better breeze, because we are in a natural harbour called Möholm.

Back to yesterday our guests left us still very excited after having cooked dinner for us all returning to their tent at Sandvik camping.
Sadly they needed to go by the island nurse first to have her check on Ella, who had been vomiting all day. Luckily we got the news later that she didn't have anything serious.
After 2 days of having guests and kids on the boat, Thanya and I enjoyed our togetherness even more. But we are already planning to visit Daniel,  Eva, Jakob and Ella back in Switzerland together!

After reading the blog 2 years ago from a young lady sailing counter clockwise through the Baltic Sea with her small boat with friends and family and sometimes just people she met, I had longed for inviting somebody foreign to come along. Now I have done exactly that and we all really enjoyed the experience as well as our company, so cool!

Thanya and I look back on a wonderful day again of sailing for more than 4 hours and motoring the rest between small and bigger islands reading and interpreting the sea chart correctly. She even noticed my mistake before I did: Bridge only 5,3m high and we need 17m to be on the safe side. We turned around and quickly found an alternative way to our harbour. In the end we did 27sm instead of 24. Not so bad!
Now we will prepare dinner and enjoy it in another gorgeous setting,  aren't we lucky?

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Summer storm passed

Utö lighthouse

Celebrating most easterly place

Utö harbour at sunset

Summer storm

Just some impressions from Utö in Finland.
Sunday we sailed 1/3 of the 20 sm from Sandvik to Utö. We had Daniel, Eva with their 2 kids Jakob and Ella along that we had met the day before and I had invited to come along. The four were really excited about the opportunity and we got along very well. When we started motoring Thanya and Jakob played a card game that never wanted to end. Thanya had to figure out how to lose so she could do something else.
We arrived about 14h in Utö and squeezed ourselves between some other boats to get one of the last spots on the pier.
After that we set out to go and see the light house.
At the top of the hill of the light house we saw that a summer storm was approaching with dark blue sky and how sea rescue towed a motor boat in. That was enough for me wanting to return to the boat to turn electric off and check if everything was fastened correctly for stronger winds.
So Thanya and I did exactly that and I gave my neighbor good tips for their securing of their boat. We were on the correct side of the pier for strong north winds, but in the end we only got the dramatic sky some strong winds and a bit of rain. The storm passed east of the island. But we saw a sailboat coming in their spinnacker flying like a big flag.
After that excitement Thanya and I went to the hotel restaurant to celebrate my most easterly place of my journey. We ordered great food, but when Thanya wanted to see the menu for dessert we were asked to go and pay because they closed. It was 20.45 o'clock! Scandinavia with their early dinners, always something to get used to.
We went and enjoyed the sun setting and returned to our guests and the boat afterwards.
Great day!

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Halftime!

Bomarsund -Andbergsfladen

Our goal was our natural harbour for the night 18sm away. Since we knew a spot was certain we took it slow in the morning,  going swimming and showering first after breakfast and then taking a path through the woods to the fort slowed down by blueberry picking. After returning to the boat we prepared sandwiches and filled up water and headed off almost immediately setting sails. About half an hour into sailing we turned around the corner of an island and I saw a low bridge over the water that I had missed in my planning. Shucks! We turned around and now needed to motor the next 1,5 hours going south. We ended doing 21sm instead and arrived a bit later than my initial planning. Ups!

Arriving at the natural harbour Andbergsfladen Daniel and I mounted the Åland gas bottle to the back of the boat. I cut myself using the knife cutting the ropes mixing the sharp side up. My finger hardly stopped bleeding even, if the cut was shallow. No biggy, Dee's first aid kit got some more usage!
We had a drink on arrival also celebrating my halftime 6 and half weeks of my total of 13 weeks sailing are completed. Juhu!
Still enjoying every minute of it!

Since I am in Finish waters here in Åland my data roaming with my Swedish prepaid is restricted somehow. So my blogs are written daily, but will be posted on bulk when I have Wifi access again. Sorry about that.
I will try to post at least one impression a day on FB though.

(Another one from last week that just was impossible to post,  now last try without pictures!)

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Most easterly place

Today after one lay day in Sandvik, Kökar yesterday after Daniel and Margret left us at 6 o'clock in the morning, we will sail to Utö. Utö will be my most easterly place visiting during my whole sailing.
Yesterday we met Daniel, Eva with their kids Jakob and Ella from Switzerland. I picked up on their accent during breakfast and when they walked past our boat on the pier started chatting with Daniel.
During dinner grilling the whole family sat next to us. One thing lead to another and I ended up inviting them to sail to Utö today with us.
Very exciting!

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Two of my last week posts will not go live :-(

So strange two of my last weeks blog posts just do not want to be uploaded. I have tried so many times now here in Sandvik, Kökar where I have Wifi. Shucks!
One is about my halftime of sailing middle of the week and the other full of pictures with castles and fort ruins as well as our blueberry pie from our self picked blueberries! So yummy!
Well hopefully it will work out soon.

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Posting in Åland is troublesome

Dear followers I have continued to post almost every day, but since I am in Åland that belongs to Finland my prepaid Swedish service strikes and when I have Wifi in some harbours getting my posts live seems to be a gamble. I hope to manage soon because my posts are stacking up.
Today we arrived at Sandvik, Kökar wonderful island known for seals.
We are all sound and happy!

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First day with hardly any wind and shipwreck

Dinner again

Marvelously docked

Boat wreckage

Daniel and I exploring the island

Marvelous vegetation, Svinskär

View from the top rock

Myself

Great team getting docked

No wind

Fishing boats

House seen at passage

We slept in, though I woke up at just before 5 and saw the beautiful sunrise and went to bed after that again. So after breakfast Daniel and I swam on shore and a bit later I took Thanya in the dinghy. Sunshine and warm smooth rocks just awesome to explore and enjoy.
We set out shortly after lunch to our next natural harbour Svinskär hoping to set sails after passing through the narrow first passage. But the wind died competey leaving the water as a  mirror so we motored all 11 sm.
Well at the harbour I tried slowly to go towards shore as marked in my harbour book for docking,  but hit bottom. We left Daniel on shore to find us a better place and I was just about to abort to do swing anchoring again,  when Daniel pointed out a suitable spot. We tested first again and this time no hitting the bottom!
So off we went to lay the anchor right and then get the boat tied up to our rock pegs. We ended up at a spot with steps in the rocks to climb off the boat as well getting up the rock, just perfect! Once again I have trained my team well and we all work great together.
After a well sought after chilled beer as a welcome drink in the heat, Daniel and I went exploring the island. The quest was to find rum as the pirate Sparrow did,  but we only found a boat wreckage.
We enjoyed the rest of the evening and are going to bed early for an early start to Kökar tomorrow to be certain to get a space at their pier.

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