Heeling and over 6 knots

Waking up to this

Sitting in lee

The bay view

Rain is coming

Sailing over 6 knots

Wood sauna oven

View out the sauna

Checking the sauna, boat anchored

Sunset

On shore sauna hut

It seems I am getting into the habit of writing my blog in the morning. Just woke up to another clear blue sky in the natural harbour Nämdö.
We arrived here after a good day of sailing with wind up to 8 m/s and gusts over 10 m/s, because that makes the lines howl.
After getting tips from our departing German neighbor in the guest harbour Saltsjöbadens for places further north next week,  we backed out perfectly from the pier. Linn was worried about how we would do, because our spot was right in front of the restaurant that started to fill up with sailors for lunch. She was very satisfied about how professional we succeed to leave!
We could set sails immediately and just with the Genoa set navigating through the first narrow passage were already touching 5 knots in the gusts. After a while we set the main sail reefed and hit 6 knots and over. We only needed to adjust the sails a bit over the course of 3 hours, but not even switch sides.
Linn was skeptical about the leaning, correctly described as heeling of the boat and feelt a bit unwell. I work the same way, always feeling a bit unwell, when I encounter a new situation with the boat,  needing time to trust to feel comfortable.
Just as a rainshower hit we rolled the sails in and went looking for a good spot in the natural harbour bay Nämdö. All places to tie up on land with anchor in lee were taken, so we dropped the front anchor for swinging in the bay. Right next to us on shore there was sauna driven by Skärgårdstiftelsen, so we checked it out and found out that some other sailors had already started the fire to heat the sauna up and we could return for our private slot at 19h. Rowing over after dinner and enjoying the heat and the a cold dips and cooling off in the sun on a rock is just magnificent!
After this experience I had one problem to solve for next weeks crew an open passage from the Swedish coast to Åland is planned and since Rainer and Lorena a lovely pair from Berlin are unexperienced sailors, I had both asked Thomas and Jan as a backup to help out and come along.    Wendsday evening I learned that Thomas had new commitments for his office move that made it impossible for him to join the whole week. I asked Jan to jump in and just after my sauna bathing received his phone call also turning me down.
Back at the boat I checked next weeks weather forecast and it is going to be perfect light to moderate winds from south and mostly sunny. But still I would have a completely unexperienced team without Thomas or Jan counting myself out.
So I called Thomas again seeing if he perhaps could at least join for the last bit crossing over to Åland. He can and we agreed he will join us Wednesday evening in Arholma! Yeah!
So looking forward to next week sailing further north and I think summer will finally come now with warmer temperatures.
Today is Linn's last day sailing with me, tonight we reach Bullandö and tomorrow is washing, cleaning and repair day. We really have become great buddies and talk about her visiting in Solothurn soon. Looking forward to that,  but I will miss her too!

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