SIRENA IV 2018

Headlines from today  Kind Brit lent us the strap wrench we need to get the oil filter out. Result. We moored in pole position on the harbour wall for the boat to be lifted at 9am tomorrow. Worked like dogs to get the boat ready for lifting. Good old car started first time after 5 months in a shed. Fridge man sent us a repair bill that didn't break the bank.  We are in our favourite fish restaurant the Golden Anchor and we can see the boat from here (see pic) The season statistics- in only 33 days on board we covered 400 nautical miles.  This is your last blog of 2018 - thanks to everyone who's read our blogs!  Nic and Lesley

Still windy in Heiligenhafen this morning but it was time to move to winter quarters. A complex manoeuvre with ropes got us out of the box in a cross-wind without embarrassment.  An upwind plug took us under the Fehmarnsund bridge with only 7m clearance above our mast top. As usual it looked like 7cm. L is looking happy on the helm. We were both thrilled with the Autohelm because it is working perfectly again after Nic installed the new cable. The grumps returned this evening when neither of us could shift the oil filter which we wanted to change as part of the end of season winterising of the engine. It's one of those upside-down-in-the-locker jobs. There's always something. The weather has switched back to v hot, with a high pressure sitting near us. With the rest of today's jobs completed we settled in Burgstaaken marina on Fehmarn to the routine of a large bowl of food, a game of cards, some reading,  and this.

Today was a red letter day for SIRENA IV. After weeks without any proper cooling of our food,  the 30 year old fridge was repaired by a business-like German engineer called Karlsen. He happened to have old fridge bits which made it work. He's given us a control panel which looks like something from 1970s East Germany (see pic) but he told us it is a 'grandfather' whereas our old panel had been 'great grandpa'. He didn't even want cash payment but is sending an invoice by email. How very trusting of him. However much it costs it won't be the one thousand quid plus of a new fridge plus labour. Once we had crowed with delight over the working fridge, we sauntered into town, past the harbourside, church and museum (see pics) and bought lunch from a sandwich place in an old trawler -:fish cakes with garlic sauce and potato salad. Then back to the boat for the eternal list of Jobs. We despatched more spiders to the deep,  including some humdingers who were not hap...

First a word, and pics, about last night (after y'day's blog was posted). We walked into town (all of 200m) to have a look around and bought some food for dinner at the first supermarket. Wandering on we came to the square and it was such a convivial place and a beautiful evening we plonked down in the nearest cafe and had a cocktail and a Guinness. Then as we admired the old Rathaus (town hall), some supper jazz started up from a stage in the corner. We then realised that most of the small stalls in the square were selling a bewildering variety of gins and gin cocktails. It seemed foolish to miss this ginfest opportunity, so we sat in the evening sun sipping something with a crazy name and enjoying the music. As we got back to the boat the sun was just setting through the forest of 1,000 masts. Today was much more prosaic. We slept in. Porridge was not concluded until 11am! We considered the task lists for the next few days, and added some items that occurred to us. L cleaned ...

We folded away our red and white Danish courtesy flag and got out the German flag to fly near the crosstrees.(NB remember the black stripe is at the top...) We were off at last from Bagenkop where we'd stayed stormbound, to Heiligenhafen on the north German coast where we have a date with a fridge engineer on Monday. We fully expect him to commit our 30 year old broken fridge to the tip. But we need to find out the cost of a new one fitted by him this winter. As a last gasp, we got the main sail up right outside Bagenkop harbour and then the foresail too.. engine off and we were sailing with wind behind us and that sweet gurgle of the waves. (See pic for evidence) But it didn't last. The foresail fell in  as the wind died. We furled the sails and motored for hours. Now we are in the mammoth marina at Heiligenhafen. We seem to be the only non German boat. Time to explore the town and savour our few remaining days afloat.  

The wind howled and the boat bounced all night, and in the morning it was still blowing though the rain had stopped. Our flag halyard snapped in the wind and the Danish courtesy flag landed in the cockpit, which is better than overboard! Outside the harbour the waves were still big with lots of white so despite the forecast for it to ease, and most boats leaving, we took the risk-averse decision to go tomorrow. We like Bagenkop a lot and it's our last bit of Denmark. When we reach Heiligenhafen in Germany tomorrow, in a sense the trip ends and the work starts to prep the boat for winter. It's a short hop from there to Fehmarn where she is lifted out ... in 5 days time. We went for a walk through Bagenkop, which does not take long, and out into the countryside. The sun came out. We found a Loppe Marked - literally a flea market, actually more like a garage sale - that we had not seen before - pic. Later we saw a display of old water pumps and pails - pic - great for th...

Still in Bagenkop. Been raining cats and dogs for hours. Big winds are rocking the boat on her moorings as we sit here drinking hot coffee and making to-do lists for when we get back to Germany and lift her out.  This place attracts beautiful tall ships. There's a couple of long pontoons where they can berth. See pic of two of them, one departing in the background. It's been interesting to watch their manoeuvres close-up. We were rapt the other day, to see one huge tall ship sailing out of the harbour silently,  on just one square sail and no motor. That takes guts.  The rain has gone on so hard and so long that instead of seeing tanned people in shorts, all you see are bedraggled forms in full waterproofs, hoods up, like dayglo monks. Yesterday's swim in the sun seems like an age away. 

We stayed in Bagenkop because we wanted to go to the Cold War museum 'Langelandfortet'. The Harbourmaster provided free bicycles, and we wobbled and puffed the 3km there and back - Denmark is not all flat!  The museum is actually the whole enormous site on top of a hill which commands two out of the three narrow exits from the Baltic. It has multiple gun emplacements, control room and ammunition bunkers all perfectly preserved. There is a second 'fort' that commands the third Baltic exit at Stevns Klint, very close to where we left the boat in June. This site also has a minesweeper built in 1941 that was in service for 34 years, a MiG-23 MF Warsaw Pact jet fighter purchased from Poland, the last Danish submarine and a 75" section of the Berlin Wall. There was a fair amount of English on the walls and it gave a very detailed and chilling reminder of the cold war period. The lady at the ticket office said, 'you'll need a couple of hours." We spent 4 hour...

At last we left lovely Aeroskobing today and with a westerly wind, we were soon sailing on the foresail only. There was a series of narrow channels marked with red and green buoys to negotiate, to zig zag our way across the shallow seas between the islands. We both love the actual sailing with sails, as opposed to just motoring. See the smile on Nic's face. Along the way we met a Dutch tall ship. We only put the motor on once, to beat through a short section directly into the wind. It was a sweet sail , although getting towards our target, Bagenkop, it got very bumpy and rolly. There wasn't much wind, but the waves had come a long way and they knocked the boat hard. We passed through Bagenkop briefly last year. Looks like we are the only ones sporting a British ensign. The place is attractive enough and it has an ice cream shop. Right now that's what we are focussed on!

Ano day at Aeroskobing. The wind howled and the rain beat down. We hunkered and both did some writing. Nic submitted some flash fiction to a project at Uni of Greenwich, Lesley submitted a programme script to world service about the disappearance of cash. We were invited for drinks by Jane and Steve in their rather splendid Nordship 43 - a very pleasant hour spent swapping stories and experiences. No pics today, 

After getting up late and doing the food shopping, we mooched around delightful Aeroskobing - can't have too much of this place. The inside pics are from an original 1700s house furnished by sculptor Gunnar Hammerich (1893-1977); it is stuffed with his collection of antiques, including 3,000 Dutch tiles.  It just happens that we have chosen the w/e when possibly the largest German sailing regatta of the year spends the night in Aeroskobing. It's an annual event, they only race about 21 miles from Kappeln in Germany. The Old Harbour is reserved for them - over a hundred yachts and 1,000 participants ... and a LOT of beer. It is truly an amazing sight. This harbour, as with so many, used to be for fishing boats and there's a common saying along the lines of 'there were so many boats you could walk across the middle of the harbour'. The well-heeled Germans have managed to create the modern day equivalent!  Other than that, the rain comes and goes a...

This morning we welcomed Jorgen and Nicola on board who (until last year) owned another Nicholson 35, Andromeda. Since there were only 225 of these strong and  beautiful yachts ever built, there is a strange kind of bond between Nic owners. We found plenty to talk about. Jorgen told us about the massive German yacht rally that was dispersing this morning. It's held by the shipping industry and apparently it's a networking opportunity bar none for the largest German companies and rival managers at various levels- but the man who started it 30 years ago, shipping magnate Peter Gast died very recently.  After waving goodbye to our guests, we got back on the free island bus to go to the north of Aero to Sobygaard, a moated manor house. We were the only visitors. It was peaceful and quaint. (See pics) And it had an exhibition recounting the large number of traditional Aero schooners which had come to grief in foreign parts, (including Ireland) and the sad stories of their lost Dani...

Having four days to spend on the beautiful Danish island of Aero, we decided to make the most of the free bus transport. We figured we could take a bus from Marstal (which runs twice daily on just two days a week) to the tiny village of Ommel which has two harbours. The tourist guide was overflowing in its praise. Said bus (minibus) was late. The driver looked shocked to see us. We were the only passengers. The next bus back would be 3 hours hence. Rain was forecast. At least we had checked online that there was a cafe. Once the minibus dropped us, we made for the cafe through silent streets. We found the owners outside, who said they had run out of food after a big party,  but we could maybe get a hot drink later. We set off for the northern harbour past a farm with proper old-style milk churns (see pic). The harbour proved to be minute and very sleepy. (See pic) We found a bench out of the wind and ate a yoghurt bar and watched the grey sea beyond. Still two hours to go. We trudg...

Last night the Danish Tall Ship 'Fylla' tied up near us (though not too near, thankfully). Built in 1922, she worked as a cargo ship in Greenland for decades. Now she is a training ship for young people and available for charter. As you can see, we had a nice sunset hence the arty pics, including the moon rising behind the lighthouse. It was such a quiet, balmy evening that we ate dinner in the cockpit, which is quite unusual. Then we were troubled by odd knocking noises outside. After considerable investigation we realised it was the stern warps creaking - they were under severe tension because the water level had risen and they were not sliding on the weathered old mooring poles. A lot of these island Harbours have quite poor fittings for tying up. We've noticed that there is often a water level change across perhaps 5-6 hours of up to half a metre - not sure whether it's the wind effect or tiny tides. Also the currents don't seem always to be logical. The Baltic ...

Today we tasted the worst and best of downwind sailing, that is, sailing with the wind right behind us.  We were expecting a warm southerly wind and that made us hum ' Blow the Wind Southerly' as we trekked to the showers in the morning. We were headed north to the top of the thin island called Langeland and part way down the west side.  First we had to extricate ourselves from the box berth. The night before, a giant German yacht had barged in beside us even though one of the berthing poles was missing which meant it might lean on us dangerously if something went wrong. We were discomfited, but asked them to change their ropes around so their enormous ropes were not looped over our little ones at the moment of leaving. This monster made Sirena IV look like a minnow. (see pic)  In the event, leaving the harbour proved pretty straightforward. We imnediately began to sail using just the foresail or genoa, and we didn't even let all of it out.  That moment of switching ...

Industrial Bandholm was rather nice and very peaceful. So as we left at our usual 0830 this morning we thought 'oh, good, the forecast NW wind is v gentle today.' But no, once out from the land it blew hard at us again. Whichever version of West we head, that's exactly where the wind comes from. Never mind, we are a motorboat for now.  There's a small island just outside Bandholm with birds on every branch of every tree. (Pic) Are they vultures? Is this Africa? No they are cormorants - a most unusual sight. Today's 6 hour passage was picturesque at times followed by some uneventful open water. The sun shone but there is a real chill in the air. We passed many wind turbines. In Maribo y'day we got talking in a cafe to two young Englishmen who work on building and maintaining the turbines. They said what a great job it was, 6 months work then 6 months off and they can work anywhere in the world. I suppose we could call them wind-riggers, they are the new oil-rigge...

Strong winds made us resolve to stay in Bandholm on the island of Lolland for an extra night and get some jobs done. But there were other possibilities- a ferry trip to a small island or a bus trip to the nearby town of Maribo.  The clouds looked threatening so we opted for the place with most shelter...the town. We paid a fiver to go in the local museum, partly because the tourist authority lady painted such a glowing picture of it in perfect English. We saw furniture, a collection of early Danish toys and Danish winter wear including some Victorian woolly handknitted socks (see pics). The socks look very similar to some Lesley bought in a Genbrug or charity shop shortly after. Next was a very breezy walk by one of several fine lakes in the town. There is a population of sea eagles around there somewhere, but the boat trips to spot them don't go on a Monday. As the tourist woman said apologetically ' Monday is not a good day.' Then we dropped into Lolland's own cathedr...

In Kalvehave where we were last night there were hundreds and hundreds of swallows dipping and diving, tweeting away, lining up on the boats and warps and young ones tweeting from their muddy nests under all the eaves. Yes we got a bit of poo on the foredeck but they are forgiven because they're so sweet. Todays passage was a 7 hour motor into F4 wind and a stream of up to 1.5kn created by that wind, as we wound our slow way along narrow shallow channels and under 3 bridges between islands. You can't draw lines on the chart for this, you just follow the buoys. So we resorted to ticking the buoys on the chart as we passed them, just in case the electronics died - good practice for the Stockholm archipelago next year where this technique is apparently essential.  The shoreline looks very pretty and rural.   Why struggle west into the wind you might ask - surely in the Baltic you go with it? Well we have to go west at some point so it's better to do it through the comparativ...