SIRENA IV 2018

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...