Josin's 2025 cruise

Light rain this morning, so departure was delayed a while. Round-the-boat swim in 17,8 water seemed warmer than the rain. Odd. Rather wetter though. Large breakfast to pre-empt elevenses. Away at a leisurely ten am after the rain had blown through. Good sailing wind, 15 knots, but on the quarter, waves also, so we roll, and roll, and roll…….  Goal today is a natural harbour called Dannemark, about 30 nm north, which ought to be a suitable day’s sailing. Grey skies mean the end of the last few days’ sunshine, but the forecast for tomorrow is that summer will return. 

All’s well, from rolypolyJohn

Hello again, after a short pause. From Lilla Bommen in the heart of Gothenberg, it is less than 10 minutes walk to the Central railway station. From there, early saturday morning, I travelled by train and ferry to Sandefjord for a short visit for a family event, and travelled back, arriving on sunday late afternoon. Untied, and pottered down the river and west to Hönö harbour for the night, where the plan was to see a man on monday morning about a windscreen for the boat. No man. Telephone answering machine revealed that he was still on holiday. I stayed around for a couple of hours, in the hopes that he was just a bit late for work, first day after holiday, but no, holiday it still was. Bother. Never mind. 

A motorsailing, sunshine day today, going north, with a mostly southerly breeze, just not strong enough to stop the engine and still make reasonable progress. This bay is obviously very popular, with three buoys occupied, three other boats at anchor, and many small boats tied up to the shore. Even a sandy beach. Lovely and quiet. Water temp 17,9 degrees, so a swim round the boat was possible before the fingers turned white. Underwater hull and prop still looking remarkably clean, seen from the surface, so next dip will be with a snorkel mask on to have a better look. Now I wonder where the boatgremlin has hidden that. Haven’t seen it since……….hmmm. I must have stowed it somewhere logical, didn’t I?

From a sunwarm SailorJohn. 

At Lille Bommen marina, right between a very “Tall Ship” and the Opera House,  that complex building, which, in direct contrast to the simplicity of Oslo’s, must have been designed by a team of architects, all with different ideas, and all allowed one bit of it. Odd. But the locals are surely proud of it. 

Nice downwind sail today, althought the first hour was with almost enough wind and yesterday’s rollers. After that it was good. The southern approaches amongst the islands up to the Göta River were very full of traffic, ferries, motor boats and sail boats all in their own directions. No peace at all, but felt competitive against three other sailors going the same way. Score: second place. They surely must have all been bigger than Josin, were they not? 

Just across the roads, via a pedestrian bridge, is an enormous shopping center, which will receive my attention later today. It is gradually clouding over, rain is forecast, so indoor shopping will be popular. 

All’s well, from SailorJohn

A proper summers day, but not the best for sailors, too little wind. Very relaxing though. A short motor-day today. 

I sometimes post a picture with my blog. I have heard that those who get notified by e-mail when a new post is published, can read the post there, but do not see the pictures. If you want to see pictures, click on josinjohn.com and you get to the blog, and the pictures. NB. Better post a picture with this!

How about this for a boat name? Seen in Kalmar harbour. 

  

We roll, we pitch, we motor. Started the day with a good westerly wind, 15 knots or so, and sailing and progress were splendid. But, the forcast was right for once, and the wind has gradually backed and weakened and is now south, about 5 to 8 knots. The sails cannot cope with little wind, dead aft, and waves from yesterday and this morning, so they have been stowed away and the engine has taken over. We roll, we pitch, we progress with bumps and jerks. 

Do something else, like useful.  OK. What? De-frost the fridge. Good idea. Wrap the cold stuff in the eiderdown  and set the fan to blast the frost. What a strange collection of jars and packets emerged, half of which ought to  be discarded. Specially that carton of custard, which still looks like orange juice. Much prefer cream with the berries. Still got two hours to go, so all will hopefully be normal before tying up. 

Last night’s front produced some spectacular thunder and lightning, good entertainment before the rain arrived. An intrepid photographer set up his tripod and camera to capture the spectacle, well covered by an enormous umbrella. 

There are high clouds creeping in from the west now, so today’s bright sunshine is being gradually hidden. More weather on the way. I wonder what!

If I was prone to seasickness, I would surely be suffering by now. Only another hour and a half. I’ll survive. 

From a well-shaken, not stirred, SailorJohn

Another long, sailing day, from Falsterbo Canal to here. Up to 25 knots of wind from the south east, which fair blasted us along, and that, coupled with a very strong current emptying the Baltic resulted in between 7 and 8 knots over the ground. Never made such progress before!  Rorbert the autopilot had difficulties with the quartering waves, so much hand steering. Incredibly warm day, slightly hazy sky, there is a rainfront due soon, and the temperature is still 23 degrees at nearly a quarter to nine, PM. 

Gilleleje is very much a fishing port, with at least one well-stocked shop on the quayside, therefore:

  
Tasty-fresh!  Followed by the last of the strawberries. Weary this evening, so early to bed. The rainfront must be just about here, the wind has dropped and veered almost 180 degrees, changing the sailboat harbour music completely. Close all ports and hatches!

SailorJohn signs out for today. 

Having filled up the diesel tank and the fridge in Ystad, we set off again, going west, and Lo!, the wind was now in the SE, at 10 to12 knots. Perfect for gennaker. A bit of a struggle to get it hoisted and pulling, especially as the sheet rope detatched itself from the sail at the wrong moment. But now, WOW! 11 knots of wind and over six kts of boat speed. We’ll be there before tea, well, maybe not, but….,      To complete the bliss, it is a glorious sunny, clear-sky day, definitely SUMMER, at last!

It’s a very hard life, isn’t it. At times that is. 

😊😊😊😍😍😍😎😎

Simrishamn looked to be very full, so we came a few miles further south. Nice little harbour, obviously mostly for fishing boats, but space for a vistor or three, one Danish, one Swedish, and one Norwegian. 

It has been a loooooong day’s motoring, elleven hours and sixtysix miles, in hardly a breath of wind except for a couple of hours when the genoa was able to help a bit. Rolypoly swell, good for the balance! Sunshine, but high veilclouds to prevent sunburn. This must be only the third or fourth day of shorts weather, and the forecast says that there is another front system coming. Ah! Summer, where art thou?

Went for a little stroll around the town, nay village rather, and the houses and gardens were very similar to Danish. Didn’t seem Swedish at all. The harbour-master, or rather -mistress, of adequate girth and authority, spoke skånsk dialect. (Sounds like a mixture of Danish and Sognefjord). Tricky for a foreigner. ‘Toilet’ was luckily international. Only asked for about half the usual harbour fee, which was a surprise, but then, it is a very small harbour. 

Tomorrow will probably be another motoring day. The intermediate, ca lunchtime, goal is Ystad, which has much-needed diesel, and also a supermarket, (the last carton of orange juice at breakfast time today turned out to be custard, ugh!), then onward westward, maybe as far as the canal at Falsterbo, if the wind blows a bit favourably, which is forecast, yes, well, we’ll see. 

From a weary SailorJohn. 

Lovely day today, sunshine all the way from Kalmar. Lovely wind, too, but in the wrong direction, except for the first two hours or so. A welcoming harbourmaster indicated winds of more favourable direction tomorrow, but very weak. Next boat after us to come in, a German one, had come from the west, near Simrishamn, and had sailed spinnaker almost all the 40 miles. He could hardly stop smiling! 

Tomorrow further west, destination depends on the wind direction. SW to Christiansø, or W to Hanø or further to Simrishamn. Tomorrow is another boating day, whatever!

From a sunny JosinJohn

It has been an electric day, of installing a new miracle-gizmo to solve charging problems. Cleared the prospected space. Nice box arrives late morning. Unpack with anticipation. Admire the colour, design and build quality.  Read the instructions. Read them again. Compare unit with the instructions. What’s missing? What else do I need? Back to the shop. Everything now. Eight hours later, having checked the instructions one more time, time to test. Turn on the switches, set the throttle, push the buttons and start. Scan the gauges. Everything looks right. Sigh of relief. Let run. Test by turning on the kettle. Instant response, as predicted. Good. Stop engine and clear up and put away. Now realised how tired and hungry. MacDonalds right next door. No brainer. Excellent pommefrites, tasty tomato ketchup, tough chicken. Hunger tamed. Back to boat and strawberries and cream. Succulent. TV on. Zapp. TV off. Write blogg. 

Very early to bed tonight for a very early start tomorrow. Got some time to make up. Almost a westerly gale today, reported by incoming boats, telling stories, so maybe an electric day wasn’t so bad after all. Lighter winds forecast for tomorrow, still westerly, which is reasonably OK. We’ll see. 

From an electrically charged SailorJohn.