Slowly to Stockholm

We had a nice couple of days in Trosa, a small but quaint town with many wooden houses lining the river bank. We took the dinghy and tried to venture up river but got caught in the Trosa version of rapids at the outskirts of town and had to turn back after nearly swamping the inflatable!

Trosa river before the rapids

Trosa town

We’d had enough of marinas so on 26^th June sailed north to Stora Marskair. Another lovely archipelago anchorage. The weather is finally beginning to warm up and Pete was sailing in shorts and a T shirt which rarely happens at home. We actually made use of our new cockpit tent to keep off the sun when we anchored.

We had planned to stop at another natural harbour on the night of the 27^th but a low was forecast with strong North West winds and, as we could not seem to find an anchorage with good shelter, we went the 14NM to Karlsund marina on a really hot and sultry day. A rather typical marina - top prices with minimal services, no fresh water points on the guest pontoon, and no fresh bread in the shop. Added to that, it was very hot, at least 30deg. under the cockpit cover.

As forecast, the front passed through during the night and we woke up to a dull, cool and blustery day. Wandering Star and Jomora fuelled up (at inflated marina prices), and we again headed roughly north east as the day warmed up and the sky cleared. We arrived at what is probably the best anchorage we have stayed in to date, (Agno Tvattfatet – don’t try to say it fast!). This natural harbour is almost totally enclosed except for a 20m wide channel which leads into a tree lined lagoon. At the north end of the lagoon is a small Sea Scout camp where a dozen or so young folk had dinghies pulled up on the shore. After we had anchored and launched the dinghy we spoke to a lady who was supervising and she told us that the children had built or renovated all the dinghies and were now on holiday to try them out. It was great to sit in the cockpit with Anne and Alan Jan and Chris (from Wandering Star) and watch the young ones having fun.

 

Tvattfatet entry, Wandering Star, and the young ones sailing

 

Tvattfatet Bay taken from Jomora

The boys exploring

Finally the big day dawns. On Thursday 27^th June we sailed (or rather motored), to Stockholm. We elected to take the picturesque route through the village of Boo (lots of inane jokes ), and through a series of canalised lakes where some of the cuttings are only just wide enough for two boats to pass. This route passes some of the finest houses in the Stockholm area all with moorings, boat docks and saunas on jetties - like the Fal estuary with attitude. This “short cut” exits on to the main channel into Stockholm city and we motored past big inter island ferries on one side and what looked like royal parkland residences on the other to the Wasahamen marina.

This marina is the equivalent of the Sixhaven marina in Amsterdam in that it is as about as close as a masted vessel can get to the centre of the city and although crowded and expensive is almost a “must do” for a day or two.

Wasaharmen marina

Looking across at Stockholm old town

 

Onwards towards Stockholm - Trosa

WE arrived at Nykoping (pronounced nuushowping) on Monday 10^th June

Nykoping was our first experience of the dreaded mooring booms. They consist of five to eight metre poles running from the pontoon attached to a buoy at the outer end. They are too flimsy to stand on, have a silly little eye on the end above the buoy, have no fendering on the pole, and can easily scratch the hull because the boat fenders roll up off them.  We managed to put a nice rub mark on the hull! They are definitely the most unpopular of the many mooring systems used in Sweden.

You can just make out the dreaded fingers, facilities and restaurant in the background

At Nykoping, after completing some maintenance work for a couple of days, Pete jumped ship to travel back home to see his Mum while Keren managed shipboard chores.

Nykoping is a nice little town as you can see from the pictures below:

Keren loves photographing sunsets! 

Old warehouses by the harbour turned into cafes 

Looking upriver to the town centre 

The castle

Peter arrived back on board on Wednesday 21st June with Alan and Anne Ramsden, and after a rest day to get over the journey we extricated ourselves from the mooring and sailed down the long sound and through the islands of the archipelago to Stendorran. A blustery 13 mile motor into a strong easterly head wind, but very nice because the sun was shining and we could admire the many scenic islands and sounds.

Typical archipelago pilotage. Attention required!

 

Stendorran (“stone door”, because of the rocks close together at the entrance) is a very pretty totally enclosed natural harbour. The islands are a nature reserve with pathways and a “naturum” (visitor’s centre) with information on all the flowers, birds and beasts that inhabit the archipelago.

Here we witnessed first-hand boats mooring bows to the rocks. The technique is to drop a light stern anchor on a rope line and then motor to the rocks on the shore where a crew member leaps ashore and secures to bow lines either to rings provided, a nearby tree or into cracks in the rocks using little pitons and a hammer. It all looks a bit of a palaver to us especially as it is dependent on the boat being head to the wind to avoid it slewing alongside the rocks. - Think we will stick to anchoring!

Swedish style rock mooring

Jomora style anchorage

 

On Saturday 22^nd June we left Stendorran and had a lovely downwind sail in the sun to Trosa. Quite a windy day with lots of fairly intricate pilotage around the islands so we sailed with just the genoa, furling and unfurling it to suit the wind and the need to see the buoys.

Chris and Jan on Wandering Star were at the Rosa marina to meet us and watch our first mooring using stern buoys and bows to the pontoon. We have bought a Swedish style mooring buoy hook for this exercise and it all went according to plan! A lunch of Walenbogare (Swedish veal hamburger with mashed potatoes), a walk round town, a rest in the afternoon and a boozy session before dinner rounded of the day.

Starboard hand dunny (toilet)

 

Trosa

 

Boozing in Jomora, what a bunch!

 

Nykoping

Kalmar was a nice stop. The guest harbour is right in the centre of town close to the main line railway station which has good connections to both Copenhagen and Stockholm. It is however, not noisy and there are very good facilities. We stopped in Kalmar for two days to stock up on pilot books and food because from here north we planned to stop at natural harbours rather than marinas wherever possible. We also did the tourist bit and visited the castle / walked the town.

Kalmar Castle

On Wednesday 5^th June we sailed north in sparkling sunshine to our first natural harbour Kiddeholmen. These natural harbours are why the east coast of Sweden is so popular. The entrances are usually between granite rocks, so care is needed, but the passages in, although they may be quite narrow, usually have plenty of water.

Kiddeholmen

When we  had anchored we knew why we had taken all the trouble to come this far!  Hardly a ripple on the water, all by ourselves and we could hear the birds singing in the trees close by.
We sailed on North to a little marina called Ido, nice but both the café and restaurant were shut. It is a bit bizarre but a lot of places like this only open from mid June to mid / end August. The season here is evidently very short!

The closed restaurant at Ido

 

If all the small marinas are effectively closed lets stick to anchorages we thought, so apart from one marina stop at Fyrruden for fuel and water, the next few days we stuck to anchoring at natural harbours.

The photos below give an idea of what they are like:

 

We are at anchor, but there is a boat moored to the shore

 

Close to the rocks in 8m of water

 

We are now at Nykoping, (10th June) which is actually at the start of the Stockholm archipelago. We will stay for 10 days while we do some minor chores, (like service the anchor winch and the manual bilge pump), and Pete goes back home to visit his Mum.

 

Kalmar, almost at the archipelago

We have had a weary week of it.
Ystad, although a forced stop due to weather was quite a nice town:

 

 

 

We found a nice café (Konditore), that had terrific coffee and filled sandwiches. Keren enjoyed the seafood sandwich which contained prawns and crab , crème fraiche, mayonnaise and cream cheese!

 



 My filled Bagel was pretty good too

 

We left Ystad on May 30th (Thursday) and sailed against an easterly wind and swell to a small town with a large marina (and not a lot else) called Simrishamn, where we again waited two days for the wind to change, or at least ease!

 

By now we were getting thoroughly tired of this bit of Sweden and it's weather so we decided to leave early on June 1st and make the 55nm trip direct to Utklippan. Utklippan is a rock with a lighthouse situated off the south east corner of the Swedish mainland, which has had a tiny harbour of refuge blasted into the granite.

 

At first we were full of joy because the wind seemed settled in the NNE which meant we could just lay the island close hauled. We should have known better. After two hours the  wind veered due east and we were back to hard on the wind motor sailing and crashing into the seas.

 

Utklippan is a lonely outpost in the Baltic mainly used now by yachts making passage. It is a lighthouse, now unmanned, with some buildings used as a hostel in the high summer and lots of sea birds. We like sea birds as much as the next person, but it's the guano that kills Utklippan as a resort. Step off the boat and it is everywhere, about an inch deep!

 

A lonely spot

 



The white on the tyres is not paint!

 

The next day (June 2) we planned another longish trip, some 53nm from Utklippan to Kalmar through the sound between the mainland and the island of Oland, but the misty rain and the head wind made us give up 12nm short and enter the tiny mainland port of Ekenas.

 

What a delightful little place. 15 or so boats, a rackety old boatyard and a collection of wooden homes. To cap it all the misty rain rolled away and  we spent the evening in blazing sunshine.

 









Ekenas, note the stern buoys, another trick to learn!

 

By 11a.m. the next day June 3rd (Monday) we had sailed to Kalmar and tied up in the guest harbour which is right in the city. Welcome to the flesh spots, kebabs for supper, and the locals saying that the weather will get better from here on. Away with the woolly fleeces and break out the shorts!?!