Sweden and South again

We went across the straight to Sweden. I had emailed the marina there for the price but had not had a reply. It is only 2.5 miles across and on arrival we realised that this particular marina is incredibly expensive. We watched local come and tie up for a short while and leave again. We decided to do the same and went for a walk around the town before leaving and going back across to Denmark where we anchored for a couple of nights.

It looked like the weather was going to be poor for a while so we decided to start heading South again and go to Germany again.

After the anchorage just South of Helsingor we had a fast sail to Rodvig where we again anchored and then started through the straight North of the island of Mon.

It is all very shallow and the channel is very twisty but fairly well marked and all was fine. We anchored half way for the night but as is often the case here found that the bottom was weedy and we had difficulty finding a clear patch for the anchor. There was little wind overnight so it was fine and we continued to Vordingborg where we went into the marina and an alongside berth rather than a 'box' berth but still with the difficult to use hoops rather than cleats to moor to.

All of the intake water filters need careful watching as they are collecting lots of the weed which floats around.

We are now going South West towards the Kiel canal but the problem looks like being the wind which is basically forecast to be Westerly and wet for a while.

So far the sailing in the Baltic has been pretty good, we haven't used the engine much at all. There is little fetch for waves to build so it has all been a bit like 'lake' sailing. Down side is the lack of decent anchorages and places to land with the dinghy which means using marinas but these are reasonable compared with the UK at about £18 to £20 a night and some of the more remote ones are less. Food prices in Denmark are generally around 40% higher than home and the cost of eating out can be very high. We found that Germany and Holland are considerably less expensive.

Copenhagen and Helsingoer

After Koge came Copenhagen. We chose one of the smaller marinas within easy cycling distance of the city. This was Kalkbranderihaven which has 250 berths, the one a few yards away has over 1000. The people were incredibly nice to us and the yacht club invited us to use any of their facilities and when they had a party invited us for a meal. The only problem we discovered was that the restaurant in the marina is really a night club which kept everyone awake until 03.30 on the Sunday morning.

Copenhagen is a nice city, Mo liked it more than me, it is a real tourist trap with a couple of cruise liners disgorging several thousand people each day. A day was spent looking round and the next visiting the national museum which has an incredible amount to see.

After catching up on sleep Sunday night we set off North. We tried anchoring close to Copenhagen but it was rocky and we ended up several miles up the coats where we found sand fairly close in. A couple of nights were spent there before sailing on to Helsingoer.

This is at the point where Denmark is just two and a half miles from Sweden and where the Danes collected dues from passing ships for centauries, which made Denmark wealthy at that time.

The fortress there is impressive and despite being somewhat expensive to look over we felt it was worth the price.

Across the water is a marina in the Swedish city of Helsingborg where we will head for a couple of nights to see the old city.

The cost of marinas here is reasonable compared to the UK at around £18 to £20 a night but the price of food in the supermarkets is high, nearly twice as much as the UK and surprisingly alcohol is just a bit more expensive until you make the mistake I made in Copenhagen ordering a bottle of beer which was opened before I realised that it cost £8.50!!!!

After Sweden we are looking forward to getting back to Germany to re stock the larder with reasonably priced food and after that anchoring in the Frisian islands will be nice again.

North through Dane Land

The Kiel canal was a bit like driving down a motorway with trees blocking the view on each side and after the Dutch and earlier French canals it seemed rather bland.

At the Kiel end we stopped for a few days before sailing towards Heiligenhaven but the wind forgot the forecast and turned East dead on our nose. After tacking for hours we anchored off a beach which was fine and the next morning headed for Heiligenhaven. This is just a tourist trap and we simply anchored off and left the next morning.

The next stop was Burgstaaken for a night then a rather poor anchorage North West of Gedser point before going to Klintholm marina on the island of Mon.

I have often noticed that many sailing folk from this area don't have very good anchor gear or skills and we are beginning to realise that they rarely anchor they just tend to sail from marina to marina which explains things. So far we have found very few decent anchorages.

It is all fairly flat but Mo did notice the local mountain - a sand dune at about 100ft high.

We were two days sail from Copenhagen but a gale was forecast and looking on the chart we noticed Koge tucked in the bay. It has a recently built marina and is very reasonably priced so we headed there.

A pleasant day was spent looking round the old town and visiting the museum where they give you an I pad with ear phones with an audio description all the exhibits. A really good system.

Currently Ti Gitu is sat in a 'box' berth in Koge waiting for the gale to pass. These 'box' berths are not easy to use, especially with 40ft, 15 tons and a cross wind. They are just two poles out from the pontoon which the boat passes through having to lasso them for the stern lines before getting a line ashore at the bow. Not easy at the best of times and in Klintholm it is made doubly difficult as there are not cleats to lasso but hoops that a rope has to be passed through. If there is no one ashore to help it is nearly impossible. Not designed by a sailor!! We have been somewhat comforted to see that the locals all seem to get it a wrong as us!!