Carra Tidings

19^th June

Given that I had arrived at the boat at 0140 in the morning, it was never going to be an early start. But with no tides and only a short hop of 10nm to the club island there wasn’t too much pressure to get up and off.

I started the engine but within seconds the engine sounded like it was going to jump off its mounts…not good. I rushed to stop it. Mags had changed the fuel filter the day before and although she had bled the fuel line and run it for 15 mins, clearly overnight some residual air had collected in one place. We opened the breather value – started the engine again and closed it again once the air had gone and thankfully it then ran smoothly.

All morning there was a steady stream of boats leaving the marina – off to celebrate midsummer which is perhaps the biggest day in the Scandinavian calendar as the midnight sun never sets. We joined the steady stream which was matched only by the stream from the skies as a drizzle got heavier and the skies got darker. It would be a wet midsummer.

The Marina club house is on an island which is about 1.5 hours from the marina. We had been worried there might not be enough space and would be slightly relieved if we had to anchor off, as we had yet to complete a bows to mooring with our stern anchor with just the 2 of us. The club has a couple of pontoons and although there were about 30 boats already tied up, there was plenty room for some more. So no escape – we would have to use the stern anchor. Thankfully the rain deterred any chance of being a spectator sport. About 3-4 boat lengths away Mags dropped the anchor and slowly we headed for the pontoon. With our shiny new bow ladders fitted she was able to step ashore…thankfully no dramas.

The island is incredibly well set up: 2 saunas, BBQ areas, several fire pits, picnic tables and a marquee which was just as well given the weather. About 6 o’clock, the BBQs were fired up and all crews emptied from the boats, clearly for some the party had started some time ago. We all collected in the marquee and out came the table cloths, candlesticks, meat was soon cooking and the celebrating had started. We had the club musician on our table and he got out his guitar and there was a Swedish sing along. Mags was very disappointed that this wasn’t an Abba fest –but included such well known Swedish folk songs as “I am the king of the swingers, the jungle VIP” in Swedish – including actions!

Before bed we had a quick wander round the island. On the other side, are the sandy beaches from where the island derives its name Sandon – Sand Island. Apparent a lovely place to anchor. We will definitely be visiting the island many times.