Carra Tidings

Everyone in the harbour was talking about the impending storm (ex Storm Antonio), due  in the next few days and where they were going to spend it.  40-60 knots of wind were spoken about in hushed tones,  these strengths could easily cause damage a boat if not moored in the right place.

Remarkably we sailed all the way to Simishamn  – a first for the season! Tom invited us to raft up next to him, I think he preferred it was us than some stranger with hob nail boots – the inside boat has everyone trample over their decks. So in turn, we invited them to come and eat supper with us. Mags had made a big batch of chilli. They are a remarkable couple who have led a fascinating life, true adventurers. Simishamn looked an interesting little town, worth exploring had we been staying for longer but we wanted to move the next day to get a safe position in Ystad.

 

Another 5am start and boats were already streaming out of the harbour,  it felt like a race but we just let them go and set our own pace. The sea round the headland was lumpy, but soon we had the sails down and were inside the marina and we managed to get an inside berth in the direction we wanted, despite some questionable seamanship from a Dutch boat determined to beat us in. I then proceeded to spend the next hour securing Carra with our thick storm lines, extra lines, snubbers (big springs to absorb the shock in the lines) and chafe guards.

Our good friends Martin and Christine were already in the harbour – they kindly invited us for supper. It was a great evening and good to catch up with them. Martin is in the same place with his mother as mine – so it was reassuring to hear that our challenges and frustrations were similar.

The next day in the light rain, we explored the historic town  – some grand houses but also some little coloured town cottages bordered by roses and hollyhocks. Ystad, is also home to Wallender, the Swedish TV Detective. It portrays Ystad as crime central, think Midsommer Murders – or Mass Murder in Middle England as we call it.

In the harbour, I managed to spot the other famous resident  – a mink. Martin and Christine had warned us about them, as they have found one on their deck looking in through the hatch! The photo is theirs taken on their boat!

 

Ystad has the best chandlery every – part museum, part shop. Some of the old navigation lights were classic – a pole with an oil lamp on the top! We wandered up to the church one evening to hear the traditional trumpeter who has bugled every 15 mins through the night to reassure the town was safe from fire, a tradition dating back hundreds of years. On our way up, we heard the fire engines race off to a fire…. And the other tradition is that the bugler doesn’t bugle when the fire brigade have been called out. I can add it to my list of famous things I almost saw – sunset over Ayers rock – only it was raining or Rio’s Christ on a mountain – only he had scaffolding round him.

 

By the next evening, the wind was picking up, Storm Antonio was definitely approaching, time to turn Bertie off – our wind generator. He is such a drama queen – he always manages to make a fresh breeze sound like a gale. But this time it was a gale and too much whirring is bad for him. By now it was double blobs of rain and remarkably many boat owners started appearing  to put out more ropes….bizarre behaviour  given that this wind had been well forecast and it was much easier to have done it when it was dry!

Another boat we had been leap frogging was Infinity – Amanda and Richard. So it was lovely to have them finally on board and get to know them. We had first met them at the Harwich Yacht Club last year.

Storm bound for the next few days,  we decided that now was  a good time to move the car from Svinninge to our new Marina in Augustenborg – as we weren’t going anywhere anyway. We left to catch the train – at the windiest – large gusts of wind were rattling through the marina and the outer boats were jumping around like a bucking bronchos. The highest we saw was 37 knots  – we were happy with Carra in her inner berth.

3 days later we were  back at Carra and we checked her over. One snubber had failed, and one line had slightly chafed but there had been 2 others in the same direction – so she wouldn’t have been at risk had it worn through – but it just shows you the power of the wind.

 

Yet another 5 o’clock start! I went to use the bow thruster – nothing. I assumed that I hadn’t turned it on. But no – it wasn’t working. Nothing to be done about it, we set off, soon followed by Constance. We had a miserable first hour of the trip directly into waves, with a lumpy sea to get out of the Karlskrona. The bow would rise up, then crash down losing all momentum. Once out of the bay,  It was with great relief that we could turn out of the swell and the waves. The wind direction meant that we couldn’t sail,  but enough to take the waves at a different angle so we could maintain a good speed – albeit motor sailing.

Our destination was the tiny island of Hanö . Windy conditions and small harbours are an interesting combination when you don’t have a bow thruster ( a small motor at the front of the boat that pushes your bow sideways – it makes parking a big boat much easier). Add in to the mix a harbourmaster than wants you to go in a spot you wouldn’t have chosen and it looked a small spot too, plus you want to be facing out, to facilitate leaving so it meant you needed to moor downwind with the fresh wind blowing you off. If that wasn’t enough Tom Cunliffe is watching you, waiting to take your lines. After a couple of  attempts to get Carra into the right spot to make my final approach to moor , and by now I had drawn a crowd……we moored and much to my relief we didn’t hit anything and we just fitted in with 2 ft to spare at either end.

Hanö harbour was lovely, it was so well loved, everything freshly painted, flowers around the village – it just oozed pride and that it was cherished by the residents. The island also  had a fascinating history, having been a base for the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars. On the northern side was the English Cemetery, where 15 sailors were laid to rest. Today, whenever a Royal Navy ship passes – they stop and lay a wreath here. It was a moving site

Back on board, we had just got the dinghy up on deck, to pack it away, when we had the first boat rafted up next to us. Quickly followed by a second. We then set about trying to find out what was wrong with our bow thruster. We got out our brand new amp meter and ready to use the fault finding skills that we had learnt  on an electrics course that we had done earlier in the year. We tested the fuses, the battery, the thruster and everything was ok. We had reached the limit of our knowledge. At which point the harbour mistress appeared, so Mags went to ask her if she knew of any electrical engineers on the Island. As luck would have it, our neighbour on the second boat out, heard the conversation and asked if we had tested the solenoid….. it had a solenoid? … that was news to us….clearly we had only done the basic electrics course! He said he knew a little bit and would come and have a look at it. A little bit meant he was an electrical engineer and within about 1 hr had diagnosed that a thermal switch had failed. But he was able to by pass the system which meant he had got the bow thruster working. But it also mean we could order and new part and get it send on ahead to our next harbour. How lucky were we that Harald had moored next to us. Remarkably, he kept his boat in Svinninge where we had kept Carra for the 8 years….. it is a small world. Our bow thruster has now been christened Harald in honour of our hero – the kindness of strangers.

Yet another early start, Kalmar Castle looking elegant bathed in the morning sunlight, rather than the cornerstone of Swedish defence that it once was. A tedious, but at least it was sunny, motor to a lovely little harbour called Kristianopel. It was picture perfect, lots of wooden houses and a very Danish styled white church dominating the harbour. You could see the Danish influence of its former heritage. The village was built within the old defensive walls as this had been a Danish stronghold. As the Finns and Swedes headed home, due to their  summer holidays ending, we noticed that our neighbours were more likely to be German and Danish boats with the occasional Dutch boat.

By now we were seeing a pattern in the weather, it would start off fairly light then build throughout the day to about 24-28 knots by about 2pm but always in the direction  that we wanted to go in. Not ideal – this meant many early starts and lots of motor sailing to avoid the strong head winds, summer seemed to have taken a holiday. There was also another pattern developing  – Klintemala, Kalmar, Kristianopel and next on the list was Karlskrona.

Up and off at 5am, we motor sailed all the way to the corner of Sweden.  Mags had done some baking in Kalmar – some yummy Moonstar oaty biscuits, so called due to the origin of the recipe. They were good crew morale boasters. Once round the  bottom corner of Sweden, the sea became lumpy and wind picked up but we could finally sail – hoorah – and we had a cracking sail to Karlskrona. Karlskrona has been home to the Swedish Navy for centuries – think Plymouth and Portsmouth combined and like Plymouth it has a huge breakwater which was much appreciated as it calmed the sea.

Due to a Cruising Association Committee meeting, we needed to spend an extra day there but it did give us the chance to explore the part of  old Naval Base open to the public. The city was grand, as befitting its role in Swedish history – it was where most of the Swedish Navy had been constructed from the Vasa onwards.

 

For the whole trip to here we had been playing leap frog with Constance – Tom and Roz’s boat whom we had over for drinks on our first night of our cruise. Constance is an elegant yacht – and I was curious to see below –  So it was lovely to be invited with the crew of Melodrama (William and Karen) onboard for drinks. Below decks she lived up to my expectations – she had real character and lots of beautiful wood and stove to keep warm. It was a fun evening and great to get to know some more people who keep their boats at Augestenborg.