Carra Tidings

Kristianopel

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.

Karlskrona

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.