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.

Boo – a Mink looking through the hatch onboard Gilliatt- Photo by Martin Lunt

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.