No Big Virgin for us but we see seals
Mosies – that was the buzzing sound we awoke to – hoards of them. Slow moving, as they had feasted all night – on us! All thoughts of preserving the insect population disappeared rapidly and we killed at least 20 before breakfast. We left early, keen to benefit from the windless, mirror like conditions. We were wanting to make a lunch stop at an island with a rather exposed harbour. Given that there was only 2.5m water depth in the harbour we needed no swell and benign conditions. So we set Carra on a path to her date with Big Virgin or Storjungfrun in Swedish – the name of the Island. Which is supposed to be very attractive. As we rounded the southern tip of the Island there was a slight swell from the last few days of SWs…. Whilst very slight it was about 20-30cm. 2.5m minus 1.9m minus 0.3m is the square root of bugger all – so no landing for us. With inuendos aplenty, we had a quick peek at the Big Virgin and then set sail.
If you look carefully you can see a seal
Just south of our harbour Agön lay a couple of islands with a red box around them on the chart. It was a seal protection area. Keen to know whether we could pass through it, I googled rules for seal protection areas. To find lots of articles about seal hunting in Sweden and that they can kill 600 a year. So I am not sure if this about protection area or target practise! Eventually I found that you cant go through them from 1st Feb – 31st Aug……so we went as close as we could to see them.
Plan A was to anchor, but it failed to set the first time and there was a rather tempting wooden staging with a cluster of boats on it. We dropped the stern anchor for the first time this year and moored up. The idea is to drop it about 3 boat lengths from the dock. We had dropped it a bit late – so pulled it back up – under the watchful eye of the entire pontoon. Attempt 2 I was happy with – and we were at a better angle too. There were loos, rubbish, bbq areas, a sauna and a library – and all for £1.50 a night- a bargain! Sheltered from the wind it was a real sun trap.
Below we had some more stowaways onboard as some of the mosi population had hitched a ride – 30 mins of fun playing chase the mosi. Happy that the cull had been successful. We decided to cross the island to the old harbour. Clearly our slaughtering activity had made the mosi-net and their friends came out on the walk to seek their revenge. So we walked the 2km path waving our arms frenetically in the vain hope of preventing the inevitable.
During the last Ice age the weight of the ice in the Baltic was so great that it pressed down on the rocks keeping them surpressed. When it melted the rocks started to rise – to “Spring Back” as it is called here – and they are still rising at 8mm a year. It doesn’t sound much – but it is 2m in 250 years.
The harbour we were visiting was hundreds of years old. Tiny little red houses (would it be anything else) and boat houses bordered a little inlet. Full of atmosphere of days gone by from the lichen covered racks used to dry the nets to the tiny houses designed to preserve the heat in the cold harsh winters. Everything looked very functional til you realised that all the boat sheds were about 2m higher than the water.
We had 2 relaxing days there, a few boat jobs done, Mags went swimming – it is getting warmer – now a positively barmy 14C and I practised my guitar – is that why all the boats left our side of the pontoon?
With some very windy weather expected, I was keen to get to Hudiksvall early – where I would leave Mags and the boat to fly back to the UK for a few days. The challenge with the stern anchor is getting it up – especially having been hanging off it for 2 days, it would be well dug in. Without an electric windless – it is all muscle power. With 2 of us pulling we managed to retrieve it – always a great relief. We are still scared from an earlier occasion when it took us about 10 mins to break it out in a small harbour watched by the entire harbour. We saw the best of the day by leaving at 0630 – good wind and blue skies. We arrived in Hudiksvall where the only place to park was at 90 degrees to the expected strong wind.
What buoy?
So we made use of the stern buoys to take some of Carra’s weight to save the fenders and gelcoat from getting a pounding. Within a couple of hours it blowing a hooley F7 – a day for staying on the boat.
The next day we went to explore Hudiksvall – I have decided it has the same charm as Lowestoft – I can say that as I grew us about 8 miles away from there.
They are all empty!
The harbour is surrounded by attractive wooden buildings – screaming out for development which could fostering a café culture around the harbour. Instead they are derelict and unloved. But at least they are painted which in Lowestoft they wouldn’t be… so maybe I am being too harsh.
Next day I went back to the UK for less than 2 days – which involved a home visit for an hour. On my list of things to do was water the garden – but it was clearly not needed. Then up to Beccles to visit Mummy and take her to the hospital for a Consultants appointment. The 2 days flew by and I was back on board having brought the rain from the UK with me. Mags was a star whilst I was away and all the boat jobs were ticked off.
A last visit to Café Vilma to stock up on some tasty treats: freshly baked rolls and cakes and we were ready for the off.
The main fairway out of the Archipelago is also used by the big ferries and cruise ships to Stockholm. I say “main”, most UK sailors would describe as a narrow passage with some passing places. Passing one ferry is somewhat routine, the best bit comes when you have 2 ferries coming in opposite directions and you are at the narrow bit. It concentrates the mind.
The next few days were governed by a big spreadsheet of jobs to do to get Carra ready for launching. Some routine maintenance, some required new skills to be learnt – like repairing some gelcoat in the cockpit. But there was one job I was dreading – to fix our loos or heads in boaty speak. Those that followed our travels last year, will know that I spent a fair amount of time trying to fix it. Like a baby that has to be winded, Carra has had to burp when trying to pass poo, so that the bowl can be emptied…. It has been a problem since birth. Tedious doesn’t even cover it but embarrassing when you have guests. So I was on a mission. We had even bought an endoscope so that we can trace pipe runs that couldn’t be seen and to check for any blockages. Be thankfully you have been spared the photos. I don’t know if I should admit this – but I even wrote a formula of the forces involved to try and problem solve this…. So now you know how sad I am. Stage Directions: Background Science Music. To continue with the science we had the banana test…. How many pumps to pass a banana with a measured quantity of water. It was a family activity with Mags holding the bucket to catch said banana. I am quite sure I could now write a dissertation for a Masters on our Heads. The only possible issue I could find was a potential air lock on the outlet pipe. So I spent a day modifying the joinery so the pipe would get a better drop to the seacock (the hole in the boat) and shortening the pipe. Frustratingly, there was only a very marginal improvement in the banana test. To placate myself, I decided that the air lock would only be an issue in the water… the true test would come once launched.
It is always with a sense of home coming when we get to the marina – back in our Scandinavian second home.
After 5 days of being in the shed – the need to climb down a ladder and walk 500m to the loo was wearing rather thin. The thought of an ensuite loo was very appealing.
Frustratingly as we turned the corner to head south so did the wind – but at least with lots of islands and rock to negotiate it did flatten out the sea. According to the chart there were navigation buoys directing you around the shallow, narrow entrance into the harbour– but all bar one set were missing. Karingsund is a perfect harbour, very sheltered from all directions and an old fishing harbour with lots of fishing huts lining the natural bay in various states of repair.
We returned having failed in our mission but having explored the church and the beacon at a giddy height of 25m above sea level….. Mags slept.
Once anything growing us dead, the birds move off and after a while it regenerates. You know when you are downwind of one of these islands. Once tied up at Vaxholm – Jill went off in search of cinnamon buns and was successful! We made our way back to the Marina. Sad that the cruise was over but pleased that we had completed our trip and had seen everything that we had wanted to see and been able to share our adventure with so many friends……. Mags was awake!
Despite being close to Vaxholm and sailing past the Castle many times we have never actually visited it. But it was part of the Rally activities – so we boarded the little ferry across to the Island. The island fortress was one of the principal old naval defences of Stockholm. As you might expect it is made of thick stone – but surprisingly refined inside. The castle was used at the time of the Russian invasion in 17th and 18th Centuries. That night all the Rally had drinks onboard Duo our Finnish Boat ( Merja, Saku, Kirsti and Heppo) – Kirsti starting the evening off with a song about the Rally.
Previously we had done this passage when we brought Carra up from Germany – though under engine. But with time and familiarity of sailing close to big lumps of granite our confidence has grown and we have plucked up courage to sail though these rocky passages – now we enjoy sailing through them. Though at the particularly interesting narrow, shallow passage with a double dog leg we did roll up the Yankee ( the big sail at the front) to slow us down; as doing 7 knots with 3.5m below you would be a tad uncomfortable. We entered the wonderfully sheltered natural harbour of Ringson which we planned to make home until the southerly winds arrived in 2 days. Tucked up safely wa
s Blue Orchid ( we had met them in Vastervik) – we had been playing boat leap frog with them since then, so it was nice to catch up them again. They invited us over for drinks in the cockpit – very civilised.
After breakfast we went for a walk around Island. We tied up the dinghy to a rock and went to investigate the red wooden information hut which even had a library inside. The small island is a nature reserve and still has a working farm with animals – which allows you to see how farms would have been in the archipelago in former times.
At one point we were shadowed by a minesweeper that was about 200m astern of us and it shadowed our every move and maintained our speed for about 30 mins….. it felt like a slow motion car chase at 5 knots. We then lost them by turning down the equivalent of a pedestrian alley that led to the entrance to our anchorage which was about 10 m wide and 2.9m deep ( we are 4m wide and 1.9m deep). Once into Kupa Klint it deepened and we were nicely sheltered by the 30m cliff ( tall for here) that bounded the anchorage on one side, the other side being a series of small skerries. The anchorage was very still and you could hear and see the fish jumping all around. As evening fell the wind died completely in the distant archipelago and it was as if the islands were sitting on a mirror. With the sun setting the rocks glow pink and it is what makes evenings so special here.
wanted to go, it meant that we had decided to stay put for the day. Giving me the chance to try and resolve a problem we had with the heads ( the toilet). So I spent much of the day with marigolds on fixing the pump. Having replaced the valve gasket, I reassembled the pump and performed the banana test. A simulation test – which it passed but the proof is in the pudding or the aftermath of the pudding!
Carra Tidings 