Wednesday, October 11, 2023

Intermission: Sailing the Alboran Sea with Tinarasia

Our friends bought Alu Plaisance Legende 36, an aluminium centerboard sailboat with an electric inboard, that was located in Gibraltar. They wanted to move the vessel to a more affordable Spanish shipyard for a refit, and asked us to help with the delivery.

We flew to Malaga on October 3rd with luggage full of sailboat equipment. With a rental car we were able to bring all that plus some provisions over to Gibraltar. The next couple of days were hectic, getting the badly neglected boat ready for the sea. Some safety equipment, new radios and electronics, replacement for most of the running rigging, the list was long.

We also performed the traditional ship renaming ritual, with the boat now called Tinarasia (in line with the first boat of the same owners, Kumikana).

Finally on Friday we were ready for the shakedown sail. A short motor run to the marina in La Linea to clear ourselves and the vessel into EU. Then sails up, and tacking around the weird local wind conditions that surround the Rock of Gibraltar.

We arrived to the target of this test sail, the marina at Sotogrande just before sunset. Now we knew how the boat behaved under sail and (electric) motor. As is traditional, we also had several things to fix, from broken autopilot bracket to a cockroach problem caused by the copious amounts of open food containers left on board by the previous owner. At 1pm we felt ready to press on, and plotted a course east.

Due to the large amounts of lobster pots, and the available favourable current, we decided to head well offshore, tacking our way just north of the main Mediterranean shipping lane.

Winds were lighter than forecasted, but we kept going. Our slow but steady progress was rewarded with many of the wonders of offshore sailing. Dolphins playing in our bow wave, bioluminiscent plankton in our wake, shooting stars, and a large pod of pilot whales that followed us for a while.

But also various issues. The DC-DC system feeding our house bank kept failing. AIS and VHF antennas somehow lost their range. And that autopilot bracket fix we made in Sotogrande failed and had to be MacGyvered. Cruising life.

After three days and two nights at sea, we pulled into the marina of Almerimar. Our plan was to reprovision here and do some repairs (starting with a badly leaking shaft seal) before pressing on. As is often in the Mediterranean, there would be no sailing winds for the next week, and so we’d need to motor. Our plan was to do this with the help of a recently acquired petrol generator.

But as it turned out, the generator wasn’t strong enough to keep up with the battery charger. We took a stock of all the local (and well equipped) chandleries, but none of them could supply us with a suitable 48V charger in time. So that means the boat shall stay here for the winter. Not the worst option, and as it happens, also the base of operations for the boat with the three previous owners.

This now leaves us some time to finish a few more boat projects, as well as to try the Mediterranean sailing experience of going out for some anchoring and swimming. Then back to Berlin and the Project Season.

• Distance shakedown sail: 25.5NM
• Distance passage: 168.4NM

Wednesday, September 20, 2023

Tegeler See - Gothia

After a lazy morning, we hoisted anchor and followed a cruise ship through the Spandau locks. Only a short wait for a freighter coming the other way, and we were let in.

Finally back in our “home territory”! Almost six months, and over three thousand miles have passed since we were here the last time. Today is a bit rolly, so hoisting the mast shall wait until tomorrow.

• Distance today: 6.3NM
• Total distance: 3022.3NM
• Engine hours: 1.5

Tuesday, September 19, 2023

Marienverder - Tegeler See

Morning started with a bit of a hassle. We had ordered breakfast buns, but the door they were behind was locked. So we drank the morning coffee, prepared for harbour manouvers and got the buns right as the harbour office opened. Then we glided off from the pier and turned our bow towards Lehnitz locks.

At the locks we needed to wait for about 30 minutes before being taken in for the ride down. After the locks it was time to find a spot to wait for the canal to be open again some 7NM away. We anchored at Lehnitzsee and enjoyed a nice peaceful lunch break followed by a nap. At 15:30 we started the engine again and paced ourselves so, that we were at the restrictions area 2 minutes before 17. The divers were already out of the water and drying their gear out as we passed.

To try something new, we turned towards Tegeler See to check it out. We dropped our anchor at the side of the island of Scharfenberg and are now enjoying a quiet night.

• Distance today: 28.4 NM
• Total distance: 3016 NM
• Engine hours: 6.3
• Lunch: Nettle pancakes

Monday, September 18, 2023

Schwedt - Marienwerder

Some canal works closer to Berlin force us to pace our trip a little bit differently, as we’ll need to pass a certain point tomorrow after 5pm. So today’s project was motoring through the first locks and the ship elevator.

The morning went by with a quite leisurely motoring through the national parks of the Oder valley. Lots of birds but not much other wildlife this time.

At Hohensaaten we stopped at the sport boat pier and called the lock keeper. Quite promptly we were served out own private locking and were on our way. At Niederfinow ship elevator we got even luckier, as the lights turned green just as we arrived, and we were able to enter the new elevator right away. Then up 36m and onwards!

The canal works posed not much issue this time. We still radioed ahead to confirm how to pass one of the workboats. Then we pulled into the familiar marina of Marienwerder. We’ll get a supply of fresh bread here before continuing tomorrow morning.

• Distance today: 35.6NM
• Total distance: 2987.6NM
• Engine hours: 7.6
• Lunch: Miisa’s couscous salad

Sunday, September 17, 2023

Szczecin - Schwedt

The morning started with practically no wind. As we are now a motor boat that didn’t matter. We took off and headed towards West-Oder. As it is a Sunday there were quite a few people out on the water fishing.

As we reached Germany, we set up our row of courtesy flags in the order of countries visited.

We called ahead in to the Stroam Camping Schwedt to check weather there was availability in their guest moorings that are suitable for us. Luckily a spot with 1.8m depth was available, so we booked it. Now we are once again enjoying the territory of apfelschorle and radler!

• Distance today: 27.7 NM
• Total distance: 2952 NM
• Engine hours: 5.7
• Lunch today: spydäri

Friday, September 15, 2023

Swinoujscie - Szczecin

After a proper night’s sleep, it was time to move on. We waited for the boat gas station to open at 9am so we could fill up for the long motoring back to Berlin. Then towards Szczecin.

Timings with the ferries worked perfectly, and the only moment of confusion was a tanker that turned sideways across the whole channel. They used the horn signals to tell us which way to go around, making the pass easy.

Wind on the Szczecin Lagoon was light and right on the nose, so we decided to just motor through. Suski was enjoying the sun on the foredeck, steering with the autopilot remote from there.

We found a spot on the dock at AZS without problems, and have the mast crane booked for early tomorrow. With that, we spent the remaining daylight getting the boat ready. Removing sails, boom, and the solar panels.

• Distance today: 37NM
• Total distance: 2924.3NM
• Engine hours: 8.7
• Lunch: potato bracioles

Thursday, September 14, 2023

Swinoujscie

As we reached Bornholm, the winds we had been waiting for arrived. 15 to 20 knots, sometimes gusting to 25kn on the beam. Lille Ø was flying at hull speed and surfing down the fastly developing waves with 8 knots. We periodically reefed the genoa a bit to balance out the weather helm so that it would be easier for Starbuck (the wind vane). Other than that we could just sit and enjoy the ride.

As the night fell we got the corner of yet another raincloud but luckily the worst of it went past us. Rest of the night was spent gazing at the stars and the bioluminescent creatures blinking in our wake. For this night our green positional lamp had decided to dim itself into nearly non visible state, something we need to look at before our next evening of motoring.

Coming in at night is always exciting but we managed to find our way in and took the first available free spot right at the harbour entrance. This trip concludes our “Rund Rügen mit abstand” tour. In total 2753,9 NM at sea!

• Distance today: 81.7 NM
• Total distance: 2887.3 NM
• Engine hours: 0.4
• too early for lunch!

Wednesday, September 13, 2023

Baltic Proper, 104NM SSW of Kalmar

The night was dark. Only a thin sliver of moon, and very few lights around. Wind died around midnight, and as we were in the main shipping lanes, we elected to motor though them.

After a few false starts, wind returned at dawn. By now the sea state had quieted completely, and so we were able to sail with even just 3-4kt of wind, like you would on a lake. However, the other thing brought on by the dawn was a thick layer of fog. At times only a couple of boat lengths were visible. We proceeded cautiously using the fog horn and monitoring AIS.

There was a sudden invasion of small flies on all the exposed boat surfaces. These were followed by a flock of small birds that made the various booms and spreaders their home. Eventually a hawk appeared that caught one of the smaller birds, and proceeded to enjoy its lunch on the starboard spreader and on our lazy bag. Feathers everywhere!

Before our own lunchtime we entered Danish waters. Now we could get online briefly to download new weather, and to blog. Looks like the weather window towards Poland is still good. And even the sky is getting a bit lighter!

• Distance today: 77.3NM
• Total distance: 2805.6NM
• Engine hours: 6.2
• Lunch: spaghetti bolognese

Tuesday, September 12, 2023

Kalmar Strait, 24NM S of Kalmar

Back on the boat, and back on the water. We arrived from Finland to Kalmar late last evening, did a new provisioning round, and then left in the morning. The weather window towards south wasn’t looking amazing, but this time of the year you take what’s available.

Right out of the harbour we were greeted by the Danish royal yacht Dannebrog. They must have taken more photos of us than we of them, as we hoisted sail when motoring past them!

What followed was a day of slow tacking along the Kalmarsund. The forecasted nice sunny day turned out to be a series of thunderstorms. No matter, we kept plugging along.

Slightly before sunset the skies cleared, and as Weather Routing suggested, we were able to turn the boat to the course towards Bornholm and Poland. Let’s see if the winds hold up for the night!

• Distance today: 38.5NM
• Total distance: 2728.3NM
• Engine hours: 0.4
• Lunch: cheese and vegetable wraps

Sunday, September 3, 2023

Intermission: Sailing the Viking Age ship Sotka

Life has its unpredictable nature and this time it served us a bitter deal with Suski’s father passing away. We left the boat in Kalmar and came back to Finland to grieve and help organize the funeral. After a couple of weeks on dry land we were offered the chance to sail a replica of a real Viking Age ship Sotka and we took it.

We arrived to the boat in Vuosaari around 18 and met with the captain and the crew. As the first task, we bailed all the water from the boat that had seeped or rained in, and packed everyones belongings to the bow and stern - the only properly dry places on board. We were 14 persons for the Friday leg to Suomenlinna which meant that we could swap rowing positions along the route. After a briefing we got onboard and took the assigned seats. As there is no engine and we were facing direct headwind for the whole journey, it meant that we were going to row the whole 9.2 NM. Rowing with 5 pairs of oars meant that 10 persons were working, 1 steering and 3 were on break or responsible of the navigation.

As the crew had a mix of newbies like me or seasoned viking ship sailors like Bergie, the rowing got a bit of getting used to and to get the timing right for everyone. The starboard stermost oar is the pacing oar. This person is responsible of the speed and rhythm of rowing that everyone needs to follow. The port side position 1 takes their rythm from the starboard one and everyone else follows the first oar on their side. A task much harder than you would think, especially when you add the sea swell into the mix.

We were making a good 2.2 knots of speed against the swell and 15 kn winds. After the first hour we started a rotating break plan. Starting from the first oars we took a rolling ten minute break. When the first pair was done, it was time to break for the second and then the third and fourth and finally the fifth pair. This way there is no need to stop completely and we could keep up the movement at all times. As the sun slowly set, we used a battery powered headlamp as our running light, after all, we were a mere rowing boat going about its business.

We tried to pass the Hevossalmi bridge during its opening time, but we missed it by only a minute. Instead of waiting for the next opening we simply lowered the mast, went under the bridge and lifted the mast back up. We approached Suomenlinna island fortress under the guidance of its lighthouse, dropped the mast again to save us an hour of rowing to get to the guest harbour.

To our suprise the harbour was very full and not a single spot for our boat size was available. So we squeezed ourselves in to a slightly too narrow and short boom mooring. As the hull shape gets narrower pretty quickly we submerged the booms low enough to fit. The poor fenders in between did not look happy at all!

As the rest of the crew took the ferry back to mainland we stayed onboard and spent the night on board Sotka under the starry sky.

Saturday started with the rest of the crew arriving at 7:20. We prepared the sail on second reef as the the gusts were blowing at 23 knots. After that was done, the captain gave us a sailing briefing and the harbour departure briefing. Suski got the spot of starboard first, so she got to choose the speed and pace. As we needed some space for hoisting the sails, we rowed the boat dead against the wind and the swell out of the harbour.

The more experienced crew hoisted the sail and we took a beam reach course towards our destination. As soon as the sail was up and we had gathered enough speed, the oars came in and most of the crew was instructed to sit on the windward side to balance the boat.

Sailing the square rig was very interesting and somehow a bit similar than sailing our big Parasailor (where the wing sort of operates as a yard). We were rocking 5 knots of speed in about a meter swell. The boat was performing absolutely perfectly! Suski was trimming the sheets and at times also the braces too. The bow section was in charge of the tack lines. Gybing was super simple and easy as you just needed to loosen one side brace, sheet and tack and tighten it on the other side.

For the Lauttasaari bridges we dropped the sail and mast and rowed under them. As the wind had already reduced and we were about to sail in the lee of Helsinki city center, we also opened the reefs from the sail and after hoisting the mast we pulled up the full sail.

We informed the iron age market of Pukkisaari of our arrival with the sounding of a signal horn (made out of a real horn!), and were greeted by multiple spectators on land. We dropped the sail quite near and rowed the rest of the way to our mooring. We set a stern anchor and tied the bow to the trees on shore. The adventure was over. What an amazing opportunity and fun it was! Thank you to both of the captains and our fellow crew.

Picture by Niklas Häggblom

• Distance Friday: 9.2NM
• Distance Saturday: 5.3NM

Read more »