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Thursday, May 25, 2023

Bothnian Sea, 22NM NE of Ulvöhamn

We spent an extra day in Ulvöhamn to wait out a blow. Then, the next day, as work laptop was closed we hoisted anchor and headed out. An “auf wiedersehen” rang from the shore. Lille Ø was the first visiting boat this year, we had been told.

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As we will head more north, the last couple of weeks has been constant monitoring of the ice charts. Now finally the Bay of Bothnia was ice-free enough that the Finnish icebreaker fleet could head to summer quarters. This means we could continue sailing! Convenient, given that this is another long weekend.

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We’re now following the Swedish coastline - some four-ish miles offshore - on a broad reach with the windvane steering. The sun is already low in the horizon, and the next watch change is at midnight. Soon we’ll enter the Kvarken area.

Happy Towel Day, everybody!



From the logbook

Time Position Course Speed Log Weather Remarks
25.05. 14:50 Z 63°1'10"N 18°38'46"E 10° 0kt 977.1NM wind 2.4kt 227° baro 1016 hPa Started main engine
25.05. 14:59 Z 63°1'7"N 18°39'1"E 104° 2.4kt 977.1NM wind 2.7kt 274° baro 1016 hPa Motoring
25.05. 15:02 Z 63°1'8"N 18°39'7"E 56° 2.2kt 977.2NM wind 4.7kt 284° baro 1016 hPa Motor stopped, sailing with Main, Genoa 1
25.05. 15:24 Z 63°1'45"N 18°41'20"E 73° 4.7kt 978.4NM wind 9.5kt 310° baro 1016 hPa Autopilot activated
25.05. 16:00 Z 63°3'24"N 18°48'4"E 60° 5.8kt 981.9NM wind 13.2kt 302° baro 1015 hPa Bergie on watch, Suski to bed
25.05. 16:15 Z 63°4'8"N 18°50'59"E 68° 6.1kt 983.4NM wind 16.9kt 296° sea state 3/10 clouds 6/8 visibility 7/10 baro 1015 hPa Autopilot deactivated, windvane steering
25.05. 16:42 Z 63°5'17"N 18°55'24"E 70° 6kt 985.7NM wind 11.3kt 282° baro 1015 hPa A little bit annoying wind situation, changing between 10kt and 22kt. Some swell from the west banging sails when wind drops
25.05. 17:00 Z 63°6'9"N 18°58'4"E 65° 4.7kt 987.2NM wind 9.7kt 277° baro 1015 hPa Hourly position log
25.05. 17:15 Z 63°7'6"N 19°0'18"E 54° 5.9kt 988.6NM wind 19.6kt 258° baro 1015 hPa Moved spinnaker halyard to the windward side of the pulpit to prevent it slamming the genoa and shaking the whole rig. Seems a lot happier in clean air
25.05. 18:00 Z 63°9'31"N 19°8'1"E 60° 6.1kt 992.9NM wind 17.3kt 288° baro 1015 hPa Hourly position log
25.05. 18:03 Z 63°9'41"N 19°8'33"E 54° 5.8kt 993.2NM wind 17.2kt 272° sea state 3/10 clouds 6/8 visibility 7/10 baro 1015 hPa Deployed hydrogenerator
25.05. 19:00 Z 63°12'12"N 19°17'10"E 70° 4.7kt 997.9NM wind 12.3kt 283° baro 1015 hPa Hourly position log
25.05. 19:37 Z 63°13'35"N 19°22'7"E 50° 3.2kt 1000.5NM wind 7.2kt 273° sea state 3/10 clouds 4/8 visibility 7/10 baro 1014 hPa Autopilot activated. Too light wind for the vane
25.05. 19:42 Z 63°13'47"N 19°22'50"E 63° 5.5kt 1000.9NM wind 13.8kt 260° baro 1014 hPa Autopilot deactivated. Back to windvane
25.05. 20:00 Z 63°14'43"N 19°25'59"E 72° 5.1kt 1002.7NM wind 13.2kt 292° baro 1014 hPa Hourly position log
25.05. 20:48 Z 63°17'28"N 19°33'1"E 68° 4.6kt 1006.9NM wind 12.3kt 266° baro 1014 hPa Between the passing SCA ship and the rocks on the starboard, having to adjust the vane quite a bit
25.05. 21:00 Z 63°18'13"N 19°34'47"E 46° 5.8kt 1008NM wind 15.8kt 276° baro 1014 hPa Hourly position log
25.05. 21:24 Z 63°19'33"N 19°38'18"E 81° 5.1kt 1010.1NM wind 10.9kt 275° sea state 3/10 clouds 7/8 visibility 7/10 baro 1014 hPa Switched to wing-on-wing, need to get a bit lower on the wind
25.05. 22:00 Z 63°20'36"N 19°44'9"E 71° 4.7kt 1013NM wind 10.8kt 271° baro 1014 hPa Hourly position log
25.05. 22:06 Z 63°20'48"N 19°45'4"E 47° 4.6kt 1013.5NM wind 12.2kt 284° baro 1014 hPa Suski on watch, Bergie to bed
25.05. 23:00 Z 63°23'31"N 19°52'36"E 46° 4.2kt 1017.9NM wind 9.6kt 258° baro 1013 hPa Hourly position log
25.05. 23:01 Z 63°23'34"N 19°52'42"E 53° 4.8kt 1017.9NM wind 9.7kt 255° sea state 2/10 clouds 7/8 visibility 7/10 baro 1013 hPa Smetti out about 30 min ago.
25.05. 23:39 Z 63°25'1"N 19°55'54"E 70° 1.8kt 1020NM wind 3.8kt 255° sea state 2/10 clouds 7/8 visibility 7/10 baro 1013 hPa Hand steering. Wind died to 5 kn. And it is very bright. #windvane