Journeys

• 2021 shakedown cruise on the Baltic Sea

  We bought Lille Ø in May 2021. The summer was spent getting this 42 year old boat ready for the sea again. This included rebuilding the cabin top, replacing the electrical system with a new 12V LiFePO4 setup, and installing a set of modern NMEA2000 navigation instruments powered by Signal K.

  With all these changes, we only had a month to actually sail. So this trip should be mostly seen as a "shakedown cruise" to see how the boat and all the new equipment behaves, and figuring out what still needs to be done before a longer cruise next year.

  Despite the engine trouble in the beginning, we had a great trip! We found out that the boat sails beautifully even in bigger seas, and visited lots of nice places. Especially the Blekinge archipelago with all its skerries was a memorable one.

  The trip also showed us the strength of belonging to an active sailing club. Without the help of friends at the club, we'd likely still be in Henningsdorf waiting for a mechanic!

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• 2022 Baltic cruise

  We sailed in the protection of the Swedish and Finnish archipelago for five months and 2500 nautical miles, starting from Easter 2022. Our aim was to enjoy the protected anchorages and explore the natural beauty and sailability of the archipelago for as long as possible.

  The ability to work remotely in the boat office made this all possible powered by our solar panels and the 4G networks of the Nordic countries. We explored the Gulf of Finland all the way to Loviisa and came back 5 months later with some provisions still left in the bilge that were bought in Berlin. We stayed in 42 different natural harbours along the way. We managed to sail on ⅔ of the days on the trip.

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• 2023 Baltic cruise

  In 2023 we sailed a bit over 3000NM around the island of Rügen. The trip took us from Poland west to Greifswalder Bodden, Stralsund, west of Hiddensee and up north to Swedish Höga Kusten, Töre, Haparandahamn, Tornio and then back towards south via Marjaniemi, Kokkola, Turku and then to complete the Finnish coast to Tallinn, Hamina and back towards west and Mariehamn, Visby, Kalmar and Swinoujscie to complete the loop around Rügen.

  Might not have been the fastest “Around Rügen” of all times, but at least we got to sail a lot!

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• 2024 Atlantic Islands cruise

  This year Lille Ø took us through the treacherous tidal waters of Scotland and the big waves of the open Atlantic Ocean to the warm waters of the Canary Islands. After careful consideration of historical weather data we made a plan that would take us on a progressively more difficult sailing trajectory to prepare us for our dream of taking Lille Ø to the sunny and warm south. Along the 4200NM we have encountered challenges that we could overcome, successes we could celebrate, and the contrast between northern waters and subtropical bliss.

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