Kiel Canal to Sweden

September 09, 2020

Sunset off the coast of Denmark.
Massive wind farms and shipping traffic were the two most common things we had to avoid.

We spent a couple days at a marina just north of Kiel, refilling water and resupplying milk, eggs, and produce. Of course it was also important to stock up on German chocolate and wine! We also had a mechanic complete the 50 hour service of our Volvo diesel engine. It is very important to check up on the engine and also to maintain the warranty so we were happy to find a full-service mechanic.

We left Laboe with beautiful conditions to sail to Sweden. We had plans to sail either to Visby, in Gotland, or further north to one of the islands in the Stockholm archipelago. However after a fantastic 24 hours (save some pretty sloppy conditions just south of Denmark where we lost the wind and were surrounded by some wake-producing ships), the wind and seas really picked up and the kids started to feel uncomfortable and maybe a little scared. While I was taking a morning nap, Hans and the kids decided to take a break and stop at the first best port. Simrishamn, Sweden was only an hour or so away so that was an easy decision. If we had continued we would have been guaranteed to have some fun, fast sailing, but we'd also be guaranteed to have unhappy kids.

Two happy sailors. After 10 years of medical school, residency, work, and raising kids, it feels so good to be sailing together again. For ten years we've been working on the same project with the same goal, but we've been working separately on individual portions of the whole. Now that we're on the boat, we're finally able to work actively as a team, at the same time, together! Sailing requires communication, teamwork, patience, and humor. We laid the groundwork for this when we were on Whisper and it is gratifying to step back into a part of our relationship that both challenges us and is also exciting and fun. I also catch the kids seeing us work together on deck with this look of "are those our parents?" Freja has commented multiple times, "you and pappa are really good sailors." I don't know about that, but it's fun to show the kids a totally different side of us.

The necessities for watch keeping: tea, headlamp, logbook, guidebook for future destination research, candy, timer, binoculars, GPS/AIS/radar. Kids' iPads charging for the next screen time bonanza.

Saturday morning pancakes, regardless of weather, location, or sea state.

iPad time in the bee-berth when we're underway

Simrishamn was a sweet little town with lots of old houses and cobblestone streets. We'd hoped for pizza for dinner but it was a Sunday night and only one restaurant was open in town. Hamburgers and Swedish meatballs instead.

I'm pretty sure I had to pee when Hans took this picture so ignore my awkward pose and facial expression, but look at that light!

The next morning we set sail again, with gorgeous southerly winds and sunny, dry weather. We had a beautiful sail all day and our night watches were easy. We were away from any shipping lanes for the first time during a night watch so I was actually able to doze with a 20 minute timer and listen to my audiobook. It was our best passage so far in terms of wind, weather, and ease.

Spa at sea--foot massages and lotion for the pint size crew members.

We found an idyllic anchorage in the Sankt Anna archipelago, a little south of Stockholm. Since we had no guidebooks or paper charts and the coast is littered with massive granite boulders, we unabashedly looked for anchored boats with the AIS. Bingo! We found one in a spot with all-around protection so we changed course and wove our way in between small islands and big rocks.

It was exactly the kind of place we needed. The anchor sunk deep into the mud, the harbor entrance was tiny so we were protected from winds and waves from every direction, and the area around the anchorage was uninhabited. We had a perfect spot to rest and explore. It felt like we were beginning the cruising life as we had imagined. Not the two-week delivery trip we first embarked on!

The kids immediately went ashore and begged to camp there the next night. In the morning, before I had even woken up, Freja had packed her backpack, woken up her sister, and gathered their bedding and snacks. We dropped them off ashore and went back to the boat. Kid-free for the first time in a month!

We spent hours cleaning and reorganizing after the trip, shared a bottle of wine for lunch, and relaxed in the sunny cockpit. I made spaghetti bolognese for dinner and, per the kids' instructions, we went ashore at 6pm. The kids had arranged an amazing campsite and fire pit. After a tour, dinner, and a fire, we gave them the handheld VHF radio, kissed them goodnight, and went back to the boat. We didn't hear from them again until 6am when they called on the radio saying they were "a little bit cold." I shuttled them back to the boat and fed them oatmeal. Happy kids indeed!