Sailing through the Rainbow (2005 summer cruise)

Out of experience we do know that the best time for sailing in the Stockholm archipelago is late July and early August. Unfortunately work commitments prevented my wife and me to undertake our yearly expedtion at that time. Instead we managed to get two weeks off work together of which we would sail 13 days. In fact it was only 12 in the end. Because of the shorter time available compared to last year, our expectations weren't that high. Either did we plan to sail to those far away destinations we were talking about during the winter, as the Åland islands. For that we would need at least three weeks. Instead we decided to head out as far as possible the first day and then follow the wind, preferably trying to visit as many new places as possible and avoid most of those we already visited. Also, my wife always wants to see as much of the open horizon as possible.

We loaded the boat with provisions according to what we have learned on earlier voyages: potatoes, crispbread, canned food, some frozen food in a cooling box for the first days. We took a lot of oranges to make our own juice (oranges do keep very well in the bilges, much longer than any other fruit we have taken). New for this year was that we took eggs, to scramble for breakfast. Eggs do last at least a week, even without being cooled. And of course we took wine, beer, brandy and water. The morning we had planned to leave it was raining. We decided to wait until 1500 and if it stopped before that we would leave anyway. At lunchtime the rain stopped and at 1300 we were on our way. Only minutes after leaving the dock it started to rain again, but fortunately it was only a short shower. We would get much more of that later.

In the evening we reached the anchorage of Bockholmen, east of Grinda island after seven hours of sailing. This anchorage was new to us and we liked it very much. There were only a few boats, especially the first night and it was nice and quite.

The nex day brought very little wind and as we still were tired after the long sail of the day before we decided to stay and rest for another day. We had a barbeque on the rocks and in the evening we saw this funny cloud that looked like an animal or something.

This fellow was interested in our barbeque...

At Bockholmen I also took my first swim!

The next morning we started for what should become another long leg of this cruise. The wind was from the north so we decided that after quite a bit of tacking to get to Kanholmsfjärden, we would turn south. The southern part of the archipelago was completely new to us so we looked forward to a lot of new views. On Kanholmsfjärden we had a nice and fast reach in a good breeze. We met this pretty two masted vessel.

And this Vivacity beating upwind with a reef in the main. I do not know who owns this boat and we did not manage to attract their attention, possibly they were busy doing the sailing. A few miles before our destination for the day, Boskapsön, I managed to run aground. Fortunately the shallow draft twin keeler just slided up the shoal gently and we were able to push her off easily with the boathook. There is a lot to be said for shallow draft boats. Also I did know the shoal was there somewhere but failed to keep a good lookout. It could clearly be seen and later we did not understand how we could have missed it. We were sailing at only about two knots at the time so no damage occured except some scratched off bottom paint.

The skerry above is near the shoal.

Just before we arrived at Boskapsön we got some more rain which passed over quickly. Boskapsön is a nice but not very protected anchorage east of Nämdö. It was actually nearest the horizon we did come this time.

This is the view from the other side of the island which also had a small fisherman's hut and dock.

At Boskapsön we stayed only one night. The forecast was talking about a westerly gale coming through and we wanted to reach a safer anchorage before that. So the next day we moved only a short distance to Jungfruskär (Virgin skerry). This anchorage was described in the pilot book as being sheltered in all weather, but we found it quite windy in the westerly the following day anyway. No real problem though and the anchor held nicely.

This is me untangling a mooring rope under close view of the harbourmaster....

Our mooring in the lull before the gale. Actually this was early in the afternoon and the anchorage filled up nicely later. We had our little rock for ourselves as it was quite shallow on either side. No problem for an Alacrity though. I did fail to take a picture of the entrance to the anchorage during the gale. I went up there and it was a good blow, but I did not take the camera. The gale blew the whole next day and we stayed put reading and relaxing. The second night I was a bit concerned about the anchor, so I took the compass close to my bunk so I could check the bearing without leaving the cabin or having to look out of the window. Everything worked nicely though.

The next afternoon we continued to Ornö marina. It was a perfect sail in still quite strong winds and we did not even have to tack once! We wanted to go to a real marina this time to be able to take a shower and eat a dinner at the pub. We also had heared that there would be a warm front coming through with quite a lot of rain. In fact this was the beginning of a really rainy period and even if we still got some days of sun, the weather had become very unstable with several low pressure systems dominating the scene.

This is the restaurant at Ornö. We ended up eating here twice as we were forced by the rain to stay here for three nights. The food is very good indeed, and they charge accordingly. Ornö also has a food store a short walk from the marina so we could stock up some fresh food and get newspapers with depressing weather reports and some more books to read in the rain.

This is Ornö church. This picure was taken the first afternoon when it still was sunny. But already the same evening a thunderstorm came through with quite some rain. The next day it rained almost the whole day and at 1400 another thunderstorm passed right over the harbour with very strong gusts. Our cockpit cover almost blew away and the rain was so immense we actually had to bail the bilges afterwards as one of the cockpit lockers did not keep tight.

Those two days we spent mostly reading.

The second day of the warm front the local lifeboat had a show but in the steady drizzle not too many people showed up.

Finally the rain stopped and we could sail again. However, with the weather situation so unstable we cancelled all plans of going further south or farther out towards the outer islands. Instead we would sail to Härsö, my boating club's summer place which I not had been visiting before, because it is in the southern part of the archipelago and there is a very narrow passage to get there if one does not want to sail around on the outside as we now in fact had done. We decided to take the chance and go there now and then sail (or motor) the narrow passage home, thus in fact circumnavigating the central part of the archipelago.

The sail to Härsö was perfect. We had a following wind again and a strong one too. We sailed the first part of the leg with main sail only making still almost 5 knots.

The club's summer place is really nice. There is a good dock, a quiet anchorage and it even has a sauna. When we came in there were about six boats but most of them left the next day. We stayed for two nights and could have done so longer still. But the third day there was a good southerly wind which we would need to get through the narrow passage fairly easily without using the engine all the time.

The view from the entrance.

And a club dog getting his ticks removed. My wife, who is mostly responsible for the animal and wildlife section of this report also managed to photograph this one. We have no idea what it is, so please do tell if you know...(Update: I have been told it is a 'stinkbug'...)

It was about half an inch long.

Our trip through the narrow passages of Baggenstäket and Skurusundet was fairly uneventful. We managed the passage with a minimum of engine use and could even sail under Skurubron.

However, when we reached the end of Skurusundet we were greeted by an almost black sky and shortly it began to pour. I was totally soaked and then the wind disappeared. Being a bit tired and upset I ran the engine for a quarter of an hour until the wind came back.

We were then rewarded by the most magnificient rainbow I have ever seen. We did in fact literally sail through it and at a time one of the ends was only 20 m from the boat. This picture are in fact two which I have pasted together, that's why the boom and mainsail look a bit weird. Shortly after, we reached Getfoten. Still totally soaked we were glad that there is a pub on the island and we had a really good dinner to dry up. Fortunately there was no more rain that evening and during the night.

My wife found another ship's dog for the archive. The next day we sailed the last part home. It was a labourous beat against a westerly wind almost all the way home. Half way we got another downpour with some really strong gusts and I would have reefed if I had not known that the wind would drop when we neared our home port so I made do with a fisherman's reef instead (flapping mainsail in gusts). Concludingly this was definitely the wettest (in respect of rain) cruise so far. However, we had some really nice sailing (we made an effort in not trying to sail when the wind was not favorable (except for the last day when there was no choice), visited some new places and made some more improvements to the boat. Also my wife has learned some more about sailing the boat, in fact she said this was the trip when she felt she learned the most.

A simple boat stand

by Ron Hack

Simple to assemble and build. Easy to raise boat for bottom and keel work.

Materials:

1. 2 – 6”X6” timbers 8’ in length (cross timbers for boat to sit on)
2. 6 – 6”X6” timbers 2 ½’ in length (to support the cross timbers)
3. miscellaneous boards of 8’ and 10’ lengths (to make the frame rigid)

Assembly:

1. park the boat on its trailer in a flat spot with good working area
2. assemble stern cross timber (1) and stern supports (3) and strengthen with nailed horizontal and diagonal cross pieces (as illustrated in the bow supports pictured above)
3. assemble bow right (1) and left (1) supports and strengthen with horizontal and cross pieces along the side of the frame (note: the bow cross timber and centre bow support is assembled last after boat raised off trailer and the trailer removed)
4. keep in mind that the side to side frame length is 8’ to allow for working space between the supports and the keels and that the back to front frame length is 10’ to allow for boat balance and work space

Raising the boat:

1. lower the hitch end of the trailer to the ground raising the stern of the boat
2. move the stern support forward so it is just touching the boat bottom (or assemble the stern support with the stern raised)
3. place a jack (a car jack will do but a larger jack will make the job easier) under the hitch end of the trailer and raise the bow
4. when the bow is high enough, slip the 8’ bow support under the bottom of the boat and on top of the left and right supports (see picture)
5. the boat will now be sitting on the stand
6. remove the jack and the trailer and install the vertical centre bow support
7. reverse the process to put the boat back on its trailer
8. keep in mind that the length of the six supports will depend upon the height of the keels off the ground when on the boat. The goal is to raise the boat at least 1” higher than the frame of the trailer so the trailer can be pulled out.


Questions:
Contact me through the Alacrity user groups: Ron Hack sv Tulameen

2006 Summer cruise

Prologue

This year I was determined to get on the boat for a longer part of my vacation. The conditions were good as I got four whole continuous weeks off work. Still my wife and I did not want to burden my mother in-law to take care of the cat for three weeks. Also my wife had to work some hours the first week so we decided that I would start on my own for a week, then sail home to get my wife for another two week's sailing. The weather this summer had been superb. It had not rained much previously and I was a bit concerned that this would change just when we were to cruise, all by the rule that did it not rain before it surely must rain later. But I was wrong! July turned out to be the hottest and driest since 1994. A blessing after last years rainy cruise. I set out on my single-handed little cruise on Monday, July 10th. That morning it was for a change raining heavily, so I waited for it to stop and did not sail until 1630. There was the tail of a gale blowing from the SW, which was perfect to get me out some distance from the city despite the late start. I sailed with genoa only, something I never tried before. It turned out to be a safe and nice way to sail in this weather except for the little tacking I had to do to in the beginning. With genoa only, the boat really did not go to weather very well and also it is a hassle to tack (as always with the genoa, which I am now beginning to use as a light wind-downwind sail only). I reached the club harbour of Getfoten outside Vaxholm at 1930 and got some help to moor the boat. Mooring the boat single-handedly with an anchor at the stern and bows to a dock is no easy thing, but I am beginning to get the grip of it.

This is the dock at Getfoten in the evening. The next morning I continued at 0930 and sailed to another club island, Ekholmen. I had never been there before, but got the tip from a friend who never had been there either but got the tip from someone he met. So it clearly was a place that needed to be checked out. Ekholmen turned out to be one of those nice places that tries to stay out of the pilot books so it gets a bit exclusive. Still they do welcome guests. There is a good dock and a clubhouse where one can get a cup of coffee or ice-cream.

I got tucked up nicely next to a big motorboat, securely moored with stern to a bouy. As the weather forecast talked about a gale early next day and quite some strong winds even later I decided to stay here for two nights. The second evening there was a spontaneous concert with guitar and trumpet on the dock. Also I learned that the club has a tradition of welcoming the steamer "Storskär" on her evening run at 2000 by cheering and playing the trumpet (when the trumpet player is there), the ship replying with it's steam whistle. So this evening I could see the whole show.

The trumpet player is standing nearest to the camera. On thursday I was beginning to have trouble with the weather forecast. I originally had planned another stop somewhere in a natural harbour but there was still forecasts of heavy winds later that week-end and I felt that I could not sail further out and be back in time to get my wife for the second week if I had to wait for gales to abide. Instead I decided to curtail the trip and head for home directly. Depending on the weather I would stop somewhere on the way (but then I would have to stay there for two extra days until I could sail home). I headed out at 0930 in quite some wind with jib and a reef in the main. I had to beat, but with long legs on quite open water in the beginning. It worked nicely. When I reached Vaxholm I got onto a beam reach that brought me past the fortress quite quickly and I decided to continue. Of course the last run up Askrikefjärden would be a beat again but by now I was into it and it had almost become a sport to try to get home in one run. It took me 10 hours of continuous sailing, mostly upwind. I shook out the reef and took it in again twice. I lived on water and bread slices with nothing on them. Still I made it.

The sunny cruise

Well back home my wife and I decided that as I was home earlier from my single-handed cruise we could as well start earlier with our cruise. We used the week-end to provision the boat with food and wine for two weeks. As usual, when I sail with my wife great care was taken to the little luxuries onboard, such as table cloth, plant, extra cushions and things like that. Our plan was to set out on monday and so we did. Exactly as on the previous monday there was quite a lot of wind. But now we sailed with reefed main and jib in order to be able to tack more easily if the need should occur. We sailed at 1130, passed Vaxholm at 1300 and entered Ekholmen at 1530, sailing the last part with reefed main only. This was exactly the same distance I tacked up in 10 hours three days earlier. Now we had made it in four hours! I think it was now we broke our personal speed record by 0.3 knots.

Quite early that day we passed a house pontoon being towed by a tug. Also my wife took some daylight photos of Vaxholm castle.

My wife did like Ekholmen as well, although there was no trumpet playing for "Storskär" that evening. During the night there was a brisk northerly blowing making the harbour a bit bumpy. It had blown itself out by noon the next day and we started for our next stop, Gällnö. We had been there before a couple of times, but not liked it as much the last time we were there. Now we decided to try it again and we did indeed like it. This time we moored the boat on the opposite side of the anchorage. This way we got the sun into the cockpit during the evening.

In fact we liked it that much we stayed for two nights. The next day we walked a few miles to the little village where we had lunch at the café and bought some things. Unfortunately we were not allowed to buy a disposable grill because of the dry weather and risk for fire. So we had to cook the meat we bought in the frying pan.

The forecast talked of mostly light winds for a few days and we decided we would try to get into a good starting position to make the jump over open water to the outer parts of the archipelago again. So on thursday we first motored through a tiny channel and the set sail north towards the island of Kålö, another club harbour with a dock and in a perfect postion near the open water.

The harbour itself was a bit crowded, but the view to the other side was very nice.

I also took a walk to the other side of the island. From there the open water could be seen.

The next day we started at 1100 and sailed to the island of Kallskär. Kallskär is one of the few islands in the outer part of the skerries that has a protected archorage. The pilot book even calls it a "hurricane hole". On the picture below, Kallskär can be seen in the distance to the left.

While this is certainly true as far as swell is concerned I do have some doubts as for the wind. The harbour is a tiny cove with a narrow entry from the south that literally funnels the wind into the harbour. This was mentioned in the pilot for southerlies and although we did have southerlies when we arrived we knew that the wind soon would veer into the north so we moored inside anyway. After a two hour trip over open water, making more that 5 knots most of the time we arrived into an anchorage that was totally empty! And that with the pilot book's warning in mind that the anchorage was popular and fenders would often be needed.

This is the viev over the anchorage from the top of the highest hill on the island. The narrow entrance is to the left.

We did like Kallskär very much. The only downside was the draft, with even northerly winds blowing through the anchorage. In fact it was quite cold here, I guess this is how the place got it's name. Kallskär means "Cold Skerry". In the evening did in fact arrive some more boats, but still not at all many and fenders where definitely not needed. Our plan was to stay here for two nights. The last time we were in the outer skerries we only stayed one night and regretted it since. So we had one of our nice dinners and settled for a night that became quite calm. The next morning we got fog that lifted at noon. The forecast talked about some more days with mostly light winds and I was a bit tempted to try for another outer skerry, Rödlöga, but my wife had by now become very keen on restaurant food and some civilisation. So we decided to make for Finhamn instead. Even that morning there was a fog, even denser than the day before. I was very surprised when I saw three boats anchored just outside the harbour entrance when the fog lifted a bit. At 1215 we left the harbour. Visibility was not yet good but improving steadily and good enough to see other vessels. Navigation could be managed by GPS anyway. So we sailed.

We saw some kajaks out in the open water. They were not easy to spot in the still not perfect vis.

Only a few miles before our destination we got into a thunderstorm with heavy rain, but fortunately no severe gusts. It was over in less than an hour and the sun was back again. As it was quite late when we arrived we decided to stay two nights and go to the restaurant the next day. Here we would also be able to fill the water and buy some more food. Unfortunately the visit at the restaurant turned out to be some kind of anti-climax. It was quite a long way to go and finally there, everything was so over-efficient and fast we got the main course before we had time to finish our drinks. The food was not very good either. In my opinion the best food for sailors in conditions like ours is a good steak with a nice bottle of red. When we have been out for a week or more living on canned food and hard tack we do not need or want fancy dishes in funny bowels fitted with italian names. This is all good and well at home in town (especially if you don't need to pay for it yourself), but out here, give me a steak at a decent price any time. I do understand though that these places (or many of them) thrive on day visitors coming out by ferry from town for a swim and a sunday dinner and maybe they indeed do want the fancy food. Anyway, it'd better be tasty then at least. So somewhat disappointed having missed the hop to Rödlöga for some uninspiring food we decided to make the best of it and do some island hopping in the area, adding some places we had not gone before to our list. The first one of those was only one hour's sail away. Stora Kalholmen, an island with the oldest youth hostel in the archipelago and quite some nice achorage. The place turned out to be nice enough and it even had water and a tiny shop where canned food and bread could be had. So next time we can go here instead of Finhamn.

This is the youth hostel or parts of it. The picture primarlily shows this little fluffy dog in the middle which is the reason why the house is out of focus... The next day we continued to a place called Säck (which means bag). It is an anchorage shaped just like a bag with a narrow entrace to the north. Due to favorable winds we did in fact both sail in and out of the anchorage without having to do a single tack. This was also the best part of it. Otherwise the anchorage was very crowded and quite dirty (I found some garbage disposed of in the middle of the forest althouth there was a litter station nearby). During these days we had light winds and very sunny and warm weather. Even at nights it was quite warm now and long gone were the sweaters and blankets we used in the evening in the beginning of the cruise.

Even the water was warm enough to be quite comfortable once one had been in it for a while. In fact during this cruise we never ever used a marina with a shower so all washing was done in the sea. We still had our wine even if the place felt more like a camping lot.

The next day we decided to sail to a cove we had visited before and liked very much. Then we were almost alone and we hoped for similar conditions this time. On the way we passed a little seaside village, Norra Stavsudda, that has a store and a pub and we stopped for lunch.

This was exactly the kind of seaside restaurant I was talking about. We had hamburgers and a beer and it was perfect. At that time I was beginning to get a bit annoyed by the beard I was developing. I had decided not to shave during this cruise and now it was itching more and more.

After lunch we continued to Lådna to arrive there in the afternoon (I did not note the exact time in the log for some reason). There were some boats but we got a spot quite for ourselves. At Norra Stavsudda we finally had managed to purchase another disposable grill and some fresh meat and now we were eager to have a barbecue the next day. My wife was especillay looking forward to this. The morning was clouded but it did not rain during the whole day. But right in the evening a thunderstorm appeared with some heavy rain.

Disappointed, we had to fry the meat in the frying pan once more. The rain held during most part of the night. We decided to leave the next morning as it was time to make some way homewards. More rain and light winds were forecast and indeed this day was the only one with continuous rain that did not stop until shortly before we arrived at our destination, Hästholmen south of Grinda. On our way we passed the dock of Lådna village where the "Skerry doctor"'s boat was moored.

At Hästholmen we had the chance to dry out and watch all the others having barbecues. We, though, had already eaten our meat and although we now had the grill we did no longer have anything to put on it. Maybe I should learn to fish? In fact we saw a lot of fish this season, oh well. Now our cruise was coming to an end. Our last stop before home was once again Getfoten were we had a good meal at the pub (a simple and decent one as well). I had moored the boat to a dock under which some swallows had nested. I did not get a good picture though.

If you look closely you can see the dots of their eyes. The birds were very nice all right, but they do wake very early and then they make noise and walk on the deck just above my head. Anyway we also woke early and started the last leg home at 0930. For once we had a following wind and a good one, too so we arrived at our home berth around 1300. 15 days at sea together, plus my little prelude made this cruise a really good one. Even this time we had made some improvements to the boat. We carried an old big umbrella that was lashed as a parasoll and did work perfectly.

I also carried a new anchor, a Bruce. I am not really sure what I am to think of it. My impression after this cruise is that it does not set as easily as the mushroom I used before, but once set it does not drag. In fact as of yet the Bruce has never dragged. But once or twice I had to make a new run because it woud not set on the first try. The first time this happened to med was at Ekholmen when it was too late to stop the boat and it bumped into the dock, fortunately with no damage to either. We also improved our mooring technique in natural harbours. Now once I am sure the anchor has set I go forward and do the actual rock climbing while my wife stops the boat with the anchor line. This cruise was one of the nicest yet. We did not sail an excessive distance this time (I have not yet summed it up, but I guess it is less than even last year (not counting my single-handed part). Still, we did see the outer skerries again, and visited new places. And most important: we had the best weather yet. A final note with regard to bird flue worries (which were quite strong in the late winter). We did not see a single dead bird. There were fewer ducks as usual (but not at Getfoten!), but a lot of Swans. Even the cormorants seem to thrive well.