On The Move

Internet has been scarce since we left the nest (Hallberg-Rassy harbor, that is, and its wifi connection). We’re finally connected again now that we’ve crossed over into Norway. Let me catch you up.

Basically, we are in boat moving mode. The objective is to get to Lerwick, Shetland Islands, via Tananger, Norway, some 500 miles from our starting point. We’ve about three weeks to do it.

The initial plan was to head straight across the Skagerrak to Skagen on the northernmost tip of Denmark. But one thing we’ve learned the hard way is you don’t fight Mother Nature and win, and when all our land-based ducks were in a row to leave HR harbor, the winds were blowing straight at us from – you guessed it – the very direction we had to go to get to Skagen.

The prospect of 40 open sea miles against a fresh breeze on our first outing was unappealing. So we altered the plan. We would now put the wind on our port quarter and do what any sensible cruising sailor does – go with the flow.

We left Ellos Tuesday afternoon around 2 p.m. The seas built to two meters and the winds peaked near gale force, making our first day on the sea not very comfortable, even as a downwind boat. Both Jocelyn and I suffered that awful seasick feeling a bit.

But by 8 p.m. we were safe on a mooring ball in a little cove behind Kalvon Island for our last night in Sweden.

Near 9 a.m. the next morning, we cast off for Fredrikstad, Norway, the breeze still fresh on our port quarter. We stopped for lunch and a visit to Customs in Stromstad, Sweden. A reality here is checking in and out of the EU whenever possible to avoid the VAT tax. Thankfully, Norway is not an EU country, making it a convenient way for us to show time outside the EU.

A buxom blond lady welcomed us as we asked permission to raft up to her big wooden boat in downtown Fredrikstad. She told us she was a school teacher and was soon off to a year-end celebration with her colleagues. School had gotten out for summer earlier that day. After a stretch of the legs and visit to the Telenor store to get our USB modem working again, we settled in for the evening.

The next morning dawned bright a clear. I marched over to Norwegian Customs for yet more stamps, then back to the boat. We were under way again by 10 a.m. The wind had backed a bit to the south and was in our teeth as we struggled back out the Fredrikstad approaches. Once clear, we turned west and sailed close hauled all the way to an anchoring spot at Kjerringvik at the mouth of the Sandefjord.

Tomorrow, the wind is forecast to ease, making it a good day to try to make some miles.