30-31 July 2022
My vacation approaches, finally. This year, it is synchronized with various people and occasions. First, our friends Tobias, Barbara, and their children come from Germany and want to sail with us a little. Then, a conference of my company takes place in Stockholm in the second half of August and I have to be there, so my vacation sailing trip should end in Stockholm.
Tobias, Barbara and their children drive from Germany by car. We want to meet them under their way, so to say and we sail south. The harbuour of Västervik is set as the meeting point at the beginning of their vacation in Sweden, on Saturday 6th of August. Our plan is to sail there in the previous weekend, 30-31 of July, and in the week after that I would work from my boat office. Then, we would sail with our friends north, maybe to Nyköping, or sail between the skerries close to Västervik.
Leaving Nyköping
Following this plan, we sail away from Nyköping on Saturday, 30th of July, in the morning. The forecast with southeast wind lets us hope for a nice sailing on close haul for the most of the trip, when we leave the narrow passages between Nyköping skerries. The forecast does not work out, the wind comes from the south and later south-west, we must beat. The swell increases and makes it difficult to advance.
The forecast speaks of increasing southerly winds and we don’t want to sail overnight in such conditions. There are no harbours in our range, but we have detailed chart of skerries with us, so we choose a natural harbour for the night. We sail from the open sea into between the islands while the sun is setting.
It is getting dark already when we arrive at Harstena. The choice was not easy as we do not want to go to deep into the archipelago but need protection for the windy night. The approach was without any problems, using our nagigation tablet and our new skerries pilot book.
Having spent the night at the island, we decide to sail on the inner route. Open sea has wind force 6-7, we do not want to sail against this (and the corresponding waves). The inner route however requires the whole day on the engine if we want to reach Västervik. We consult our friends and decide to change plans: Nyköping will be the new meeting place. It is just one hour of driving more for them, and it will open the possibility to sail waters known to us, and maybe to visit Stockholm.
Thus, we turn and sail with the wind towards the north. Most of our way today is the fairway between skerries, so we sail on a smooth water. The fairway itself is marked very comfortably. We reach our harbour Brandholmen without any adventures.
Sundowner in Brandholmen harbour
Leave a Reply