The end of the festival had left us musicked out and fairly tired so we had a lot of down time, and cleaned house and spent time with friends in the marina. We also made progress in writing up instructions for toilet use and doing little jobs on the boat.
We were waiting for the arrival of our friend and opthalmologist, Richard Hoyland who arrived on Sunday 12th June to have a brief sail with us. He duly arrived and went off to see the Vasa and later on a little of Stockholm.
Richard was staying for a week so we had to plan a cruise which introduced a little of the Stockholm Skaergard but which lessened the risk of TBE ( tick borne encephalitis) as he had not been able to get immunised against it before arrival. A further problem was the weather forecast, which was for good weather for the first three days with likelihood of bad weather later on.
We had provisioned and left on Monday 13th to sail to Malma Kvarn but stopped to refuel at the Feather Islands ( Fjaderholmarna). We had four empty 10 litre cans and had motored 80 miles to Stockholm from Nykoping so the matter was urgent. We had the usual problem discovering how to use the automatic payment system with a dim LCD screen and bright sunlight but eventually the job was done. As usual, Stockholm harbour was criss-crossed by fast ferries leaving enormous wakes so motoring our was less than pleasant.
Turning South into the steep walled cutting leading to Baggenstacket improved matters immediately. The older houses perched on the slope were splendid, the sun was shining and there was plenty to observe and speculate about. The problem of excessive speed in the channel is shown by the number of small power boats stored clear of the water on what must be very expensive powered boat lifts.
Once through this amazing "cutting" our path turned east through woodland and boat parks to Baggenstacket itself. The initial canalized part is narrow and curved. We tend to be cautious here as we have seen largish ships using the canal; particularly a long nosed gravel boat (it has a long conveyor poking out of the bow, designed to deliver gravel and sand onto land over shallow water and rocks) and a fast Vaxholm ferry. I would not like to meet either in a 10 metre wide channel. Happily we were preceded by an official boat of some sort and had no surprises.
Once our we put up the main and eventually the jib to sail, initialy slowly to the SE down the long lengths of Baggensfjard and Ingarofjard. The southerly wind gradually increased giving us extra speed in good sunny weather but we had some difficulty in keeping away from the cliffs of Ingaro.
At one point we got up to 7.2 kts. which impressed us but made steering hard. We were a little over canvassed.
At the exit to open water we were able to ease sheets, moderate our speed and lessen the drama while heading N of E along a well marked channel past Grono and Kofoten lights.
At one point we were overtaken by an autogyro equipped with floats. I dont think I have ever seen one before. This one took two people in separate open cockpits one behind the other. It was driven b a pusher propellor with a much larger hovering propellor above. The noise level was surprisingly low compared with helicopters. The floats were long tubes with hemispherical ends which surprised me. I would not have thought that such clumsy hulls would have allowed the autogyro to get up sufficient speed to take off.
Soon after this we approached Malma Kvarn (59N15.3,18E36.9) seeing a small crowd of dinghies from the sailing school at Malma practicing and managed ro avoid them in their erratic manouvres, drop sail and motor in. As is our usual practice now we went straight for the innermost moorings, hooked a buoy, Richard stepped ashore and we tied up. An English sailor approached us later to say we must have been here before as we'd picked a better mooring than he had. The harbour itself was very quiet with the restaurant deserted. However we had both power and water together with good food so ate happily and went to bed content.
Next day our destination was Sandhamn with a short but not very interesting sail along large shipping channels for the most part. I looked rather more carefully at the chart to find a "short" cut south of Munko (59N14,18E43.5 that looked promising. We sailed slowly across to Munko and turned NE through a charted channel and this proved fruitful with a pleasant if fleeting visit to an out island community both sides of a narrow channel beteen Langholmen and Runmaro. Our track then turned E to approach Sandhamn and then turned N close to Sandhamn itself along the big ship track, keeping a nervous eye both in front and behind in case something very large started to get near us. Nothing was seen and we turned the corner and made for the KSSS ( Royal Sailing Club) harbour on Lokhomen on the other side of th channel to Sandhamn.
Lokhomen harbour is in three sections. The first is on a separate island (59N17.4,18E55.6) with a rather open staging and buoys on the E side, intended for large boats. The inlet between this island and Lokholmen is mainly intended for club members but does have some visitor accommodation but we chose to go further north through a very shallow channel to very lovely moorings on the NE side of Lokholmen. We lay to the staging and our stern anchor but put out a warp to shore from our port center cleat for extra security. These mooring were well equipped with water, electricity and rubbish bins and were in a very well sheltered pool with high rocky walls. richard took the free ferry to Sandhamn to explore but we stayed with the boat.
I was beginning to cough a lot and was not feeling particularly well. Nontheless, this had been a good day's exploration and sail.
The following day we set off for Ingmarso, partly to get better shelter for poorer weather already forecast but mainly to traverse some fun areas of the middle Skargard.
We travelled ENE along the main shipping route towards Stockhom, again being cautious about big ships but at Gastholmsgrund Light we turned N across Kanholmsfjarden. This was where the Russian submarine was spotted last winter and it must have had a good navigator on board. We sailed north looking behind us to port as a large inter-island ferry cum workboat appeared to be wanting to ram us but we passed ahead and soon got to the narrow entry into a crowd of islands at 59N22.1,18E47.36 and then passed W of Sack and then through the shallow and narrow channel between Norra Stavsudda and Lindholmen ( 59N23.4, 18E 46.85). Although Norra Stavsudda is very pretty we found it disappointing in a previous visit with a poorly stocked shop and a bad restaurant so we did not pause but went N through clearer water to go W of Stor-Kunnan and Kapholmen crossing Traskofjarden to wriggle W of Gistholmen and Soderon to Ingmarso. We stayed here two nights as the following day was wet, we rigged the cockpit sheet for comfort and protection and Richard explored the island on foot. The shp here is well stocked but the restaurant menu looked uninteresting this year so again we ate on-board. I was glad of the rest and continued to cough and splutter. On Friday we got up at 0445 on a very quiet grey day to make our way back to Stockholm. The forecast for the weekend was Saturday and Sunday was poor and entertainment better in Town. Our route back along Traskofjarden, down the W side of the Gallno complex and through Grindafjarden and Lindalsundet was conventional but had an exciting moment when we had to cross the main shipping route approaching Oxdupet.
We had noticed the distant approach of two International ferries to the north and they passed us as we were close to Brodsticket Light (59N25.4, 18E24.2) The first reached Oxdupet 1.6 miles away, turned t starboard and disappeared. The second approached Oxdupet and I prepared to cross behind it. I suddenly notice a third ferry coming towards us FROM Oxdupet that I had not spotted at all. I hadn't anticipated it as ships are not usually allowed to cross in this region. We made a rapid turn away and the third ship passed us very quickly. We made our onward way to Stockholm without further incident. We had been lucky.
Since arrival we have been in Stockholm. I went to see the doctor on 22nd June to be diagnosed with bacterial pneumonia which explains my tiredness and tendency to sleep all the time. The pills I've been taking have now worked and I am recovering. that makes two escapes in rapid succession.
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