Ringson, Rassavikar and Nynashamn

Thursday 26th June
We left Nykoping and friends after a last visit with some of them to the Pud School - excellent fish soup with aioli.
At 1420 we slipped and raised the main but motor sailed in a light SE breeze until the track went NE (58N42.8, 17E18)  and we could unfurl the jib. We then had a lovely sail througt the last narrow passage and out into clearer water. We chose as usual to take the narrow dogleg through the skerries at (5844.06,17E21.55) and got away with a very tight fetch going ESE through the hole. I did have the motor turning for this bit though not in gear. The obvious passage here is blocked by a large awash rock so care is needed. However the wind went light at Stendorren ( Stone door in Swedish) (58N44.6,17E23.8) where there is another tight dogleg. This route has been used for at least 800 years and I have enormous admiration for those who sailed large and clumsy boats through these passage without charts or much in the way of navigation aids.
From Stndorren we motored to Ringson and anchored for the night at 58N43.9, 17E26.6 very close to another friends boat Claire Elaine in very good shelter and exchanged gossip for drinks in the evening.
The forecast for Friday was good but bad for Saturday so we left Ringson fairly early and unfurled the jib at once to have a lovely gentle sail towards Savosundet ( 58N45.9,17E28.5). Approaching it the wind headed us and we had to motor through, distinctly hampered by the antics of two historic naval vessels moving in the opposite direction.
Once clear of Savo we were less hard on the wind and made good progress. The ib took on a very good shape and pulled hard, giving us 5 kts. plus. However we chose to go more or less east south of Asko in fairly open water and really enjoyed ourselves in the freer wind to the Askenhallen light at 58N47, 17E41.9. Here we went off the wind which promptly died so we then had to motor. Here we were overtaken by Saga Leon, a small cruise ship based in Nykoping that makes a precarious living running trips along the coast. We had not seen her for a while and were glad the business had not foundered. However putting palm trees on the after deck did not strike us as a sensible marketing ploy. We went on NNE through various skerries to the sound E of Liso ( 58N52, 18E48.2). We motored on up to the opening bridge to wait for it to open on the hour. After this was the normal serpentine route to Rassavikar and a pleasant two night stop there. The weather was cold and at times rainy but we avoided the strong winds blowing outside. The trees around us were being blown and made a continuous hissing but we got only the turbulence pushing the boat about a little. Our new anchor again worked well and came up reasonably readily once we had given it time to get unstuck.
We left Rassavikar on Sunday morning when the mist had cleared to about half a mile visibility. This mist was ahead of the forecast schedule and proved persistent with some patches quite thick. However this little archipelag is small scale and the vis was enough to stop us getting lost. We move quickly on to Nynashamn 58N53.9, 17E57.2 where we now are. We are staying here for at least two nights as the cold and the adverse winds make the long plod NE through Myssingen unattractive. The harbour itself is OK but constant ferry traffic makes the water rather rough and the town has little of interest to detain us.
As I write the sky is heavily overcast and the outside temperature is 15.7 C. This is undoubtedly the coldest summer we have spent in Sweden and we rather uselessly resent it.

Friends at Nykoping

On the way to Nykoping we stopped off at Nykopings Varv to check up on our car which Mikke had kindly delivered to the yard. It was fine so we liberated it for our stay and Kristin drove it to the marina while I took the boat round.
We took the opportunity to stock up with food and wine, but also to have lunch at the Pud school  (Richard's description of the Hotel and Restaurant School)  agin and of course to Kohiro where John and Lizzie took us as a treat.
During this period Lizzie left to go home for a while and Pregrine and Fiona Bruce arrived in their splendid new boat Joya on their way to the RCC rally. is made for very pleasant gatherings and we left with some regrets as the weather became tolerable and we were anxious to get furthe north into the Stockholm Archipelago.

Midsummer at Broken

Midsummer at Broken was fun but the weather was cold. Here we met John and Lizzie Langdon on Fidelity who are en route to Finland for an RCC rally. Many of the boats dressed overall with John taking great trouble to ensure his were in the correct internationally agreed order which made sure they said nothing obscene in any language. The summer pole was a small tree of the island with the correct cross piece and rings, duly decorated and erected. Songs and dances ensued but we missed them as they happened two hours ahead of schedule. I think it was because the children were agitating for their free ice creams. At 1800 we all lined up for the  club party. We'd already seen the musicians arrive in the clubs garbage scow.  They were a very effective young jazz group with an excellent saxophonist. The open sided pavilion was distinctly less crowded than the previous year, presumably because ot the cold weather. wE enjoyed the music and the meal we had prepared but left a little early because of the cold to sit drinking in our boat till late. Even when we all went to bed the party was still going on and the sound of music and song drifted down to us pleasantly. The bad weather and strong winds that had been predicted luckily did not arrive so our stay was peaceful.
We left the next morning for Nynashamn because we'd run out of food while John and Lizzie went off to Ringson for a couple of days.

Wednesday at Broken 58N42.68, 14E14.34

On departing from Malma Kvarn full of good food and meeting friends, we set off south west to Nynashamn 58N54.0,17E56.8 mainly so we could buy more food and drink. We had a pleasnt early sail in gentle breezes but, as often happens on Myssingen, the wind strengthened and headed us so we had to put in a tack even when on motoer and main to get a sailable course. We stayed one night, had an excellent and unexpected Dagens Lunch at a restaurant I thought boring and expensive and left in the morning with relief..
We then sailed a mere 6 miles to Rassavikar 58N51.7, 17E52.4 where we stayed two nights in complete shelter more or less alone and surrounded by wildlife, trees and rocks - it was lovely. It was wet at times so we put up our plastic "shed" and then managed to scrape and oil the rest of the cockpit teak which now looks warm and glowing.
Our new Rocna 10 Kg. anchor set well and held while we moved round it as the wind changed.
This morning we pulled it up with some difficulty and set off through the archipelago surrounding Rassavikar to exit into Svardsfjarden and open water. We had a lovely jib only sail at up to 6 kts. south and west to the corner of a very long island inconveniently blocking the fjard. From here we sailed west on a closer and closer fetch and a westering wind to Savosundet 58N45.9, 17E28.3 and then southwest through tighter and tighter passages to Broken. Here 14 yachts have already arrived for Fridays festival including one from Germany and the weather has warmed up though it promises to be very nasty tomorrow.

Saturday in Malma Kvarn

We've had the promised gale. Last night it was pretty windy. I took the cover off again and the boat's motion reduced considerably but even so it was a bit bouncy. The night forecast was for 15 - 18 mtres/s northerly but our wind came from the east because of the lay out of the land. A party of children arrived for a sailing course but had to accept learning how to put sails up on dry land as it would have been too risky for them to be on the water. They looked about 11 years old. We've had two excelent meals at Johans restaurant 10 paces from the boat and Kristin has a new idea for party food - chicken breast filled with goat cheese - distinctly nice and with an an excellent wine sauce.
We should be off tomorrow SW to Nynashamn and then into a remote archpelago to try out our new anchor.
I should record that the Huawei Myfi gadget is performing well and giving web access both to the computer and the Kindle Fire

Friday in Malma Kvarn 59N15.31,18E36.87

So we slipped from Stockholm's Wasahamnen at 1158 and motored off between Djurgarden and Skeppsholmen with not much traffic butr when we turned east we encountered the full Waxholm Bolaget treatment. These fast ferries dart about chucking up enormous wakes and equally chucking us about as well. After about five miles we reached the south going "cutting" leading to Baggenstaket. at 59N20,18E13 where we attained peace still motoring between high clifs covered over with expensive houses. The most splendid on the Eastern shore had long staircses leading down the cliff to landing stages. This was initially their only way of getting into Stockholm until the road bridge was built, probably in the 1930's. We had just got dunder this bridge when the rain started and steadily strengthened. It kille the gentle breeze he had enjoyed and before I could get fully dressed my jeans were soaked. Then the lightning started, stiking fairly close 0-1 seconds between flash and bang but not close enough to matter. At the southern end of the cutting we turned E into quiet water with houses, flats and yacht harbours but still some woodlands and got to the Dragets Canal 59N18.0, 18E16.5  as the rain stopped. The canal is fringed with little harbours and very lovely houses. It must be hard for the inhabitants to accept the idiots who go out on Wednesday evenings to a pub with a disco and return after midnight drunk at 30 + mph and crash into each other in the canal.
Once out into clear water we unrolled the jib with a gentle following breeze to our se gong path but actually to little effect. Baggensfjord s wide and deep with a pretty unfriendly cliff to the east but a good place to make progress. It soon turns into Ingarofjord and continues as before. There are some pleasant anchorages on the west side, notably Napoleonsviken which is very well sheltered. Motoring on we rounded the corner to go E and then ENE along the coat. taking an inshore route to look more closely at a number of small islands, mostly inhabited and some with dry toilets marked on the charts.
One of these has a splendid Viking type mansion in wood. This is perhaps the one that chsed away an aquaintance saying "Go away , this is private" which is not the way most Swedes behave. We wandered on into Klevsfjorden and thence to Malmakvarn which we found open but fairly empty. We moored outside the restaurant and found from the retired HM,  Paavo, that the restaurant was to open on Saturday. Great news.
Later the present HM Claes appeared ans asked after my nose which had a role in mending last year.
We arrived at 16:30, withe log reading 24.2 miles.
The forecast is till for strong winds on Friday night and Saturday but the maximum has reduced to 16 metres/sec. - a slight improvement. We have increased the number of mooring lines and fitted the cockpit cover. This justified itself in the night when we had very heavy rain and this morning with a persistent drizzle.
We have now scraped and oiled the whole of the starboard cockpit teak which looks splendid and orange.
Johan, the chef, greeted us with the news hehas opened one restaurant tin the centre of Stockholm and has another in train. Perhaps more importantly he is opening tonight and we will be there
 

Friday in Malma Kvarn

We made a somewhat earlier than expected departure from Stockholm because of an interesting set of forecasts.  Thursday and Friday were innocuous but Saturday would bring North winds of15 - 18 mtres per second. [ 1 metre/sec roughly equates to 2 kts. and 0.5 Beaufort ]. The weather has a tendency to arrive earlier than forecast hence our decision. The made it necessary to walk at once to SABIS, one of the best supermarkets we have ever been to.
One of its distinctive features is a cheese dept with a man who brings up his cheeses properly. Kristin bought an Epoisses ( ready tomorrow) and a Langres ( ripe)  together with some hot smoked salmon a cake or two and some good bread. We also bought sliced bred because it survives longer but avoid eating it if possible.The cost was horrendous. I also spent time trying to get a months subscription to my "3" dongle card. The Phoneshop had one man only serving and a queue of 1. This did not move for several minutes. Phone shop discussions last indefinitely so I left. I should say SABIS have new trolleys which put the brakes on if you leave the shop. Kristin had to guard the trolley while I wandered off to Kjell, an electronics specialist. No luck so back to ~Kristin, who I found was having a suchi so I joined her. LAter I went back to Phoneshop and got served quickly. No they no longer supplied "3" subscriptions, try the betting and paper shop. I was beginning to lose hope but the betting shop came up a winner - appropriately. We had a taxi back to the boat ( two carrier bags, two backpacks, two boxes of wine and a pot plant - just too much to carry.
We said a rapid goodbye to the harbour crew and gave Leif the pot plant, watered up and left just before mid-day. 
I~ must recall last year when we also bought an Epoisses at SABIS. There was no price indicated so the till lady had to phone describing the item in Swedish as an ep-oou-i-ses which we found rather charming