May 23 Tuesday
I went out with Crusader a day ahead of Christian. I sailed westbound 13 Nm to an SXK-bouy at “Slubbersholmen”, West Mollön island where I stayed over night.
May 24 Wednesday.
Today I sailed to another SXK-bouy west Grundsund at “Storholmen/Usholmen Islands where I wait on Christian with Geist who was on his way. He arrived at 6 pm so we spend dinner together and stayed over night. We also made up the plan to cross “Skagerack” to Norway.
May 25 Thursday
Sailed north to Gluppö bay where we stayed for some hours to rest and prepare the cross to Norway and “Sörlandet” later in the evening. Same constellation as last year , S/Y Crusader with me and S/Y Geist with Christian Engerberg singlehanded to Norway. We left Gluppö and passed the Swedish “Weather Islands” at 10pm and destination was Grimstad, Norway. Course 250 degrees.Distance 90 Nm. The current and wind was cooperative so we made 6-7 knots SOG most of the time.
fair winds!!
Everything went OK except that we both felt bad around midnight and “throw up” the Tacos dinner we shared before sailing over. Our analyze afterwards came down to the pre-packed bag of mix sallad imported from Italy. Conclusion “No more imported handpicked washed sallad” in a plastic bags. We both survived but felt exhausted upon arrival at Grimstad next morning (arrived 11.00am a 13 hour voyage).
The culprit!!”” Bad sallad!! imported from italy,,,Blää no more!!
May 26 , Friday
We spent the day and night in Grimstad,, Nice town. After fueling diesel (9NOK/Litre) we went to bed for a “powernap”. Later in the afternoon was shower time. The harbor service place was closed, they do not open up until June 1:st. We were lucky and got the entrance code from a young couple living on a Wasa 38 next to us.They stay all year around on their boat and were students at the university of Grimstad. It was tricky to start the shower,,the token automat was not in service but unlocked, so the trick was to lift up the whole thing and touch a lever to get water ( see picture below). Todays discussing at the table was solar panels. How efficient are they actually?? . Christian have installed an amp gage on his 80 watt solar panel. It show 2-3 amp at max when the panel had no shade. Practical test, I placed my hand on 1 cell and the amp went to zero. After that we “google” on solar panels and found that 80% disappear when any cell is shaded. Conclusion: keep solar panels clear from any shade if you want some charge of your batteries. A student at the university of Grimstad was studying solar panels efficiency confirm our findings. Interesting!!
Ideal condition on the 80 watt solar panel gave 4amps on S/Y Geist.
skipper Harlin with Crusader and Geist in the background, Grimstad
here I start the shower without tokens.
May 27 Saturday.
Today we left Grimstad at noon and sailed over to beautiful “Tvedestrand”. Very nice sailing conditions today, blue skys and a fresh breeze from SW. Tvedestrand is located deep in a narrow fjord with high mountains on both sides. We arrived early afternoon and went for a walk in the village. A new barge was docked outside the harbor restaurant where they served refreshments and food,,and even live music!! The band played nice “covers” all night long to midnight. This year both Geist and Crusader have overhauled engines this year and they have run flawless this far. We are both pleased with the performance of our engines!!. Fuel consumption has been this far is 1,9 litre / hour.
Narrow Fjords…
Tvedestrand,,,cleaning deck.
Tvedestrand Saturday night
The docs at Tvedestrand
May 28 Sunday
Todays destination is “Narvika” lagoon north Risör. We sailed inside “Tromöy” island and passed city of Arendal. I do not like the skipper on the little black passenger ferry between downtown Arendal – Tromöy island. Here is why: I’m sailing for starboard wind, the ferry approaching me from astern in a higher speed than I’m sailing and catching up on my port side. Listen to this,,when he is 90 degrees next to me on port side he blow the horn and signal that he is going to turn right and ask me to clear his way. I was close to the island on starboard so their was not much room to tack. He actually pushed me so I have to take action to avoid a collision. According to the rules at sea,,,should this Motor Vessel to begin with slow down on speed way ahead and safely pass behind me, instead of catching up on my port side and push me toward land of Tromöy. According to me he broke against the following Rules at sea No.1) I’m under sail, 2) I’m on his starboard side, 3: catching up from behind he can choose to pass safely on my starboard side way ahead. Excuse my language,,”,This is a very Stupid professional Norwegian skipper of a passenger ship” who need to be back at school!!!!! Beware of this little black ferry when you happen to be in Arendal,area Norway.
We dropped anchor in “Narvika” later in the afternoon and a delicious dinner was served on S/Y Geist. After dinner we lit up a Dominican cigar together with a shot of whisky.
Arendal, Norway
May 29 Monday
The forcast for today was little wind and overcast with chance of fog banks. Today sailed further north to “Skutevik-kilen” inside “Jungfruland” at Gumöy island. During our way from Narvika/Risör we had spectacular scenery of fog pouring down from the mountains. Later we run in to the fog so navigation was relied on Radar and Ais as well as the Plotter. Few hours later and further north the fog bank disappeared and we could safely navigate into the little protected lagoon “Skutevik-kilen”. That night dinner was served on Crusader,”Fish soup”!! was on the meny. That afternoon at dask we spotted an Sea-Eagle sitting on the top of a pine tree. Huge bird,,,! first time I have seen one in the wilderness, amazing! The night was spent on Crusader and we decide to cross skagerack back to Sweden and the archipelago of Koster islands. A trip of 55 nm.
Moisture fog clouds pouring down the mountains
spectacular view!!!
A bloody mary was served before the Fish soup
May 30 tuesday
Not much to report today,,,the cross went OK with fair winds,,sailed most of the time. No motoring today as it was yesterday in the fog and no wind. We approached Koster Islands at 3pm and and continue to sail down to Havstensund, where we stayed over night.
May 31 wednesday
Next stop “Smögen” fisherman village. Both of us were invited to family Pettersson for BBQ that night. Weather was OK whole day but the wind was picking to a gale force so we eat inside instead of planned outdoor on the patio. We enjoy the night with Lennart and Ewa and the stories from Lennart who recently arrived back after sailed in the Baltic sea to Lithuania and Estonia and also crossed Sweden through “GOTA CANAL”.
BBQ dinner at family Pettersson
June 1 Thursday
Left Smögen at noon and head south to “Danholmen Island” .Last dinner together next morning we will head for home, Stenungsund. We have had pretty good weather most of our trip except the day with fog and at sunset the temperature dropped to about 4-5 degrees C.
June 2 Friday
Arrived Stenungsund at noon. Total miles of this round trip roughly 240Nm.Time to regroup and prepare Crusader for the “Midsummer” sailing to Kalvö/Lindö island, the week of june 19.
Fair winds to you all.
