Sörlandet Norway ,May 2017

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.

First sailing trip 2017

Crusader was launched April 3:d. A sunny day but cold,,only 7C. Everything went OK. My sailing Buddy Christian launched his “GEIST” a Mistral 33 also. The boats was rigged and ready to go same day. Both Geist and Crusader have new engines for this season,,I mean have been completely overhauled and got new liners, pistons,and bearings. Both our engines was due after 4400 hours running. The engines in question are Volvo Penta MD11C.Other upgrades was the sail-drive (Penta 110S ) which have been overhauled too. The saloon has been refurbished too with new white ceiling panels.

The spring was late this year,,,cold and rainy so the first trip didn’t took place until now end of April. Few boats is out there at this time of the year so it is plenty of space in the popular harbors. Thats the reason why we visiting places like Marstrand, Gullholmen, Smögen,,etc early in the season.

We went out Saturday afternoon April 29 and came back Wednesday May 3:d only 4 overnights this time. The forecast was good with nice weather,,,,,finally spring weather has arrived to Sweden. This trip is kind of a “shake down”also. No Problems found so She seems to be ready for Southern Norway at the end of the month. when we were in Smögen a beautiful 58 footer with name “VÅGVIS” came in.She was from Åland. An eye catcher,,very nice design!!,,,I tought it was a “Baltic Yachts”. Next day when I spoke with the owner he told me it’s a “One Off” built by “Båtbyggarna” Rönnäng, Tjörn. The naval architect was “Gabriel Heyman” Sweden.

S/Y VÅGVIS, ÅLAND

S/Y VÅGVIS ÅLAND

S/Y VÅGVIS ÅLAND

Lot of space in Smögen Harbor

Got Fresh “Crayfish” from a fishing boat this morning !!

Crusader moored, Smögen

Leaving Smögen under Blue skys!!!

Thats all for this time,,,first blogg 2017.

Fair winds!!

Summer sailing,2016.

Well well, it haven’t been written much on this blog lately, but here comes a summary of what have happen during the summer. After the Norwegian trip in May, we traditionally spent “midsummer” at Kalvö/Lindö island. The weather was nice so we spent the rest of June sailing around north “Bohuslän” the Swedish west coast.

July 2. I took the train to the city Kalmar where my friend had his  yacht “S/Y Esmeralda ” a  37′ Fantasi lying. My mission was to help him sail around his boat south Sweden to the west coast of Sweden where he would like to spend the summer this year.

July 19. Today we head out with Crusader for a short trip with our grandchild Ida Harlin (8 year) onboard. This is the first time for her to be out with us (grandparents) sailing and stay overnight. Next day we picked up the rest of her family and her little sister Thilde (2 year) in Mollösund. Now we went to “Slubbersholmen” lagoon for swimming and relaxing on the beach. air temp 81 F (27 C). After a wonderful day together we said back to Mollösund and drop the family Harlin of. Due to the excellent weather and promising forecast was for rest of the week, Inger and I decided to keep on sailing as long the nice weather stay. We sailed to Vallerö,Käringön, Lysekil,Röbäcks kile, and then Koljefjord around the big island Orust to our home Stenungsund. We were back Sunday July 24.

A beautiful old “Swan 48 or 50” designed by Sparkman&Stephens anchored next to us at Vallerö island.

 

July 25 – August 13.  No sailing, Crusader moored at her home berth.

August 14. The forecast for the upcoming week was warm and nice weather with moderate winds (kind of Indian summer) so we head out with Crusader  for another round trip in Bohuslän archipelago. After a couple of days Tuesday august 16 when we were at Smögen fisherman village S/Y Geist with Christian and Ing-Marie show up and joined us for the rest of the week. We sailed north bound to “Sannäsfjorden“, Strömstad, and then North-Koster Island. At N-Koster we met S/Y Swordfish with Marcus and his family onboard. We all were invited to Swordfish for a shrimp party that evening. Marcus have been able to get fresh shrimps from his friend Christer who is a fisherman and owner of the Fishing boat “Axö”. We all enjoyed the party so much so we forgot the time,,,we didn’t got back to our boats until early next morning.

S/Y GEIST and S/Y Crusader tied together at Lammön, Sannäsfjorden.

August 20. We left Koster in the morning and head south to Bovallstrand for fueling at the Marina. After a quick visit at Bovallstrand we dropped anchor in the cove north Bovallstrand at Valö. All 4 SXK-bouys were  already occupied by other sailboats.Off course another day of head wind,,,so motoring again. I haven’t use the engine so many hours before as I have this year,,,always wind in your nose.

August 21. Today we all decide to sail south to “Fiskebäckskil” and “Lyckans slip”. No wind so we were motoring all the way. Still hot weather and temp in the 80:s (25-28 C). The evening was spent together with Christian and Ing-marie on Geist on Crusader. We all talked about how warm and nice weather we have had this week. Some places in Sweden    reported record high temps,,,,,,,,Global Warming????

view of Smögen Harbor

August 22. Today we split up and Crusader went home the south route through “Stigfjorden“to Stenungsund.Today “No wind” at all, so again motoring to get home. Geist went the North route back to Stenungsund around the big island “Orust” and “Koljefjorden”.

Crusader

Crusader

GEIST

GEIST

August 23 –  september 7. No sailing, Crusader moored at home harbor.

Next time Crusader heads out will be in September and “The annual last sailing week with S/Y GEIST and S/Y Franziska.  See you then,,

Fair Winds!!  //Conny S/Y Crusader

 

 

 

 

 

Final sailing week of the season, 2016.

September 8. Finally the day for our traditionally “Fall sailing”  with S/Y Geist / Skipper Christian, and S/Y Franziska / skipper Stefan. This week is the last last sailing days for the season. We used to go along the coastline of the west coast up to North Koster island and back. I got my friend Bert Wate from Sarasota,Fl onboard for a couple of days. This is the second time Bert is with us during our annual “fall sailing week” . He like it so much last year so he called and asked come along. We sailed a fairly long leg the first day. Stenungsund – Smögen where  Franziska and Geist were waiting on us. Bert had brought a huge “Fish Gratin” of Cod  so we all four had dinner onboard Crusader.

All skippers enjoy the sunset in Smögen.

the old Fishing boat “Asta” with an old heavy 1 cylinder hot bulb diesel engine.

Dockside of Smögen fisherman village

Sunset i the port of Smögen

September 9. Woke up at 07:30 and went for the daily shower. Bert made breakfast while I was showering.  About 11 o’clock we all left Smögen and todays “port of call” will be Strömsund/ Weather Islands, my favorite place. After have past  Soten Canal I set my genacker which now is mounted on a” Selden top-down furler”. This set up made it much easier for me to handle the genacker  than my previous solution with a sock. Now I control everything from cockpit and don’t have to be on fore deck. The wind was picking up so much (10-12m/s) from SW so we have to take down the genacker and roll out the Genoa. Strömsund is well covered place to be when the wind picking up. After dinner we all climb up on top and watch the sunset. Still haven’t seen the famous “Green flash” what people says appear when the sun is just to disappear in the horizon. We shared a bottle of “Pinot Noir” with cheese and crackers while watching the beautiful sunset. Weather islands are Sweden next westerly group of Islands. Only Koster Islands are more westerly.

September 10. Gale warning today so we decided to leave Weather Islands before the gale brake out and sail to Hamburgsund  which is a safe haven for storms and gales. we had wind of 7-10 m/s so made good speed and for a change we do not have to use the engine,,,yippee !!! After have moored in Hambursund we run into a fellow who sailed an OE32 (S/Y Boheme) a very seaworthy double ender, designed by Olle Enderlain. Later a Norwegian couple came  and moored in front of us with a huge “Oyster 55”,,,they lived aboard all year around.

T/S Westcoast

Stefan Brunzell and Bert Wate take some refreshments in cockpit of Crusader after have moored in Hamburgsund.

S/Y Geist with Christian Engerberg arrive Hamburgsund

Christian relaxing with a beer after a hard days work

Nice picture of the church at Hamburg island

Stefan Brunzell on S/Y Franziska.

 

September 11. Motoring again (head wind from south 12-15 m/s). Todays leg was to make it down to Hunnebostrand where Bert Wate is going leave us next morning and take a Bus and later a train back to Varberg, where he has his summer home. I had some trouble with my engine,,,after the bumpy passage of “Bina” north Bovallstrand the engine will not reach max rpm of 2200rpm only 1600rpm. I suspect the prefilter Racor (10micron). The first thing was to replace that filter after we moored at Hunnebostrand. Couldn’t see anything weird like dirt or water, but I replaced it anyway. Obviously was it the filter, due to next day the engine act normal again. That night we had a farewell dinner for Bert. The weather was  still clear sky and warm, westerly wind from west (10 m/s) .

S/Y Geist have Bumpy ride at “Bina” passage

Skipper Harlin at the helm.

Rough sea at” Bina”

“Bina”

Relaxing in the cockpit at Hunnebostrand

Franziska,Geist and at the very end Crusader at the pontoon in Hunnebostrand

Hunnebostrand.

S/Y Franziska, (Vindö 50) at Hunnebostrand

September 12. After we have made sure that Bert have catch the right Bus we sailed southbound. Next stop was a SXK-Bouy south of Hermanö. Of course ! head wind again,,!!!!,, so the Volvo Penta engine has to be engaged again. Christian was planning to go home next day so he started to gathered things together and take down the sails,,,, end of sailing. Stefan and I were more interesting in to continue and sail over to Skagen, Denmark.

September13.  Breakfast as usual around 07:30. Weather was nice with a breeze from south around 6-7m/s. After have said goodby to Christian on Geist, Franziska and Crusader begin their voyage to Skagen, about 35-40 Nm miles. Half way out the wind died out and Volvo Penta was turned on again. Neither me or Stefan  have nervs when the speed slows down under 5 knots. We left around 9 am and arrived Skagen 4,30pm. We both took a” power-nap” before showering. The harbor fee was 200 Dkk. We went out to eat this time. We went to one of those Fish restaurant  they have nearby in the Harbor. We both ordered the famous Danish “SterneSkud” (a toast with,fried and boiled Plaice-file,+shrimps and skagen salad. “Yummy”!! with that goes of course a Cold Danish Beer! During the trip we have to cross the busy North & Southbound lane of Cargo vessels,,(kind of  English Channel situation). We were sailing windward at the time and made 5-6 knots. I checked my AIS and sew it will be tight (CPA) with a southbound “Cargo vessel ” Paquis from Panama. I called him up on Channel 16 and he respond quickly. Switch to turned  channel 06. I asked him if he consider Crusader and Franziska fine to keep our course? He  said he will check his AIS and return. After a minutes he came back and reported he will turn Port and pass behind us. I thanx him a lot and wish him a safe voyage. AIS is not bad at all,,,uncertain/tight situations can easily been straighten out. Safety comes first!! By the way Paquis was about 200×50 meter, Huge Cargo ship.

Cargo vessel “Paquis” who turned port and passed behind us

Crusader & Franziska on their way to Skagen

T/S ATHENE of Skärhamn, Sweden

Next stop Skagen

September 14. Today we decided to stay in Skagen and go for sightseeing . We borrowed bicycles from our Danish neighbor and went to most Northern tip of Denmark “The reef”. about 2 km from us. This unique reef got a lot of tourists every year. Also, it was here the artist ” P.SKroyer” painted his famous pictures. On our way back we made some shopping and turned back the bikes. Dinner was served on Franziska that night. At this time of the season there is plenty of room in the harbor to moor. In the summer (July) it is packed.

Skagen Harbor with the row Fish restaurants in the background

Nice view of the Fish restaurants, Skagen Harbor

A Norwegian fishing boat came in early morning

September 15. Last day of sailing/motoring. Another calm and warm sunny day. Due to NO wind at all today we were needed to fill up Diesel in order to make it back to Sweden and our home harbors. (Crusader/Stenungsund) and ( Franziska to Öckerö/Gothenburg). We came out from Skagen around 10 am. Skagerack was flat like a mirror. Very rare to see Skagerack with no waves. It was a warm day 24-26 C  on Skagerack!! I were able to spot 3 groups of “Tumlare” a species pertaining to the Dolfin Family. The crossing were very calm and pleasant all day so there was no problem to be in the galley and cooking lunch. My best friend “Mr autopilot” did a good job all day long. I was home at 4,30pm after a detour through Marstrand island. This was it,,of 2016 sailing. Next couple of weeks I will be busy to strip Crusader and winterize her. OK all,,,see you next year 2017.

Skipper Stefan Brunzell.

On our way to Skagen reef

The tip of Jutland, DK. The reef

Stefan Brunzell

The reef which divide Skagerack and Kattegat

Skagen lighthouse

Sailor Harlin at the Reef

Tourists at the reef. No swimming “strong current” exists,,,

Poet, Drachmann

This winters updates on Crusader will be a total overhaul of the engine and sail drive + change the rubber membrane, further I will spruce up the ceiling panels in the saloon with new vinyl. Another thing will be to replace the VHF cable/wire in the mast.

Marstrand Fortress, Sweden

Hätteberget Lighthouse in sight, Marstrand

Fair Winds,,,,have a great winter!!!

Voyage 2016 to “Sörlandet” Norway, Part 2.

Continued:

June 3 Narvika. Next stop is the lagoon “Narvika” close to the township Risör. No wind today so again we have to motoring. Outside Risör I sew locals out fishing and get mackerel so I pulled up my fishing gear too and start fishing. Within 30 minutes I got 6 mackerel of decent size. The dinner was secured. Today I also believe it was the hottest day of the year so far, 25 C and no wind. I dropped the anchor in the middle of the lagoon and after Geist have moored next to Crusader I start to rinse the mackerel and cut out file’.  What a dinner! “Fresh mackerel with new potato.

Dinner is served,,!!

Entrance to Narvika lagoon.

Crusader , Narvika lagoon

June 4, Skutevika. Another sunny day of motoring,,wind from North east, right in our face.!! Today we head for the well protected “Skutevik bukta” North Kragerö. I have never been there before so it will be nice to discover. It is very tricky to get in there, very shallow and narrow passage to get into the lagoon with a sail boat of Crusaders size and draft. The hull was only 1/2 ft from the rocky island and the keel 1 foot from the bottom. I would say that “Skutevika” is limited to medium size sailboats like Crusader.

June5, North-Koster Sweden. Today we crossed Skagerack back to Sweden , 50 Nm. The weather was still nice , sunny and warm 23-25C, and were able to sail for change,,,the wind still came from North to North East. We arrived in the evening at 18,00pm

June 6 Trossö. Today is the Swedish National day. We left Koster about noon after a walk on the island and a refreshening shower. We  moored in the afternoon to an SXK-Bouy at Trossö island for the night. Still nice weather.

June 7, Smögen.  Today we thought we could sail in a westerly breeze of 10m/s, but NO.! All of a sudden a wind of 10-14 m/s (force 6) came from south instead of west so again Volvo Penta have to work all day long. We moored at “RÖSSY Kapell” and had a chat with Johan and Nils Plahn, They also invited us for breakfast next morning. Later that night we visited another friend of us, Lennart and Ewa Pettersson. It get late that night we had so much to talk about. I took a picture of very nice and very well maintained wooden Sparkman&Steven 40′. The owner is Frank, a nice Norwegian fellow which unfortunately passed away recently. Hope this beautiful sailboat will landed in good hands.

June 8, Slubbers island. We had a nice sailing from Smögen,,made a speed of 6-7,5 knots all the way. Still clear skys and air temp about 22 C. At slubbers island lagoon we moored at one those 3 SXK-Bouys they have there. We had the last dinner together of this voyage, next day we head home to home town Stenungsund. Conclusion: Nice weather all the time except for one day,,the bad part was the prevailing North to North easterly wind every day so we couldn’t sail that much. The round trip was about 410 Nm.

June 9, Stenungsund. Moored at home berth at noon. Trip over!! for this time. Next will be a midsummer trip to Kalvö/Lindö with my wife.

Voyage 2016 to “Sörlandet” Norway. Part 1.

 16 days voyage to Norway.

May 25 S/Y Crusader and S/Y Geist took off for the southern part of Norway. Both sailboats were singlehanded, me on Crusader and Christian on Geist. We begin with a fairly long leg, Mollösund/ Sweden – Lillesand/ Norway,, about 100Nm. We crossed Skagerack over the night, it took us 17 hours and arrived at noon next day. We had close contact through the VHF radio during the night. We notified each other when one of us went to bed for a “Power nap” so one  kept the watch of both boats. We were at maximum 1/2 Nm apart. The weather was cooperative and at midnight the breeze died out so we have to motoring the last part. We had an agreement to keep a speed above 5 knots.

May 26,Lillesand is a neat little township were we rested to next day. About 19,00pm a little motorboat (8x3m) came in and docked next to us. The type of boat was typical Norwegian double ended  “Snäcka”. After a while we realized that he was alone too and Christian had little conversation with him in English what he was up to? Listen to this, he was a retired Russian fisherman from Murmansk and  have bought this little powerboat in Sandefjord/Norway and was on his way to  bring it home to Murmansk. That is a long way to go! I guess 1200 Nm and have to pass dangerous passage along the Norwegian western coastline and get around the North Cape of Europe. I hope he makes it,,,he had problems with his autopilot so he was concerned.

May 27 ,Mandal. we sailed further south to Mandal. We didn’t take the famous scenic route “Blindleja” (blind route) instead sailed on open sea. Mandal was our turning point and will take “Blindleja” on our way back. The Diesel price was 9,90/Litre NOK in Mandal (the rate NOK=SEK is the same nowadays) so we took the opportunity to fuel up. In Sweden the price is SEK14,10/litre. The night was spent on a walk in the town.

 

Statue of SkallagrimsonMandal

Mandal Harbor

the bridge over the river to the Opera house

skipper Christian on S/Y Geist, got a phone call

Crusader & Geist in Mandal.

May28, Ny Hellesund. Today we sailed to the famous Basin ” King Olav Bukta” at “Ny Hellesund” where we dropped anchor. This place was occupied by the Nazis during second world war and an outpost for Hitler to control Skagerack. The entire Island is digged out  like a Swiss cheese. Huge cannons was establish here during the war, their is still remaining to look at.The weather get better and better and the sun heat up the air to 23 degrees Celsius, and No rain so far during our voyage.The only entrance for a sailboat is the narrow south gap you can see on the picture below.

“King Olav Bukta”

On the way to “King Olav Bukta” Ny Hellesund.

Christian relaxing in Crusaders cockpit .

May 29. Today we were motoring the scenic route “Blind Leja” north to a bay south Lillesand where we dropped anchor and stayed over next day too due to rain and bad weather.

May 30. No sailing this day,,,reading books,,,and listen to the rain.

May 31 Grimstad. Todays destination is Grimstad where the famous Norwegian author Henrik Ibsen lived when he was young, there is also a Ibsen museum in town. We took a walk in the old town and also claimed up to the church on the top where we got a nice lookout of the harbor.

Christian at the monument of lost souls, next to the Church

Grimstad harbor

view Grimstad harbor

Grimstad Harbor

beautiful wooden sailboat (int 10 meter ??)

June 1 Tvedestrand. Today the wind came from northeast which is very unusual direction at this time of the year. In the summer the dominating directions on our latitudes are Nw,W,Sw, so once again we have to use the motor to Tvedestrand. We arrived in the afternoon and the harbor was fairly empty. Tvedestrand is a typical summer town with a lot of vacationers, but the season haven’t begin yet so it was pretty quiet. The nickname for Tvedestrand is ” the town of Books” there is a lot of antique bookstores. We also met the harbor master Rolf again now 80 years old and have been here for at least 20 years,,,he is a character so we spend some time with him.

Harbor master Rolf ,80 year

old town Tvedestrand, narrow streets.

 

June 2 Lyngör. Todays destination is Lyngör/island. Again Northeast wind so we have to burn diesel today too. Lyngör is an island with a lot history of tall ship owners/ skippers have lived in the past. There is also a sail loft located there (Doyle) in case of. Downstairs the loft there is a restaurant where you can get served outside along the wall and watch the sunset during your dinner. Lyngör is one of my favorite places on Norways “Sörlandet” (southland).At sunset a neat deer show up and joined us in the sunset.

Lyngör, sailoft and restaurant.

Our berth for the night at Lyngör.

A deer on a island.

Lyngör

Lyngör , restaurant and sail loft.

Crusader

 

To be continued , Norway voyage 2016 Part 2.

 

Short singlehanded trip, west coast Sweden in May.

May 10, Head out with Crusader for 6 days in the archipelago of Bohuslan. This early of the season it is pretty empty out there. The weather was fine the first couple of days, the came a cold front from north with gale winds. My route was Slubbersholmen-Gluppö- Kalvö/Lindö- Weather Islands (Väderöarna)-Bohus/Malmön- Stenungsund.

May 11. Arrived Gluppö and got a SXK-bouy for the night. There is 4 Bouy’s and 2 was available the other 2 was occupied by 2 Norwegian boats. All of a sudden I heard Motorcycle noise on the rocky island, guess what? A couple of boys have transport their “motorcycles” on a barge way out here for practicing “trial”. That was a surprise . Took a picture when they were at the top.

May 12.  Sailed to Kalvö/Lindö in a SE breeze. No boats in the little harbour when I came, later in the afternoon a friend show up in his Maxi 999, Magnus Dahlgren.

May13. Weather has changed to much colder and overcast,, the wind came from N-NW 6-8m/s. I left Kalvö/Lindö at 10am and head south for Strömsund at Weather Islands my favorite place on the west coast of Sweden. The wind picked up at noon so run into a gale of 30-35knots (15-18m/s). It was tough to dock Crusader at Strömsund with a lot of wind & current in this tight sound. The Gale hang in there the entire night to about 10am next day.

May 14. Nice sailing all the way to Bohus/Malmön in a NW-W wind of 10m/s (20 knots). I only used the foresail and made 6-7 knots speed. I sailed outside soten this time down to Smögen. It was an offshore trip instead of a normal inshore route. At Bohus/Malmön Marina I took hot shower before I made my” supper”, it was cold out there today so I felt a little bit chilly. The harbor rate was 150:- SEK/day

May15. Left Bohus/Malmön Marina about 10 am and head for home. I took the inshore route east of the big island ” Orust”. Arrived home port at 17,00 pm. The wind condition was only 2-5 m/s so used the engine pretty much all the way.

Misc notice. My new “MAX-PROP feathering” propeller this year didn’t work satisfactorily for me. I have set the pitch the same as my old folding prop  10″. That was to less with this design so it was cavitating a lot and did not grip in the water as Expect. The blades on a MAX-PROP are pretty flat and not that aerodynamic as my old folding. Instead of change the pitch on this feathering MAX-PROP, I went back and installed a brand new GORI folding prop 16,5″x11″ and that came out perfect,,,no cavitation, and excellent grip in the water. Now I’m happy again!! By the way, my 17″ Feathering MAX-PROPP with variable setting of pitch is ” FOR SALE”!!!!!!!

Within a couple of days I will take Crusader to south Norway and explore the  Norwegian archipelago for some weeks. Will write reports when I get some time and internet.

Fair winds!!

Kalvö/Lindö old fisherman harbor

Kalvö/Lindö

Crusader safe moored at Kalvö/Lindö

Kalvö/Lindö

Gruppö with the Motorcycle on the top

Crusader moored at SXK-Bouy at Gluppö