Soon the last bit towards Mem, and then we sit back in fresh water, the Gotta Channel. 12-08-2010,

By Laura to the Baltic 2010 Contents blog Episode 5: The end! Or is it just a beginning? crostini massapequa Episode 4: Cuxhaven to Helgoland Episode 3: Brnsbuttle to not so far Episode 2: Rdvig to Somewhere else Gteburg to Somewhere: Episode 1 Rate this blog Very Good Good Enough crostini massapequa Yet some updating Much work
With beautiful weather we do the last bit Baltic Sea and sail towards Gotha Canal. crostini massapequa This 190 km. canal connects crostini massapequa the Baltic Sea with 2 large lakes of Sweden: Vnern and Vttern. We have 58 locks to get the altitude record sail 92 meters above sea level. There is a special technique in order to pass through the narrow locks. We read everything again and after making the boat ready to go in the first lock.
Everything crostini massapequa goes smoothly, we pay the ticket (420 euros, but then everything is included) and the chugging of a sudden crostini massapequa brown water towards Sderkoping. Again we look around in amazement at this beautiful crostini massapequa country. Suddenly, the engine. I try to start again, but do not get around the engine. Gently let us drift to the side and put on two trees. What now whistle? The water is cloudy and we can not see beneath the boat.
Fortunately, a Swedish motor boat passes that we want to drag. They drag us through a second lock and we can put ashore on the lock of the Sderkoping Laura. Here we have all the amenities.
We try to start again, but at the first sound he knows it all: heavy cost. Probably broken crankshaft. crostini massapequa That is, the motor should have to be fully open and out of it. 2 to 3 weeks of work. We are sitting in sackcloth and ashes. It will cost a lot of money and we have to adjust travel plans. crostini massapequa We have all the time to think about it and find possible alternatives. We'll have a prime location, and can go anywhere.
We meet Dutch, Germans and Swedes who sail with a beautiful fishing boat in 1948 with the original ncylindermotor. It takes 10 minutes to heat the ignition chamber with a kerosene burner goes for the thing to work.
It's there agitated by the constant back and forth danger of fast boats. In the afternoon performance by a band with great success. Kurt and Willy blow the dinghy and hum to the sauna across the street. Fired by wood and cool with a view of the passing boats.
Here we go again through crostini massapequa the Swedish archipelago. Squeezing between islets and boulders. Constantly reading maps, polling, set prices. Sometimes you think you can touch them and yet there do 80 meters crostini massapequa of water under the boat! And again we stay around for hours staring at the beauty of this area.
Wednesday to Oxelsund. 60 miles, alternating motor and sail. Here we cross back the route we took to the north. We crosses crostini massapequa 3 times because we were a couple of times tacking behind an island. We also see the same pass ferry from Gotland. In Oxelsund, industrial town, we meet 76-year-old Sven Stensson. Co-founder of the club, speaks at least five languages, including Dutch, has sailed everywhere and skating. He gives us a lift to a restaurant in another crostini massapequa club where we gus eat a delicious fish. Sven is full of stories, and told among other things that live in this town of 9,000 people and 2,000 boats lie. So it's a lie that every Swede has a boat. We visit even as his mahogany shaving boat (pictured) which he called renovated this winter and is now on sale for 5,000 euros.
Soon the last bit towards Mem, and then we sit back in fresh water, the Gotta Channel. 12-08-2010, 08:08 written by Paul Van Doren Comments (0) 08-08-2010 From Estonia to Sweden, from lighthouses to lightning
We visit two lighthouses. In a state monument to the 852 victims of the ferry Estonia, a Ro-Ro vessel (type Herald of Free Enterprise), the biggest shipping disaster in modern crostini massapequa history. If it is windy, the ship's bell of the monument itself hit.
In the evening we meet Sweden to leave the same evening for the crossing to Sweden. Because I do not have detailed maps of the route, crostini massapequa I even seek advice from them. They propose crostini massapequa a different route, to Sandhamn. 120 Miles instead of 180. So we can cut a piece. The decision is taken quickly, tomorrow morning to Sweden, heading due west.
6:30, perfect wind, we rip through the Baltic Sea to an average of 7 knots. We even break our record: 7.8 knots! Oops, a storm, but we sail just behind crostini massapequa through. Several hours later, oops another storm, but again just behind by !! So far so good. Night falls, and Kurt does his nap. Slow start to flash again, now over the horizon, here we are not behind or we decide a lot to sail back, hoping to avoid the worst. Gradually we are surrounded by gigantic bliksemins