Askari in Sweden 2024

Stockholm Archipelago Sail and Camp Cruise

29 June – 19 July 2024

Bill Rollo (skipper) and Matthew Peacock (crew)

After a number of years when Covid and work intervened we decided to return to the Baltic in the summer of 2024. The area offers many choices – Lake Malaren, the coast South or North of Stockholm, the Aland Islands, Finland – but in the end the straightforward choice was the Stockholm Archipelago itself, with a stretch target of the Aland Islands if the weather was kind.

Preparation consisted principally of acquiring charts (the three SMHI Stockholm Batsportkort for the Archipelago together with the Hydrographica Planning Chart (HG61 1:100.000)) and pilot books – the RCC Pilotage Foundation Baltic Pilot, 50 Best Harbours in the Stockholm Archipelago, a second hand Swedish version of Hamnguiden 8, a Garmin card for a small plotter and a variety of apps for weather and navigation. www.kartbutiken.se provided a highly efficient online service.

The only other decision was a launch point where a car and trailer could be safely left. The Cruising Association Baltic Branch kindly gave us the address of Bullando Marina, just to the East of Stockholm, who were welcoming and efficient, despite their initial disappointment when we had to confess that 6 metres was the physical length of Askari and that their hoist would not be required for a 6 square metre.

Journey Out

Sat 29 Jun
We met at Harwich Morrisons and had supper in the Premier Inn before boarding. A quiet crossing but too short a night as we had forgotten we lost an hour! Stena asked us about flares, but not fuel or gas.

Sun 30 Jun
Dutch customs wanted to see our bill of sale and registration document but were then content to let us through without further documentation. There was no examination or questioning about food. We could probably have brought more food ‘for personal use on board’ on the same basis as a cruising yacht.

Traffic in Holland was heavy but moved freely. In Germany there were many staus and there were too many similarities to the M5 on a Bank Holiday. Traffic improved as we moved North of Hamburg. We stopped near Odense for a short night.

Mon 1 Jul
Next morning began badly with an unexpected 420kr payment for the Storbaelt bridge – an intelligence failure as it would have been possible to register for a discounted crossing as for the Oresund Bridge. However, at the Oresund bridge the car was recognised and the barrier opened automatically. An easy drive across Sweden in light traffic followed, getting to Bullando c1700, where we failed to find Helen, our contact, but were looked after well by the young Harbour Captain.

Askari’s Cruise

Tue 2 Jul Bullando to Findhamn via Sack 18 miles
Wind WSW 5-13 knots.
After stowing the boat we went East from Bullando and then crossed to Falljorden Light House. We stopped at Sack, a very sheltered anchorage in the 50 Best Anchorages book, for lunch and continued to Findhamn where we found a spot just out of the main harbour on the very shallow channel running East, beside a moored aluminium dinghy. Many signs which we thought would say ‘Private’ in fact said ‘Welcome’! Even the dinghy was repositioned for those walking round the island to use. The islands are a wonderful nature reserve and were a great place to start.

Findhamn


Wed 3 Jul Findhamn to Stor Stenholmen via Furusund 20 miles
Wind S 10-15 knots
We left Findhamn c0830 and sailed out into the marked channel which led North past Hugaro and up a long channel between Yxlan and Blido to Furusund for lunch. The exceptionally helpful harbour master offered to lend us his car to go to the supermarket in Nortallje 10 miles away. In the event we settled for the garage store after walking several hundred yards in the wrong direction after failing to spot it! Furusund was shabbily elegant with a smart bar on the quay. Otherwise noteworthy for a very sinister Swedish Defence Forces batboat manned by 2 young Swedes who followed us in and an exceptionally nice family – 3 generations of women – who lived on Yxlan. We then motored 4 miles West to Stor Stenholmen – another beautifully protected anchorage which we had completely to ourselves. Weather forecast for increasing wind on Thursday and strong wind overnight.

Stor Stenholmen

Thu 4 Jul Stor Stenholmen to Graddo via Granhamn 17 miles
Wind S 10-20 knots
We left Stor Stenholmen at 0800 and headed East back to the Furusundsfjarden in increasing wind. We reefed and sailed up to Granhamn – small, very sheltered, with a shore WC, and a lovely old wooden proper gentleman’s motor boat – then rather reluctantly put to sea and motored slowly straight into a very fresh wind for a mile alongside an old Aland sailing boat before turning North up to Graddo where we luckily (the gasthamn was jammed) found a snug berth next to a small German boat recently bought by a German girl to take back to Berlin. Unfortunately its engine had failed (it also had 3 leaking fuel containers on the coach roof) and her crew were hard at work trying to fix it while she provided moral support from the cockpit. Difficulties were countered briskly by “We are sailors not engineers”. In turn we tried to mend our sprayhood and enjoyed Matthews’s excellent omelette. Graddo was a functional place with lots of marine industry of all kinds.

Graddo – the Berlin boat is beyond Askari

Fri 5 Jul Graddo to Nortallje 10 miles
Wind SW 5-10 knots, stronger overnight
In an unexpected disaster a malevolent gremlin inserted a sharp object into the most vulnerable point of my phone. As Matthew’s was also unserviceable its repair became the Main Effort and we decided to go Nortallje to solve it. We had an interesting sail up the Nortalljeviken to Nortallje, tacking when necessary as the wind shifted off the shore, were in by early afternoon to a smart marina located in a pleasant municipal park and with the assistance of a number of extremely helpful people were able to get it sufficiently repaired to work. In the evening we had a drink with the only other British flagged boat we saw in the entire trip – James and Debbie’s Vancouver 34 – and a long conversation with 2 enterprising Dutchmen who were sailing a Folkboat back to Holland for a lady who had sailed her up to the top of the Gulf of Bothnia in memory of her husband, whose ambition it had been. When not doing that they bought the few remaining Folkboats in Sweden for Euros 3000 and sold them in Holland for 8000. One answer to why there appeared to be no small boats in Sweden!

Norrtalje – the last small boat in Sweden beyond

Sat 6 Jul Norrtalje to Lido 12 miles
Wind W 5-10 in channel down to Graddo then 10-20 outside
The forecast was for increasing wind with gales on Sunday. We did not want to be stuck in Norrtalje, pleasant as it was, so decided to head for Lido. In the event we had a pleasant and gentle sail back down the fjord to Graddo and then a more sporting half hour in the open as we went round the corner to Lido. There we found the Archipelago Foundation had installed a new system of buoys to avoid the need for stern anchors and allow the bottom grass to regenerate. We resisted all invitations to go in between the usual array of 40 foot cruisers, went to the right of the line and pulled the boat right into the shore where we were completely sheltered.

Lido – Askari almost invisible on the right of the moorings

Sun 7 Jul Lido
Wind S 16-32 knots
For once the weather was as anticipated. Not a sailing day but sunny. We found the remaining WW2 gun emplacement and then walked to the Hotel where an Anglo Swedish wedding had taken place the night before. Very nicely, as we were not dressed to the standard of the party, we were provided with coffee and watched the rather hung over survivors leave on the ferry. Fascinating history of Count Oxiensterna – related to Gustavus Adolphus’s chancellor – who had built a smart house on the island only to have it burned, along with every other building in the Archipelago, by the Russians in 1719. The present house was built by a local man who went from ship’s boy to successful merchant captain, and returned to marry the vicar’s daughter. In the 1930s there was a mink farm with 7000 of the animals and a dedicated team of fishermen to feed them. The market collapsed in the war and in 1945 the house and island were bought by Stockholm City Council as a home for exhausted house wives before becoming a hotel in the 2000s.

Lido Hotel

Mon 8 Jul Lido to Arholma 5 miles
Wind S-SW 5-10 knots
We decided to go to Arholma as we needed food and the farm shop at Lido had proved elusive. Slipped at 0720 and a lovely gentle sail saw us there by 0845. We walked over to the other side of the island where there was an excellent shop for coffee and ice cream (everything we needed except for camping gas – long canisters unavailable except in Bullando and, probably, in Nortallje), admired the impressive 18th Century light house and then moved up to the battery at the North end of the Island – well preserved, and, interestingly with a new shroud on one of the guns…

Tue 9 Jul Arholma to Norrpada 15 miles
Wind SW-S 6-12 knots
Left Arholma at 0830 having spoken to James and motored South to the fairway. Turned South East off Kapellskar and had a good beat down the Adskarfjarden to Norrpada where we found a lovely spot in the middle of the islands next to a family with a huge motor boat but no one else – the outer anchorages seemed jammed. We were surrounded only by swans trying to learn to take off (into the wind helps!). Replaced battery which had died, as usual at the critical moment.

Norrpada

Wed 10 Jul Norrpada to Moja – Lanvik 16 miles
Wind SE 14-20
The forecast was again prophesying doom for the evening with a Low over Southern Norway producing 22-28 knots overnight. Decided to go somewhere secure where we could charge batteries. Left at 0715 and had a slightly slow sail down the Kobbfjarden to Moja Lanvik. The new outer jetty was full to bursting but unusually had 3 small boats including an immaculate H boat – apparently a Finnish design – very long and slim. More importantly none of the services were working. We therefore moved to the inner harbour tying up in our now accustomed position next to the Sopor (rubbish) berth.
Moja Lanvik was hot, scruffy and sleepy with a blues band playing at the rather ramshackle restaurant located in what had once been the liquor Baron Jeppe’s establishment just up the hill. Power and showers were fine. The modest payment was required in cash unless one had access to the Swedish SWISH payment system, which needs both payer and payee to have a Swedish bank account. Fortunately we had Euros as there was no ATM on the island.

Moja – Baron Jeppe’s Bar

Thu 11 Jul Moja
After heavy rain overnight we woke up to the sound of two parrots on the motor boat next to us. As there was little wind we decided to have a Make and Mend day, cleaned the boat and hired bikes. We then worked our way down the island, stopping at Ramsmora to admire the outside of the museum to the artist Roland Svensson complete with his traditional boat carefully protected under an open-sided shed, and the waiting hut for the ferry with a bookcase for swops and a semaphore arrangement to tell the ferry to stop. All simple, sensible and civilised. Went on to Moja Berg at the southern end of the Island to an excellent pizzeria with a kind proprietress who changed some money, a very good Coop store and an excellent history board which gave the background to the Russian harrying in 1719-21 – the result apparently of Swedish prevarication over ending an unsuccessful war and Peter the Great’s determination to bring it to an end.

Moja Inner Harbour

Fri 12 Jul Moja to Bjorksskar 8 miles
Wind S4-10
WInd very light so motored across to Bjorkskar where we went past the moorings on the NW-SE channel to the small harbour at Krakvilan. Despite initial reservations from Matthew at the sight of a jetty around the rocks (‘this looks very commercial”) this was in many ways the nicest place we visited – as much because of the people there as the place itself. We met an Australian-English couple with 2 children who had rented a small boat off Click&Boat. She was a GP in France on the border with Geneva who had navigated her way through the local bureaucracy with the aid of friends in the local choir.
A second Australian-English couple (Rob and Zoe) with a lovely Vindo yacht, with a beautifully varnished coach roof, who very kindly gave us supper. Rob had served in the Rifles and was currently working at the Swedish Defence University.
Marlene and Henrik and their daughter from Lake Malaren who had the motor boat next to us and who lent us their SUP to try.
A sadly unnamed crew of 3 from the Northern Archipelago whose leader had finished a traditional wooden open cargo motor boat ( a snekkar?) and equipped it with a fantastic tent/mosquito net through which they could see the stars. They apparently normally cruised with 7 – two families – which must have been very cosy. With 3 she seemed to us huge.
Two redoubtable ladies with a racing boat. One apparently a well known racing skipper, the other an environmentalist who explained the absence of fish, seals, and most varieties of sea bird as the product of excessive nutrients in an almost landlocked sea, and majored on the risks of ill directed clean ups following environmental disasters.
The guardian – Kim – who offered us his spare room on the second night when it rained and blew heavily.
With changes in the weather, we formed a new plan to go South to Gronskar, then Napoleonviken, Vaxholm and back to Bullando.

North Country boat

Sat 13 Jul Bjorkskar
Fog
We were up at 0445 and RTM at 0615 but there was really heavy fog (less than 100m) which did not burn off until 1300 when visibility and wind both increased. We did not move, as Sandhamn seemed likely to be very full on a Saturday night ,and enjoyed the swallows, terns and geese. A relaxed afternoon finished with the first bastu (sauna) for many years. To our relief this included swim gear and repeated dips in the sea but did not include over enthusiastic Finns and birch branches. We slept well, planning to use a weather window as the depression moved through with a light easterly for 3 hours to make some ground to the SW before the SW kicked back in and increased.

Bjorskar Krakvilan

Sun 14 Jul Bjorkskar to Sandhamn 9 miles
Fog. SW 16-23
The weather window appeared but so did the fog. At 0800 it lifted slightly and we decided to head for Sandhamn and then take a view depending on the strength and direction of the wind. In the event the wind turned smartly to the South West – almost on the nose – and increased. After trying a reef and then the main only we settled on jib and mizzen with outboard which allowed us to, more or less, hold our course to the narrow and unmarked NE entrance to the Sandhamn archipelago. In the event we came in North rather than South of Stor Alskar which gave us some welcome relief from the waves. In retrospect I think the timing was justifiable. I’m less sure about the route. Entering a rock ridden coast in poor visibility with no marks places heavy reliance on the accuracy of the plotter, the behaviour of the boat in the sea conditions of the time, and last but not least my ability to see the plotter screen in heavy spray!

In Sandhamn we went for Lokholmen as the quietest and most sheltered of the three marinas, finding our usual spot next to the Sopor building before taking the ferry across to Sandhamn itself. Sandhamn, a customs post since the 18th century and more recently a major yachting centre, was picturesque, crowded with both boats and day visitors, had loud and continuous musak, and was a fairly brutal re-entry into normal life. All relieved by a lovely varnished 12 square metre moored in the fairway; a super cool man standing up on a powered fin equipped SUP who cruised down the main fairway as we crossed to Sando; efficient shopping and excellent raspberry and liquorice ice cream, and the lovely sight of a 4 square meter solo crewed by an elderly man sailing quietly in amidst the chaos to his usual spot to do the shopping. He told us that only 4 of these boats were built during the war when materials were extremely scarce. Depressingly he also told us that there was now no place to buy charts in Sandhamn as all the chandlers had been turned over to either coffee shops or clothing outlets.

After supper we joined the crew of another skerry cruiser – Erik, Lise and Daniel – and put the world to rights until midnight. The boat had been in the family for 10 years plus and had had a mishap with its nose manoeuvring into its position which Erik had been mending. It then sported a washing up bottle nose!

Sandhamn

Mon 15 Jul Sandhamn to Gronskar via Namdo Lanvik 17 Miles
Wind S/SW 5-10 knots.
Our plan was to go out to the fairway buoy South of Sandhamn and decide then what course we could make. If the wind was sufficiently West we could make Bullero and Hallskar. If sufficient South we would sail across to Runmaro, try the anchorage at Lanvik at the top of Namdo and then work our way down to Gronskar. In the event that was what we did, finding Lanvik sheltered but uninviting despite its bastu, and then able to sail as far as Hemskar after lunch, tacking as necessary before motoring the final mile into Gronskar through its narrow but well marked entrance to, again, find a place next to the Sopor hut and an unusual wooden cruiser. Gronskar was a very sheltered anchorage and not crowded. Saw our one and only eagle earlier on. An excellent sailing day.

Gronskar

Tue 16 Jul Gronskar to Bullando 14 miles
Wind S 0-5 knots
Rain overnight was followed by a glorious morning. A pre breakfast walk to try to reach the other side of the anchorage found huge Elk pats which would have disturbed any Man Friday but was otherwise abortive. We slipped at 0830 and motored across into Namdofjarden where we sailed very slowly North and then motored and sailed up to Bullando. The channels close to Stockholm saw a marked increase in motorboat traffic, often passing very close at very high speeds – perhaps a product of the ferocious Swedish speed limits on land? – which left one with a desire for a full complement of homing torpedoes. Back in Bullando by 1330 in time for troll hunting for grandchildren. The huge marina was very full – mercifully as its 1200 or so boats were not out in the Archipelago.
We were given a convenient berth next to the slip and – you guessed it – the Sopor. The marina bastu was impeccably smart and stylish but a cold shower was not as refreshing as the sea. We were clearly going native.

Journey Home

Wed 17 Jul
We recovered the boat, changed a trailer tyre which had acquired a nail and set off about 1300, reaching a motorway stop at about c2300 on Sjealand in Denmark.

Thu 18 Jul
A short and noisy night saw us get up at 0330 and set off, arriving at the Hook of Holland about 1500. Stena Lines was as comfortable and efficient as ever.

FrI 19 Jul
Off the ferry and home by tea time!

Reflections
The journey to and from Stockholm was straightforward. Estimating time for the return journey is always more difficult but 2 days is comfortable @ approximately 500 miles a day.

We covered some c170 sea miles and 16 anchorages or harbours.

Sailing in the 20,000 or so islands of the Archipelago required concentration especially when away from the small number of marked routes. A combination of large scale (1:10:000) charts and a simple plotter worked well although we were lucky not to have to change chart pages in the rain. More protection for individual pages would have been ideal given that the charts did not cover more than 10 miles and, like battles, one’s destination seemed often to be at the junction of several sheets. A combination of the Skippo app which shows the mooring places, Hamnguiden which comments on them and Hydrographica charts showing the anchorages in detail might be ideal but requires fully charged mobile devices. Most local sailors seemed to use Skippo and SMHI batsportkort.

The principal limiting factor was the weather. While the prevailing wind was South to South West (and this could have influenced our planning more than it did – it would be possible to plan to start in the South and work North) local sailors felt the weather overall was abnormally poor and difficult to anticipate as different weather systems over the North Sea, Norway, Poland and Russia battled for predominance. This made it difficult to plan longer passages over open water such as the potential trip to Mariehamn. As in Scotland flexibility is required. We became more relaxed about this as the trip progressed. In fact we became more relaxed full stop.

Although we wanted to find isolated anchorages, in a first trip one tends to go for known and therefore well used anchorages and harbours. In a different trip a different approach could be taken. However, many of our best moments were interactions with other sailors which would not have occurred if we had succeeded in our initial aim of splendid isolation. If we had really wanted the latter we could have found it in most areas.

The boat and our systems, subject to a couple of minor breakages, worked well. We rapidly became used to being the smallest boat by a considerable margin, and the overall lack of small boats, although there seemed to be more in the later anchorages – and to be unfussy about the Sopor buildings. Our stern anchoring technique improved, including the need to work out which direction the boat needed to lie in as the anchor came up in small harbours with little room to manoeuvre. Fitting a large carabiner to a warp to clip on to a buoy where these were provided as one went past to a bow to jetty mooring was also useful.

Our independence was limited only by our small 7 amp battery’s life where repeated dull days prevented the now rather aged solar panels from fully recharging them – though this seemed to work better after a boost from shore power on Moja – and food and water, where we also seemed to get better at sourcing low bulk high value nutrition over time.

Overall we scratched the surface of a wonderful cruising area to which we would happily return. On the other hand, other places also beckon – notably Finland perhaps in conjunction with Raid Finland and using a route out via Calais and Travemunde, or the Baltic coast of North Germany and Poland.

Written by Bill Rollo, October 2024

BR20 Askari in Norway

Bill Rollo and Matthew Peacock.

An account of Askari’s voyage up the Helgeland coast from Bronnøysund to Bodø 4th-21st Aug 2019.

After our 2018 venture up the West Coast of Sweden a further expedition to Northern Norway in 2019 was a natural progression. Reading from other trips – from Frank Dye’s Northern voyage (not his passage across the North Sea) to the intrepid Poles who went from Trondheim to Bodo in their Salmo 15s in foul weather – and the history books, all pointed us towards the Helgeland Coast. The only real issue was how to get there within the available time. After considerable efforts to find a way of shipping the boat (Askari, a 20 foot Bayraider 20), and ideally the car, trailer and crew, to Norway (the Bergen ferry no longer runs) we decided that the only answer was to say ‘Sod it’ and drive. Once there we would park the car, launch the boat, sail as far North as we could for 17 days, and then use the excellent Norwegian ferry or air system to retrieve the car, recover the boat and drive back.

 

1st – 3rd August  Hook of Holland – Bronnoysund  
Rather to our surprise the plan worked liked a dream. We left the Hook of Holland at 6pm on the evening of Thursday 1st August, hit the Danish border that night, missing the bulk of the German traffic around Hamburg, and were North of Oslo by Friday evening.

We reached our destination – Bronnoysund – after a further long but interesting drive over the mountains on Saturday night, and found the parking and slip recommended by the helpful harbour master in a previous email exchange to be exactly as indicated.

4th Aug  Bronnoysund
We launched at high water at 4am and promptly sailed and motored down to Torghatten to have our first encounter with Norwegian paths (wheelchair accessibility not a priority) climb up to the vast cave which goes through the mountain and then return to Bronnoysund to get final supplies on Monday morning.

5th Aug Ylvingen
By Monday afternoon we were tacking North in a light Northerly to the island of Ylvingen, famous in Norway as the setting for an immensely popular TV show, but now, by early August, already closing down for the winter. A walk to inspect the German coastal defence positions also revealed 2 Elk, who we learned were part of a population of 60 which had swum across from the mainland. Our Norwegian contact, with the prospect of a freezer full of elk meat clearly in mind, told us that there would be only 20 by next summer.

6th Aug Hjartoya
With a more favourable wind next day we were able to make good progress, stopping for coffee in an interesting anchorage in the skerries, complete with sea eagles, before going on to visit the beautifully executed modern museum to a local Norwegian cleric – Petter Dass – at the bottom of Alsta. Our guides to the church and rectory included a girl who while expert in her history was even more expert in every form of fish and fishing.

 

We ended the day in the perfect anchorage at Hjartoya, underneath the peaks of Donna and looking back towards the 7 Sisters of Alsta.

7th Aug    Nesna
Next morning we motored across to Sandnessjoen before sailing gently up past Lokta and Hugla to the small sailing town of Nesna, where we were able to make use of the excellent facilities provided at modest cost by the local Batforening. In contrast to Sweden, where the automated system was firmly policed by harbour maidens, the Norwegian one relied totally on honesty, whether payment was made by app, or more often, through an honesty box.

8th Aug     Slenset
A wonderful day. Armed with a local recommendation we went around the North side of Tomma to find a small and perfect beach tucked in behind dramatic rocks.

After an extended break and walk we sailed up through the skerries to the small harbour of Sleneset, at the centre of an enormous archipelago, much of it restricted as a nature reserve.

 

9th Aug      Lovund
A more favourable wind next day blew us rapidly out to the dramatically shaped island of Lovund, allegedly home to a huge population of puffins. Every entreaty possible was made to dissuade the visitor from disturbing the population, ending with a dramatic warning that the birds were infested with blood sucking parasites.

   
10th Aug        Luroya
With the prospect of a change in the weather we reluctantly resisted the temptation to go a further 10 miles out to the islands around Traena, and worked our way back in towards the coast, breaking to fish, before turning North into the narrow channel that runs up between Luroya and Stigen.

With the pilot recommended anchorage invaded by an industrial concern we found a smaller but entirely adequate bay a little further North, ready for the forecast fresh South Easterlies next day. Matthew turned his 6 beautiful pollock into protein in a dramatic display of culinary determination.

 

11th Aug      Selsøyvik
The promised South Easterlies arrived on the dot and we shot North with increasing speed, hitting 7.2 knots before reefing as we headed up to the Arctic Circle monument at Vikingen.

Here our luck turned. Our intention had been to continue East into Melfjord and onto the Nordfjord where the Svartisen Glacier comes down towards the sea. Unfortunately our South Easterly was now channelled down a different valley system and from being nicely astern moved to being right on the nose, strengthening sharply as it did so.

The Hurtigruten ferry was then treated to a fine view of the mad English dropping the main rather hurriedly. Luckily they were not privy to the internal discussion as the crew, complained that his photograph had mysteriously grown ears and we would need to go twice around the island to get a better shot.  This resulted in an outbreak of grim determination from the skipper and we spent the next hour crawling up to the mouth of the Melfjord, only to discover even blacker clouds and stronger winds. A rapid change of plan saw us turn North, run up the East side of Gjerdoya, and then turn into the sheltered sound leading down to Selsøyvik.

Selsøyvik was a find. The place itself was a small but handsome 18th century trading station on a much older site, lovingly restored and now supported by a holiday business and an island shop of quite remarkable quality. Here also we first encountered Thorun and his family, who was a mine of accurate and useful information on small bays and anchorages suitable for our boat, and who we would meet repeatedly over the next 10 days in a slightly tortoise and hare type fashion.

12th Aug      Nordfjordholmen
Next day the wind had moderated and we were able to make our way up to the head of the Nordfjord, a wild and lonely place where we were surrounded by peaks and waterfalls from the glacier above. Aside from its beauty this was remarkable for two other reasons. It was the only place, deep in a national park, where we did not have a phone signal. And we saw our first and only seals; shy and cautious beasts who barely raised their heads above the water, quite unlike the confident and voracious animals we had admired en masse on Mingulay earlier in the summer.  Whenever we raised the topic locally we were told that there were many in the South of Norway, but that here they did not mix well with the fish…

13th Aug      Rodoya
After a quiet night in another classic anchorage at Norfjordholmen we sailed out to Renga, where we walked up to the caves used by some exceptionally tough and brave Norwegian resistance to monitor coastal traffic for nearly 2 years, and then went on to Rodoya, and the very upmarket restaurant and B&B at Klottergarten where we spent a rather bumpy night on a pontoon as the wind went around to the West. A RIB with not one but two 300HP outboards gave us a glimpse of other options to move around the islands, while another chance encounter gave us the best boat name so far: Malik – apparently the crest of a breaking wave in Greenland – seemed a great name for a sleek grey RM 45 returning to Tromso from a summer trip to the Canaries.

14th Aug         Bolga
The same wind which gave us an uncomfortable night gave us a lovely sail next morning, past the beaches West of Rodoya, through the skerries East of Svinvaer and up to Bolga where we found yet another fine Norwegian path up on to the ridge before deciding that Crocs and sandals probably did not pass the common sense test for a further trip up to the top.

15th Aug         Stott
Next morning with the wind still in the West but gentler we had a straightforward run in lowering cloud past Meloya and Mesoya to Ornes where we found the little museum closed but were able to re-stock in one of several supermarkets, as our original supplies were finally running low. By now we were also beginning to focus hard on a suitable weather window to get around the headland at Kunna, which has a local reputation akin to Ardnamurchan, and so decided to push on to Stott where we found ourselves the only inhabitants of another former fishing post turned restaurant and gjestehaven.

 

16th Aug               Sor Arnoya
A lovely morning and calm conditions had us on the water early to motor a couple of miles around Kunna before hoisting sail and heading on North to Sor Fugloya, yet another majestic hump of rock and a pleasant village including a fine Nordland faering, fronting onto an equally fine white beach. Leaving there after lunch we had a brisk sail in a freshening easterly wind up to Sor Arnoya where we avoided the commercial sound by diving into the perfect pool of Krokholmen, surrounded by vast racks for drying cod and a network of rope walkways between multiple islets that together made up the harbour.

17th Aug              Fenes
We were now fast approaching Bodo with a few days in hand and decided to bypass it and go further North to Kjerringoy, off the edge of the known world (or at least of our paper chart coverage).

Our first stop was Bliksvaer where we arrived to find ourselves in the middle of a ceremony to celebrate the building of a new church on the island 20 years before, itself a catalyst for the revival of the island’s community. The pastor arrived suitably, sailing his own boat, the Lutheran hymns had a familiar rhythm, we admired the spire, brought in by Sea King helicopter on arch-episcopal authority, were fascinated by a small but comprehensive museum telling the tale of the loss of HMS Effingham in 1940, driving in at 23 kts through poorly charted waters, and enjoyed great hospitality and many cloudberries, in the village hall. It was only with some difficulty that we extracted ourselves for a lovely evening sail to the quiet little fishing port of Fenes on the South West tip of Landesgode.

Kjerringoy

Next morning the improved sailing conditions continued, with the pleasant Easterly wind forecast supercharged into distinctly sporting form as it accelerated down the steep valleys between Landesgode’s mountains.

We reefed and then dropped the main on the way up to the fine light house at the North end of Landesgode before a wind shift as we cleared the shadow of the island allowed us a great reach across to Kjerringoy. Kjerringoy, with its fine museum, extensive collection of 18th century buildings and history as a major entrepôt for the fishing trade, with upto 30,00 fishermen and women waiting to cross into their fishing grounds in the 1860s was a suitable finale to the trip. And we had two further interesting encounters: the first a remarkable lady who had recently built a beautiful Nordland Faering from 2 trees with traditional tools, giving it our second favourite boat name – Ea – a female eider duck). 

The second with the owner of Northern Quest, which had been twice around the world in 31 years of continuous ownership, an authority on the great Norwegian explorers Amundsen and Nansen,

19th Aug       Skipholmen
After a quick check on the tide we went quietly down the sound running South from Kjerringoy inside the coastal islets, anchoring for lunch at Vagoya and then, putting off the evil moment for as long as possible, deciding to spend our last night on the beach at Skipholmen just outside Bodo, where we put our inflatable boat rollers to the test. The rollers worked perfectly, although our technique left considerable room for improvement.

We had a quiet night above the HW line until 4 when we launched in 5 minutes before going back to sleep. Later that morning we drifted gently into Bodo. All good things come to an end.

20th – 24th Aug  Bodo to Harwich
Over the following 4 days Bill flew down to Bronnoysund to retrieve the car and trailer, and we retraced our route back down to the Hook of Holland, advancing our ferry times once we knew we could safely do so, arriving back in Harwich after some 4500 miles on a quiet Sunday morning, slightly bemused that we would not be cooking breakfast and hoisting sail to continue North.

 

 

SeaRaider “Craic” wins Sail Caledonia 2017

Well done to Andrew, Graham and John, who sailed Andrew’s SeaRaider, “Craic”, to overall victory in this year’s Sail Caledonia. It was another fantastic week with generally good weather as the boats sailed and rowed from Fort William to Inverness along the Caledonian Canal and the Great Glen’s lochs.

There were 4 Swallows entered – in addition to Craic there was a BayRaider 20 (Augusta Thomasina), a Storm 17 (Peewit) and a BayRaider Expedition (Mallory). Craic dominated the Swallow class but had stiff competition from “Jack”, a Swampsott Dory, in the overall competition. Jack is a great alrounder but Craic’s superior sailing ability combined with Andrew and his crew’s excellent sailing gave them the advantage when the wind blew.

Full results and photo galleries will be available on the Sail Caledonia website shortly.

Colour Codes – Gel Coat and Paint

These are the colours Swallow Boats use on their boats.

The standard colours on the GRP boats are as follows:

RAL 9001 Cream (used for deck and under the waterline/boot-top)
RAL 5011 Steel blue
RAL 7015 Slate Grey
RAL 6007 Bottle Green
RAL 9005 Jet Black

For Wood-Epoxy painted boats it is likely to be a product from the International Perfection range. They do not have many colours so it is easy to find yours – probably Jade Mist Green or Mauritius Blue.

On the wood work, Swallow Boats usually uses Sikkens Cetol Filter 7. Colour TEAK for the hardwood and Colour PINE for the softwood (wooden masts and booms).

On the interior of cabin boats they use a RAL9001 paint, single pack. If any boat owners wants some, please get in touch with Swallow Boats and they can provide a small pot.

Interior varnish is usually International Goldspar satin.

BRe Cockpit Tent Launched

Swallow Boats has just launched a new cockpit tent for the BayRaider Expedition. See below for a description and photos.

There is a side door each side, with a window and curtain. Swallow Boats are confident there will be good ventilation because the bottom of the tent does not meet the deck exactly yet there is a generous overlap with the coaming, so no rain should get in.

The tent extends back from the aft end of the sprayhood and attaches to a 4mm rope spread round the outside of the coaming, on the deck, and pulled very tight. This rope is left permanently in place and the bottom of the tent has velcro tabs which loop around this. This makes it very quick and easy to assemble because even in a strong wind the velcro will stay put during assembly, when bungee loops can come un-hooked.

The tent is supported by a lightweight flexible pole that attaches to two deck clip fittings screwed to the outside of the coaming.

20140816_133528

20140816_133601

20140816_133552

20140816_133540

Stbd-Deck Layout

Rutland Rally, 26th & 27th April 2014

The first meeting of Swallow Boats in 2014 was at Rutland Water on 26th & 27th April and saw eleven boats take to the water. BayRaiders were of course in the majority but it was good to see wooden BR20s as well as GRP boats, and a BayRaider Expedition and BayCruiser 23. The weekend was a relaxed event that was in the spirit of this website – a group of like-minded boat owners meeting and sailing together rather than an overly organised event.

Saturday’s sailing was followed by a well attended and very enjoyable dinner at the White Horse, Empingham. Sunday saw the boats take to an informal and fun race. During two hours of racing the boats covered much of Rutland Water and racing included a good mix of beats and runs. The racing was lighthearted and fun but was also tight and keenly fought. However, Gladys took an early lead and gradually extended it during the race. Joybells came second having also gained that place during the first run and Psalter climbed to third having been sixth at one stage.

The weekend was great fun and we were lucky enough not to encounter any rain while the winds blew strongly enough to keep things interesting. Thanks go to Peter Cockerton for organising such a good event. Photos from the event can be seen here.

Website updated

There have been lots of small changes made to the web site over the past few weeks. These are mostly aimed at making it easier to find content – especially new content – and use the website in general. In particular, the search function (using the menu bar’s search box) has been updated so that it now searches the forum as well as the website. Previously it didn’t include the forum. Note that the search link on the forum is still specific to the forum. The full list of changes is included below. Please add a comment to this post or start a forum topic if you find any issues with the site.

  • Search updated to include the forum in addition to the web site.
  • Menu search box no longer causes the other menu items to wrap to a second line so early.
  • The search box now expands when used so that it can be smaller (and consume less menu space) when not in use.
  • Top admin menu removed and all functions moved to main menu.
  • The summary of recent posts/pages on the home page now includes post excerpts.
  • The summary of recent forum posts on the home page now includes post excerpts.
  • Login/logout link added to menu.
  • Margins & white space reduced on the home page to allow more content to be included.
  • Logging in through the homepage now keeps users logged in for 24 hours rather than previous default of 1.
  • Pages can be assigned to the Library as well as a menu if they are assigned to the “Library” category. Previously, a page only appeared in the Library if it wasn’t accessible via a menu. Now a page is in the Library if it isn’t assigned to a menu or the page has the “Library” category.

Rutland Rally, 6th & 7th April 2013

The bitter northerly winds died down just in time for the Swallow Boats rally at Rutland Water and even the sun came out. But there was enough wind left for sailing on both days, although it was rather light and flukey on Sunday. Seven boats were on the water over the weekend – 2 BayCruiser 23s, 3 BayRaider 20s, a BayRaider 17, a BayRaider Expedition and a Storm 15 – and they made a great sight. Most owners and crew managed to get to the pub on Saturday night where we had a really good dinner and managed to find plenty to talk about other than boats! Thanks to Peter Cockerton for organising this event. Photos can be found in the following gallery album:

http://www.swallowyachtsassociation.org/?page_id=449&album=1&gallery=10