Copenhagen-Amsterdam

Leaving Lynetten. Weather is great. With this speed we'll get somewhere fast. Funny feeling leaving all the people on the quay behind. The Journey has begun.

Lying around Stevns Klint trying to catch some wind. The wind is changing direction all the time. On occasions the arrow just takes a 360 spin. We're moving with about 1,5kn but the weather is beautiful and we're just taking it easy. Fishing, reading, listening to music and lying in the sun. I'm sure this will make us better human beings.

The Bridge (Øresundsbroen) has finally disappeared in the horizon, we made it. We have gone further than the eye can see.

The wind is back. Approximately 5ms. Going 5 knots, heading for Klintholm as our destination for the day. Right now we're cruising past Møns Klint. What are the white cliffs of Dover doing here?

We named the inflateable crock we've been dragging after the boat all the way. He is now officially called Troels.

Got into Klintholm Havn. Tired, hungry ... must eat, must sleep.

Today I have sailed further than ever before. Tension is being released. I am on my way.

Leaving Klintholm heading for Gedser. Good wind, 6-8ms and hoping to reach Rødby by tonight. We just put up the sail club flag (FCK) and got the name and number sticker attached to the bow. Thanks Tobias ...

Looks even better than we thought. Just hit max speed for the tour so far, 7.2 knots.

Just passing around the southern tip of Falster on the way to Rødby. Wind has picked up but the cross chop isn't too much fun.

Looks like we have a good plan. We have decided to leave late and arrive late. None of this getting to the marina early, getting a good berth, shower and meal. Earliest entry into port is now allowed to be 2200 because is so much fun. Motoring around in shallow, confined water in the dark. Also Troels (the crock) has learnt new tricks. At the beginning he couldn't even keep on his feet. Now, just a day later, he's doing 360's. Clever fella.

Tim

Well it turned out to be another long day at sea. But what a day. Perfect sailing weather all day and I think we've made about 60 nm today. Great great great ... Out total is now 135 nm.

Claus

Rødby haven sucks ... actually!! We slept next to a huge grain factory so there is grain chaff all over the boat and we only had to pay 15 Euros for it ... without water or electricity. Well fuck Rødby, it's behind us now and the weather is nice so all in all life is kinda great.

We're heading for Heiligenhafen i Germany - going for beers and cigarettes.

Claus

We're just getting out of a major fog. Visibility was about 100-150m. Just got passed by a speeding German navy ship really close. That got us on out feet. We're navigating through underwater obstructions so we'll be zigzagging into Heiligenhafen.

Troels is resting today. Maybe he did a few to many tricks yesterday. We just caught a Horn fish which we have just eaten for lunch ... yummy. We have also cleaned up the boat.

Just got into Heiligenhafen ... in a bit of an unusual way. Right after we came out of the fog the wind disappeared. After having drifted for a while, doing some more fishing, all of a sudden all our electrical equipment just died. We had no power, meaning no GPS, no depth instrument, no speed instrument and no motor as it needs power to start. All in all this kinda made it hard to get through the underwater obstructions we no longer knew where were and into the haven which has lots of shallow water and a really long narrow entrance path.

We really wanted our engine back so we'd have a fair chance of getting into haven with the boat still floating. We brought a wind charger, which wasn't mounted yet but with a little work it might just help us out. Tim took the wheel and I started to work on the regulator while Claus assembled the windmill. After a short while we had it all ready to charge the batteries but nothing to mount it on since we got rid of the pole in Klintholm, expecting a new one to arrive in Aabenraa. So we had to hold it with our hands. While Tim tacked into Femersund Claus and I sat on the side of the boat holding a small windmill that weighs about 20-25kg. It's shaped like a regular windmill, which makes it kinda hard to hold with the rotating blades and all and we had to change side every time Tim turned the boat. After a while we actually began to look forward to the turns because it gave us a chance to rest our arms for a second before getting the windmill to the other side of the boat.

A couple of hours later, Tim navigating through Femersund with our paper charts, me and Claus still holding the windmill, we were closing in on the entrance channel to Heiligenhafen. With long arms and somewhat broken confidence we had one last chance to start the engine off the power we had generated with the windmill.

Grruhhh-grrruhh-grruuh-click-click-click ... it didn't work.

So heading for plan B, which I guess we'd all been working on in our heads while getting this far. Get the anchor ready, fenders out, horn ready, main sail down, hoisting the "we need help"-flag. We were hoping to be able to just hit the entrance, get the wind in our back and slowly sail down the narrow entrance path and drop the anchor when it was impossible to get any further. The entrance was closing in. Sandbanks to our right really close, lots of boats coming in on our left ... hmmmm.

"Our battery is flat - we can't start our engine", I shouted and they responded. Two Germans in a funny looking sailboat passing by closely. Without thinking much they came to our side and attached some towing ropes. Attached alongside them we started the entry into the entrance channel a bit to close to the sandbanks on our right. Slowly but safely we went through the channel heading for the haven - and then what? We had to find a free spot while attached to another boat going around in a really big German mess of irregularly aligned quays nothing like you would expect of Germans. And our German towers were only visiting the haven - they didn't know it either.

Within a couple of minutes more Germans came to our rescue. A fat and a skinny German in a small nearly sinking motor driven boat went around looking for a place for us to land safely and they came back with good news. "Over there" ... "Gut, vielen dank" - slowly going "over there" still attached to the German boat. How the hell are we going to make this?

After a lot of back and forth we got released from the other boat and started to drift towards the berth - not really getting there more like drifting sideways. And there came the fat and the skinny guy in the nearly sinking boat again. We tossed them a rope and they helped us out again, or rather they helped us in.

We were safe. Todays adventure is over.

Right after we came in we plugged in the power cable and checked the batteries. They were totally dried out - no wonder we ran out of power. So we had to go and find a supermarkt to get distilled water and the beers we came for in the first place.

And so we headed out for the city. In short time we found a supermarkt and what do you know, right there next to it was a bar. We could surely use a cold beer by now so we checked the opening hours of the supermarkt and sat down at the bar. Within 20 minutes the sky changed and the rain started pouring down so we had to get another beer. Half an hour later we entered the supermarkt. It was fairly large and we headed for the beer section - and what do you know - we'd found a beerless supermarkt in Germany. What's up with that? Asking for directions, "jah jah, diesen weg, durch dem gang dann links, über und so weiter, der SKY super" ... right around the corner I guess.

After walking some time in that direction with no SKY supermarkt in sight we asked for directions again. "Ahh darüber, links und rechts glaube ich". Seemed like he had no clue ... but we went in that direction. 10 minutes later, still no SKY supermarkt in sight and closing hours ware closing in. Asking for direction again. Sent of in a new direction now getting us back to our starting point. Hmmm.

Ohhh! There was the SKY Supermarkt - right around the corner under the sign saying SKY Supermarkt. Amazing we even found Heiligenhafen.

We got the shopping done with and went back to the boat. We had just gotten aboard when this angry looking German woman was shouting at us from another boat going by. We had taken their spot and they wanted it back NOW! ... "moment, moment ..."

So we had to move our boat again ... and we did ... with some trouble since this was the first time on the trip going into a berth in broad daylight without being dragged by friendly Germans. But we succeeded in the second attempt after lying almost sideways in the first. Good thing it was a nice big berth.

Later we went looking for Heidi's ... but there isn't any in Heiligenhafen.

Just before going to bed we discovered that Troels hadn't been in the water all day. That explains all the trouble. He'll be in the water everyday from now on.

Departed from Heiligenhafen. Wind is about 6 ms. We fuelled up after asking for directions from the Germen next door. He knows everything, at least that is what his well trained wife told us that. On the way to Ærø Claus predicting a good day - obviously not basing this on past experience.

We checked batteries, the took on 11-12 litres of distilled water, Also checked oil and cooling fluid on the engine.

Tim

Arrived at Marstal as usual with some problems making the berth entry. Lots of sideways wind and current didn't make it easier.

We had a beautiful sail all day with wind going as much as 10ms. Lots of speed. Mmmm. Smooth ride. Thanks Troels.

Just said hi to Claus' mother in law and we are on our way again.

Entered Mommark boat haven on Als. Secured the boat with usual prowess and two or three attempts. Finally got to have a beer and went for a walk on a little cobble beach near the haven. All very proud of ourselves at managing to light a fire we sat there watching it, drinking the rest of our beers. Got to bed around 1-2.

Tim

Ready to plan today's voyage ... not really awake. Today's route will be practice by dead reckoning and compass navigation. Heading for Aabenraa.

Tim

We had no wind all day and so we had to do the distance by motor. Right south of Fynshav we anchored up and went for a swim. Even though we had no wind it was nice going without the GPS. I'm considering not spending money on electronic charts for the entire trip - one pays more attention to the surroundings when sailing with paper charts and not just relying on the instruments.

We also tested the Hammock and it lives up to the expectations. Looking forward to the canals further ahead on our journey.

After entering Aabenraa port Trine and Per came down to visit us. We were supposed to go out for a sail with Per but there was no wind, so instead they invited us home to their house for dinner. They live in a beautiful countryside house just outside Aabenraa and we had dinner with them in their garden.

We arranged with Per that we should go for a sail Monday night instead and then we headed home. On our way back be bought some beers and once again we tried to get drunk, but we can't really get there and on top of that the rain started pouring.

After a good nights sleep me and Tim went for a walk to check out the city and much to our surprise it was quite nice. When we came back to Sisse, Martin had started putting up the windmill and the rest of the day we pretty much worked with that and other chores.

In the evening Per came and we went out for a sail in Aabenraa fjord with him where we for the first time tried the spinnaker and what a beautiful sight it was. A big white balloon with the blue Bianca stripes out front. Really, really nice. Otherwise the main event in Aabenraa was the shower we all took for the first time.

Claus

Left Aabenraa with strong gusty westerly wind. We are going down Als fjord and Als sund, past Sønderborg on into German waters. Classic Danish waterfronts in the passing.

Tim

Arrived at Schleimunde (schissemunde to us). Managed a brief beer refreshment then made a plan to walk the 7 km into Maasholm (Assholm to us) to get some euros and see what was happening.

The walk started out from the little marina near the breakwater at the scheissemunde lighthouse and immediately to the north is a nature reserve (didn't know Germany had any nature left to reserve). At a gate in the fence were numerous signs mentioning Verboten but we had to get to the town to get cash for tomorrows entry into the Kieler canal. We got to the north boundary of the reserve where a bird watching house was situated. As we exited through the gate, an older Germie confronted us babbling in German but mentioning Verboten many times. We played dumb and asked him "what the hell?" in English. He came back with a strictly forbidden to walk across or even look at the nature reserve. Another Germie from the secret society of bird watchers joined our little group and said strictly forbidden a lot as well. After our bluffing and apologises for 10 minutes and Martin making up stuff like in Danish we have a phrase like that meaning keep to the path, we left our newfound friends and started the remaining walk into town.

The road zigzagged towards where we needed to go. Finally we got there, got our cash and started back to the haven. We detoured around the bird watching house and walked back along the beach, back to the boat at about 23, about 18 km later. Ate some pasta, drank some wine and slept sweetly.

Tim

Departed Scheissemunde and continued on our way to Kiel.

Tim

Fixed on the lighthouse at the port entrance. Not as much traffic as we had expected. We kinda sorta think we figured out the canal entry rules. Otherwise we'll just do as usual ... pretend we're stupid and don't speak a word of German.

After having circled around outside the lock for a while we're now inside the locks. Waiting for the water to rise. It costs 17 euro to past through the entire canal ... not to bad. In a little while we'll be in the canal. Sun is shining, it's shorts and t-shirt time.

Arrived in Rendsburg, docked. Had a beer and did our usual search for the supermarkt. Always seems that the helpful directions we get from the local Germs do not lead directly to any shops.

Bought up what we needed when we finally found the shops and returned to the haven. As we were transferring the goods to the boat we had a tragedy. Martin was carrying the beers and began to pass the first case to me, on board. The little useless cardboard box the beer cans are packed into started to crumple and with us all shrieking in horror, one of the cans spilt into the haven. A second later the case I was holding buckled up and 15 of those beers went into the murky depths. After a stunned silence, we conjured up some salvage plans involving first the fishing net and then diving gear. We tried the fishing net and could not touch the bottom. Turned on the depth gauge and found the bottom was at over 5 m. This was when the diving operation was put on hold and it was decided by me to spend the 3 euros to replace the beers rather than go into the murky, dirty German water.

Ate dinner at the restaurant by the river. Worst waitress on the planet and strange fruit turkey schnitzel and salad thing were ordered. But it is Germany and weird stuff is expected.

Tim

Departed from Rendsburg and all declared that we shall never return on purpose.

Tim

We have docked in Brownbucket (Brunsbüttel). Everything has gone smooth all day ... very warm and excited to have reached the end of the Kieler Canal. It gets a bit boring in the long run. We'll be staying here overnight drinking champagne and lots of beers.

Zero wind. Well we're now leaving the last Canal haven but before we do that we'll have to figure out the tide because its shifting a lot out there in the North Sea and it would be quite shitty to be stuck on German ground. Troels is not doing very well. We reckon that it is the very brown and shitty water that ills him. Once again Tim successfully threw something in the haven. This time though it was his own toilet pack ... in the brown water ...

Claus

We are now leaving through the last lock. Who would have thought that we actually made it this far. Well fuck the people who didn't think we were "men of the sea" ...

Claus

We left the Kieler Canal with the tide in our back. We had absolutely no wind but with our engine on 3/4 power and the tide we got an impressive 8-9 knots out of it. Unfortunately we had the tide against us when coming into Wangerooge. The water looks like it's being torn apart - it doesn't know which way to go. We made it in while there were still enough water. However there is not enough room for these latecomers. We docked outside 3 other boats of which the inner one was leaving next morning at 5 am. So we just decided to do the same.

Trust me - do not try this at home. We are trained experts - and we feel like shit :-). Still there is no wind so still again the engine is appreciated.

Entered Borkum haven. Last port in Germany for us ... good. The wind is 3-6ms easterly. We were all tired from an early start, confused with the menu at the restaurant but then again so was the waiter (not sure if turkey was chicken, dog or fish). Did the washing and cleaned the boat. Drank beer and slept.

Leaving Borkum haven and Germany. Good wind behind us and the tide is on its way out. Holland awaits us.

Tim

Apparently it is not well seen upon getting into haven this late but we really had no choice. Vleiland Haven was the closest to Borkum. Vleiland haven is packed to the point of breaking. We couldn't even see the quays - just boats everywhere. We found a spot - well more or less - 5 boats piled up on each side - just boats everywhere.

The other sailors may have an opinion on getting in late and so do I have an opinion about the ones getting up at 6, waking everybody up because they are right in the middle and other boats needs to be moved for them to get out.

Since we up anyway we might as well get out of here before all hell breaks loose. We're heading for Harlingen to fuel up and get some food. With a little luck we'll be entering the confined inland sea, Ijsselmeer, within the day.

Just arrived at Harlingen - our first Dutch mainland city. It took us quite some time going the only 15-20 nautical miles up the tide stream but we couldn't wait for the tide to change, as our goal is to reach the Ijsselmeer before nightfall.

It also took us some time to get into the haven because we had to wait for 3 different bridges to open but I am getting a lot of engine manoeuvring experience - which is needed.

We fuelled up, spent 53 litres so far. Going for lunch and getting charts for the Ijsselmeer.

BTW, beware of fishing boats. They make quite a wake in passing and even though there is no wind you can still get a lot of water on deck. Unfortunately the front window wasn't completely locked and now my bed is soaking in seawater. Damn it.

After some discussions we decided to continue. Lunch quite took away the urge to leave. We don't want to get into the next haven as late as last night again.

We are heading for the lock, Kornwederzand, which is the access point to the Ijsselmeer. We believe we have the tide on our side and this move will get us to Amsterdam a day sooner than expected.

Just got into Makkum inside Ijsselmeer and we learned a couple of things on our way here. When waiting for bridges to open, red and green before green means you go first. And in the lock expect the water to go either way - do NOT tie up your ropes, it may leave you hanging on the lock wall. Not that we just experiences that. No, no.

Makkum Haven is really big and stretched out over a long channel. We were led to the guest spots all they way in the back. Watch out for shallow water - one wrong turn and you're stuck on 1.1m - but we don't know anything about that either.

We were told to expect wind from various directions and possibly thunder. Well we'll see about that. We're heading for the lock for Markermeer and then on to Hoorn.

Admittedly the weather is not quite as nice as yesterday.

A big haven, really well organized, signs for guests and everything. Anmelden Hier! Cool!

And then the guy got a bit pissed because I didn't speak Dutch and I didn't know what beam meant. I know now! But we got a berth and just as we did it started pouring.

Well we don't care, we made it in time and we actually had quite good wind for most of the ride.

Leaving Hoorn after a rainy and somewhat stormy night. Weather seems to be more or less like yesterday.

We are on our way to Amsterdam

Arrival at Sixhaven in central Amsterdam. On the entrance to the harbour area there is the usual lock but we've got them figured out by now. No probs.

It's a crowded little haven, more or less like Vleiland - this one is just crowded all the time. Got a berth all the way in the bottom of the
haven and now we can't get out.

I am staying here for the next 10 days.