Baltic Sea (2008)

Wein, Weib und Gesang

Taas — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 18:19:00 GMT

to Mjels

Each hour the bridge across Als Sund opens, allowing us to go full circle around the island Als. The second bridge - after that - is one of those “magic moment“ bridges.

The weather clears sufficiently, for our real viking, to make an attempt at repairing the log. It works half, in a way that the log now shows half the GPS's SOG (and “no“ not a tidal rapid in sight!). Being over confident - as most vikings - he now claims to swim faster as the Dutch sail...

Mjels from the air. It's a bit of a challenging entrance. The chart shows it as exactly the depth of Taurus' keel. With lots of shallows on both sides of the fairway. But the chart datum is Lowest Astronomical Tide.... So... (We're lucky, we make it)

The German community in Mjels prove themselves an interesting bunch of people. First, they lift boats from the water with a truck and then backup, with the boat stil in the crane.

Secondly, when the sun sets, that's when the party 'richtig los geht'.... Musical instruments and wine appear. Once all throats have been sufficiently lubricated, the German classical 'volkslieder' sound. They even have a special song for the foreign friends.

Yes! They actually dó mean the Danish couple, at the other end of the room......

Fog horn

Taas — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 08:16:00 GMT

From Hørup to Mjels

With a visibility of 0.5 NM, the morning fog feels dense. Fortunately there is no commercial shipping in that area.

Gammel Dansk!

Taas — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 08:40:00 GMT

Hørup Hav

It's for real. We've crossed into Danish waters. Flensburger Förde didn't really count, so we raise the Danish civil ensign in our starboard rig; unfortunately Taurus hasn't got a halyard for that. The one available under the main spreader, is in use for the lazy jacks.....

When in Danmark, do as the Danish do. It's time to put the Frisian Beerenburg away and start shopping for Gammel Dansk. The logical place to do this would be Sønderburg. Hørup is a tiny alternative and why be predictible if you can defy logic?

Hørup Marina entrance (click for full size)

And indeed Hørup is a friendly - easy to enter, but watch the shallows behind the break water - marina. There is lots of space to turn and moor Taurus at the guest dock. I wonder what this place is like mid season. The nearby supermarkt sells what we're after... Gammel Dansk!

Now, Gammel Dansk is a aromatic, sharp and bitter liquor. It's made from many spices claimed to have medicinal powers. Allegedly only two people in the world, know the full recipe and they cannot be bribed. Though their names are kept secret too.....

Gammel Dansk has one major disadvantage. Its healing powers have run out the next morning....

Flensburger Förde

Taas — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 12:27:00 GMT

Flensburg to Hørup Hav

Before the Baltic sea there is the Flensburger Förde (click on chart for larger version)

The Flensburger Fjord - shared by Danmark & Germany - is the 20 NM water that you need to go through, before getting onto the Kleine Belt. With just 5 - 10 knots of wind, we decide to go no further than Hørup in Denmark.

	In the Netherlands, Germans have a questionable reputation as skippers; it's rather painful to fly the Adenauer....
Playing U-boat again?	Three elements of this tour
	Enjoying the electrically (!) opening stern. A poop deck.....

An old acquaintance.....

Taas — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:53:00 GMT

We're sailing from Flensburger Förde - in Germany - to the Baltic Sea. And a we're lucky... This season is usually dominated by frontal depressions and temperatures around 15°C; we are blessed with a 1036 mbar high pressure above north Denmark and temperatures around 20°C.

Not 10 minutes into our tour, we pass the Flensburger Schiffbau Gesellschaft. Obviously, they're building a new ferry, but on the yard they've got a smoke stack with a familiar logo....
BC Ferries!

From the guys that:
- put us across Tsawwassen - Swartz Bay (a beautiful crossing!)
- own the Queen of Burnaby that generously changed course just in time....
- employs the man, whose family we enjoyed beer and cigars with, on our last evening
- sank the Queen of the North in 2006 (and are now finalizing its replacement?)

BC's building a new boat, here in Germany, the Northern Expedition. Everything seems ready to launch its hull. A floating crane is stand-by, to place the two parts of the superstructure (deckhouse), from their pontoon, onto the hull.

We will miss the launch itself and only see the result of this week's events. After all we're not here for business. We're here to sail across the Baltic .....

“Flensburger” documented the launch of their “yard #748” on video:
http://www.fsg-ship.de/bcf748/5video/yard748_Videos/03/yard748_03_s.html