Departure day!
August 26-30, 2020
On Wednesday 26th of August we were finally ready for our departure 🙂 Before lunch we worked hard getting everything ready and by 3pm we were ready to leave central Stockholm.
On our way out of Stockholm our ship friends on Skeppsholmen honked, really cool! The wind was against us this day and we had plans to eat dinner with Thomas parents at their country house so we only went by engine the first day. We arrived at Vindö later in the evening and had a nice dinner.
The following day we set course south through the archipelago accompanied for a while by Thomas parents and some neighbors in their boats. We set the sails and this was the first time we tested our “new” genoa and main. They both felt really good and a real improvement compared to the old sails.
We sailed most of the day, but in the afternoon the wind died and we started the engine. Pretty late in the evening we arrived to Nåttarö where we anchored for the night. We didn’t go ashore to explore the island but we really need to get back to this island again sometime in the future. Early in the morning on Friday the 28th we left Nåttarö and started to head out of Stockholm archipelago. In the morning we sailed but when we reached Landsort (the lighthouse at the southern tip of Stockholm archipelago) we started the engine to be able to make it to Harstena in Gryt archipelago. It was sunny at least and on the way we were able to do some small work, for example sorting screws:
We anchored at the bay Flisfjärden in Harstena and took our dinghy ashore to walk around the island.
Saturday was extremely rainy and windy with gale warnings in the Baltic sea so we stayed at anchor in Flisfjärden which turned out to be a terrible idea. The night towards Sunday the wind turned with almost gale forces that hit our anchorage. We were up late to watch the anchor, ready to turn on the engine if something should happen. Fortunately nothing happened, our anchor and everything lasted the night.
On Sunday morning we went up really early and started our journey to the island Öland. But more about that in our next blog post 🙂
Video from our departure, we speak Swedish but have English subtitles in all our videos.
2 Comments
Robert Larson
I’m glad that following you on Instagram got me to head here to read your blog — and I’ve arrived just in time to see you depart!
Your boat looks perfect, and old is good!
We have a 1978 Gulfstar 37 that we keep here in San Francisco and up until the pandemic I’d be on it or sailing weekly. Usually on SF Bay, but we’ve taken her down the coast a number of times. My wife and I also love spending a week on the hook and never find it boring. I will say that I usually putter on the boat (my wife reads and paints), and I completely identified with sorting screws in my stash.
I suppose I’m “finding my roots” as my paternal grandparents were both Swedish. My last name “Larson” should probably have been “Bergfalk”, but we lost any records of my grandfather Bergfalk. If you know of any with that name, send them my way.
As to the name Larson . . . I’ve been asked many times how I spell my name, “son or sen”. Last year I was asked how I spelled my name, by someone I thought knew, and I said “O”. They responded with, I know that, but is it one S or two? I’d never been asked that before. Of course that was a new Swedish friend that I sailed across the Pacific with. I don’t know if you have ever seen the videos by “Knot Vikings”. I joined Chris in Panama and we spent 39 days sailing to Hiva Oa. One of the hightlights of my life.
One last question … is there anything on your blog to get notifications of new entries? Perhaps i can figure out a way to get google to send me a notification.
All the best to you both, and fair winds for your journey!
Robert
PS the website I entered in the form is my work site. I’m still active but more so semi-retired. I should start a personal website someday.
Sailing Anne-Mon
Hi Robert,
glad to hear you enjoy the blog.
Most be lovely to sail in San Fransisco, would really love to visit that city some day in the future. Seems like a really cool city!
Neither of us know anyone by the name Bergfalk, unfortunately. Don’t think it is a very common name, never heard it before. For the name Larson/Larsson the latter is the most common in Sweden and is also one of the most common last names in Sweden. Larson is a bit more uncommon but not unheard of. Larsen would be the Danish version of the name.
Haven’t seen knotvikings videos, but know who they are from Instagram.
Hmm, not sure if there is a way to subscribe. We will try to update regularly a few times a week what we’ve been up to.
All the best to you as well!
//Thomas & Petra