6/8/03 to 6/9/03 – Steve and Gene to Åland

The Åland Islands is an archipelago of several thousand islands between Finland and Sweden. They are located in the southern part of the Bay of Bothnia, which is the bay that separates Finland from Sweden in the northern part of the Baltic Sea. Although the islands are considered part of Finland, over 95% of the residents are from Swedish decent and speak Swedish. The Åland Islands maintain a considerable amount of autonomy from Finland to the point of having their own national flag, separate taxing authority, no requirement of military service (which is mandatory in Finland) and are considered outside of the European Union(EU), even thought Finland is part of the EU. Many of the ferries which operate between Sweden and Finland will make brief stops in Maariamhamina (the capital of Åland) so the passengers can purchase items duty and VAT tax free.

The VAT tax system is common across the EU member states. It is a very high tax that ranges from 20% to 35% of the value of the purchase. As Americans, we can be exempt from paying the tax, if we can show that we are exporting the product. Since we didn’t have much interest in paying VAT tax on Sugilite, we had a mini goal of getting the ship’s papers stamped from a country outside of the EU. Hence our ambition of going to Åland.

The trip to Åland is about 90 miles northwest from Stockholm. We left bright and early and planned on making the trip over two days. The wind was light and almost directly behind us as we worked our way up the various leads and channels of the Stockholm Archipelago. At times we motored, sailed or motor-sailed as conditions permitted.

At some point we were motor-sailing down this cut. I (Steve) decided to use the facilities down below. As I was returning on deck, CRASH. We had obviously hit a rock and were now not entirely floating. A quick check below indicated that there were no leaks. Killed the engine, dropped the sails and then tried to figure out what the tide was doing. Was it going up, i.e., we might float off, or was it going down, i.e., we might get more stuck? And, of course, what really occupied our minds was how could we do such a stupid stunt.

One of the things unique to Sugilite, is for such a small boat it has quite a powerful engine. It seemed like were stuck on the bottom of the keel, and it might be possible for us to power our way off the rocks. Giving it full reverse and a couple of additional bumps and we were off! A small mini-lesson was learned about the lack of paying close attention to navigation marks.

Late that afternoon a thunderstorm approached from the north. We decided to furl sail as the rain started pouring down from the sky. At just that time the Swedish Border Patrol boat appeared at our stern wanting to see the ship’s papers. Since it would have been impossible to hand over passports, ship’s papers and other documentation in that wind and rain, the Border Patrol just followed behind us for about an hour. The storm didn’t seem to be dying down, and they now indicated that they wanted us to follow them into port. An hour later, we arrived at a Swedish Coast Guard facility and were shown a place to dock. The two Guards were quite friendly, went through our papers, made a few phone calls, had us complete some new papers, stamped and signed everything and told us we were free to go.

By this time it was getting late. We decided that the harbor of Gräddö was not too far away and would make a good stop for the night.

The next day was a 30 mile open water crossing to Maariamhamina. We arrived early in the afternoon and decided to explore the Island. The Island had a distinctive 50’s Americana feel about it. There were no old buildings, most everything was fairly new. There definitely were an abundance of shops, due to the duty-free nature of the port. I can’t say that there was anything remarkably attractive about the place.

There was just in front of the marina a 4 masted barque called the Pommern. This was one of the last and largest ships from the old German P-Line. The P-Line consisted of over 40 sailing ships whose names all began with the letter “P”. It was currently a Museum, but you were allowed to climb and walk throughout the ship.

Moored next to us in the Marina was a Russian flagged sloop about 31 ft. long. We had noticed the crew in the restaurant earlier and had even said hello, but they didn’t appear too friendly or talkative. Later that evening, they apparently noticed our US flag and came over to Sugilite with bottles of Vodka and bags of pickles in hand in the name of neighborly cooperation.

Well, we only had a couple of water glasses (remember our household items still hadn’t made it to us), but that didn’t seem to upset the Russian’s. They would fill up your water glass about half full, propose some sort of toast, down it went in one swig, then you would pop a pickle in your mouth. After a couple of bottles of Vodka, we decided to crawl over and look at their boat.

Sergei had built the boat himself. They were from St. Petersburg and were planning on sailing around Sweden, around Norway to the Barents Sea. They were making a homage voyage to the Kursk, the Russian Submarine that had sunk a couple of years ago with a loss of all hands. Olov, an ex-submarinier (Navigator) and another friend were along for the ride. As you entered their boat, you immediately were stepping on bags of potatoes. There must have been 300 lbs of potatoes all over the saloon floor. The walls were covered in some sort of cork. There was only one berth (the forward V-Berth) for the three of them. No head at all, and a small camp stove for a galley. Quite a Spartan existence, but you had to admire their spirit. Out came bags of wine, and we continued our political discussions late into the night in very broken English. Eventually we solved the world problems of Bush, Putin and the Gulf War and then called it a night. Or we should say the Americans called it a night, the Russians continued to party.

6/10/03 – Gene and Steve in Åland.

The next day we explored the city a little and Steve tried to get an internet connection somewhere. Our cell phones didn’t work, so we didn’t know if Jan was trying to contact us or not. Gene’s cold was getting worse, and he decided to look for a pharmacy to see if he could buy some antibiotics. As we passed a tourists office, often the home of an internet terminal, we checked for email. Surprise, Jan sent an email saying she would be back in Stockholm the next afternoon. Well Stockholm just happens to be two days away for us. We quickly returned back to the boat to fuel up. The wind was starting to pick up and the weather reports were indicating a significant storm in the area. That night the wind blew a hard force 7 so there was concern that we would not be able to leave the next morning.

6/11/03 – Meet in Vaxholm, outside of Stockholm

We got a late morning start waiting for the wind to die down. In retrospect, we could have left much sooner, but the wind seemed stronger in the harbor, than it actually was on the open water. We had a great run across the bay. After we entered the Stockholm Archipelago, we were forced to motor-sail most of the way.

Jan called from Amsterdam and we told her it would be unlikely for us to get all the way to Stockholm, and suggested that she make her way to Vaxholm instead. We arrived at the Marina in Vaxholm, we were hailed by Klaus and Carla (the couple on the HR 31 we had met in Stockholm) who were on their way to Åland and then Finland. We moored next to them and waited for Jan. She took the bus from the Airport to the outskirts of Vaxholm and then took a cab to the marina; however the cab driver didn’t exactly know where the marina was, so they took awhile finding the place.

6/12/03 – Towards the Göta Canal

We worked our way southward from Vaxholm through the Stockholm Archipelago. This island group extends eastwards from Stockholm about 30 miles and it is about 80 miles long. We got a late morning start, and motored most of the way today. Many of the channels are narrow. The islands are mostly low and are all covered with trees. This compares with the archipelago north of Göteburg on the Swedish West Coast, where the islands are mostly rocky and barren.

Our route took us past an old castle, sitting on a small island. Named Dalaro Skars, this castle has been turned into a restaurant. We stopped to have a look around, but it was still closed as the “season” still hasn’t started yet for the Swedes. It look to be a wonderful place to stop for lunch or a latté.

Many of the islands are protected and included in Nature Preserves. As we approached the end of the island chain, we searched out a small cove and anchored by Stedoren Island. The next day we would again be crossing open water in order to get to the beginning of the Canal.