6/30 – Hals to Grena, DK

We sailed on a close reach the entire day with big winds and waves crashing over the bow. We even had a jellyfish land on the boat. The winds were 11 – 12 m/sec early in the day so we reefed both the main and jib. We had trouble finding space in Grena but the marina guy pointed us to berth along pier so we gladly took it. There was a beautiful sunset that night so we had drinks on deck and took photos.

7/1 – Storm in Grena

That night the winds really started howling. The barometer dropped 11 mbs. We turned on the instruments and saw that we were having force 6 to force 7 winds (28 – 33 knots). We were glad to be tucked in the harbor and decided to wait for the storm to blow over.

We baked brownies in our oven the next day. It worked great considering that we had to figure out the baking instructions on the box from a choice of three languages, Finish, Swedish or Norwegian! The harbor master asked us to move boat that afternoon to a different slip so that a 70’ boat that had spent the night rafted to another large ship could get into the harbor. We ended up next to a 39’ HR from Ellös – a lawyer and his wife that had bought the 39’ demo boat a few years ago. We enjoyed a glass of wine with them and learned that they are part of a group that was sailing to various ports together.

7/2 – Grena to Kalundborg, DK

As we were coming into town, the wind died and then our wind meter started spinning around and around. That night our power panel kept flashing and glowing. We couldn’t get it to settle down. Finally Steve unplugged the VHF antenna and measured 1.5 volts coming out of the main antenna lead! You are not supposed to get any voltage out of an antenna. We sent an email to HR saying we have problems and to see if they had any ideas. It is really puzzling to have lights blinking on your electrical panel, even after all of the electricity has supposedly been turned off.

This town has a 12^th Century church with 5 towers and a really neat looking medieval part of town. We met 2 LDS kids form the USA walking near the old church. They were spending 2 years on their mission in a town near by. We walked all over town then had dinner at a pizza place.

7/3 - Kalundborg to Rudkobing, DK

The wind meter again started spinning as we left Kalundborg. When we were outside the harbor a few miles, then things started to settle down. Now all the meters work and the power panel is “quiet” again. We think all the problems were due to the large radio tower that was near the marina emitting some kind of radiation. We wonder what the life expectancy is for people living near that marina?

The winds really picked up today. After 1300, the winds averaged from 9 – 14 m/s. Finally once we reefed the sails, it was a lot easier to handle the boat. We had really strong winds as we were coming in to dock. We couldn’t find an open spot, then we spotted Sigi as he waive for us to come to the box next to his boat. We tried to get in, but it was too narrow and we got stuck in the box and had to power reverse out. Then we went over to the gas area and finally landed the boat. We were very tired from the day. Sigi and Anna invited us over for wine, which turned into dinner. It was great to hear about their experiences and what their route had been. This is at least the 4^th time we’ve run into them.

7/4 – Rudkobing

It was raining hard and blowing hard, so we decided to call it a storm day and work on projects. Later in the day we put on our rain gear and boots and went into town shopping. We had little trouble paying for our groceries at the store. It seemed that their visa machines required a personal code. We had run into this before, but in prior cases, the cashier would be able to override the personal code requirement, and we were able to purchase our groceries. Not so in Denmark, at least not in Rudkobing. While the rest of the line waited, Steve ran out to the local cash machine across the street, in order to get cash to pay for the groceries.

Based upon our previous multi-hour experience with Scandinavian washing machines, we were a little leery of surrendering what few clothes we had. But we had all afternoon ahead of us, so we decided to give it one more try, saving us a bucket wash later. Good thing we had all afternoon as that is what it took. The Danes and Swedes sure like to wash clothes.

While talking with Sigi, he mentioned a really good town to stop at en route just prior to the entrance of the Kiel Canal. “There’s a restaurant there that has fabulous spareribs, the best spareribs in Germany – but only order a half portion!” were his words of advice. He couldn’t remember the name of the restaurant, but he gave us good directions on how to get there and the best marina to stay in. Since it was kind of  on the way, we decided to give it a try.

7/5 – Rudkobing to Kappeln for Spare Ribs

We had fast winds in the morning, then ended up motoring all afternoon. We are now in Germany so we changed our flags again. It’s interesting to note that there seem to be a lot more boats in the marinas and the boats are much larger. It still amazes me how people really are interested in our boat. It’s very unusual to see an American flagged vessel so they want to know if we sailed over from America. It happens to us in just about every port.

When we pulled into the marina, we again found that Sigi and Anna were there. They decided to join us for spareribs! We had a great time. The restaurant is called the Bieracademy. We don’t quite know how that works, but they sure had fabulous salads, incredible potatoes – and fabulous ribs. We only got half portions – and still had plenty to take home.

7/6 – Kappeln to Kiel Canal to Rendsburg (1/3 way through Kiel Canal)

When we got up in the morning, we found that Sigi had bought us fresh brochen and left it on the bow of our boat. When we went to thank him, they had already left for wherever they were going.

We had strong winds leaving Kappeln. This was Sunday and with it being a weekend day, bright, sunny and windy, there was a parade of about 20 boats all leaving the city and heading out to the Baltic at the same time. All of these sailors wanted to get in as much sail time as possible, so using your engine wasn’t an option. Problem was some boats went faster than others – and this channel was not very deep and quite narrow. So you had to stay between the red and green buoys while boats were coming up and passing you, or you were passing other slower boats, or while other boats were coming the other direction. What chaos!

The downwind sail to the entrance of the Kiel Canal proved to be one of the best days we had on the trip. The wind was off our starboard quarter and we averaged 6.5 to 7 knots. The entrance of the Kiel Canal has 2 sets of locks – one for the large ocean freighters and cruise ships and a second set for smaller pleasure boats. However, all the boats funnel into the same area to get to the locks. We gave up on the radar because there were just too many boats to track. As we got close to the locks, we were constantly tracking our position so we knew exactly where we were and which buoys we had to find and which sides to pass them on. We had 2 big ocean freighters that were coming up from behind us so we were relentlessly looking backwards to make sure they weren’t going to run us over.

As we were began to furl our sails, just ahead of us was Tejde, Sigi and Anna’s boat. He apparently had changed his plans again and decided to join us in the canal. As we pulled along side, he told us that he was planning on stopping in Rendsburg. We told him that we wanted to stop in Kiel to pick up charts for the North Sea. We said we would see him later that night. We weren’t sure picking up charts would be an option on a Sunday, but at least we wanted to try.

As we started to pull into the dock at the side of the locks, an English speaking man waived and pointed us to a different location. We followed his instructions and went over to that part of the marina. Turns out Bob Higgins is a visiting professor from Stanford in electrical engineering and holds the first patent for lithium batteries. He explained that the second patent is the one which generates all of the royalties. Having seen our American flag he was interested in who we were, where we were going as, “It’s so rare to see an American boat.” We explained that we were interested in finding the chart dealer but didn’t know if they were open on Sunday. He said they were and started to explain how to get there. Finally, he said, “I’ll just take you.”

Bob went to get his car and told us to wait for him on the street. He returned shortly with his wife Patty who was driving. Patty was from Seattle and had just returned home 3 days previously. She had been visiting her daughter for the birth of their grandson. It was a good thing they had volunteered to take us to the chart broker, as it would have taken us most of the rest of the day to find them. They were located across the locks in a non-descript building without even a sign.

Bob and Patty have a boat and were planning on sailing to Amsterdam later this summer. They had purchased their charts a couple of weeks previously. When we presented ourselves to the man behind the desk, he wasn’t sure that he had the correct charts for the area we were going to. Bob and Patty assured him he did, so we all went to the back area together and rummaged around the chart drawers, and found the charts! After dropping us back at the boat, we said our goodbyes and pushed off waiting our turn for the locks to open.  And wait we did as we circled and circled in front of the locks for about an hour. Eventually the gates opened, the lights turned green and we entered.

We climbed the wall of the lock and paid the transit fee with the lockmaster. The tidal range is quite small at the Baltic end and the vertical movement can be measured in inches. We were quickly through the lock and motoring down the canal. Boats are not allowed to sail in the canal and small boats, like us, are not allowed to travel at night. Mostly we put the boat on autopilot, sat under the awning and watch people sitting along the banks watching us. When the big freighters would come by, we would go back to manual steering, move as close as we dared next to the banks, all the while watching the depth gauge, while this huge steel wall would pass us with the low rumblings of her engines.

All along the canal and at some of the towns we go by, people just come down to the edge of the canal to watch boats go by, picnic or fish. Boats passing always wave hello to other boats and people on the shore wave as well, so we do a lot of waving. There’s a bike path along the edge of the Canal so there’s lots of people walking or biking. We continue to be amazed at the number of swans we pass. Occasionally you will see a groups of at least thirty.

We arrive in Rendsburg late that afternoon. Sigi and Anna have arrived several hours ahead of us. We moor next to them and share wine in the evening. He suggests we tour the town tomorrow then leave about noon which will put us in to Brusnbüttel just before evening. When we get to the other end of the canal, the timing of departures with the tides is important. We must begin to pay must more attention to our times now as once we leave the canal, we will have large tide variances on the Elbe river and later on the North Sea.