The beauty of sailing in Sweden. Tom Cunliffe goes cruising in the archipelago - Yachting World - ift.tt/1yWt53F - Tom Cunliffe details his exploration of Swedish cruising, and dispells the myth of its being cold and expensive Tom Suncliffe argues the beauty of Sweden is well worth the trip What’s the attraction of the Baltic? my friends ask when I cruise north in summer. After all, it’s cold isn’t it? And expensive. Why go there when you can sail south fuelled by cheap wine to lands where you can sweat at night under a single sheet? It’s been years since my wife Ros and I joined the hedonists in Spain for the annual three-month cruise on our Mason 44 Constance. We like sunshine and might toddle to North Africa now and then. But mostly we head the other way. Once you’re tucked in behind Scandinavia, the Atlantic weather can’t hit you. The sun beats down and you’re so far north it keeps up the good work for 20 hours. That’s why even the blondest Swedes are tanned. Food and drink prices only seem around ten per cent more expensive than the UK; costs in Norway can be stratospheric, but that’s on the other side of the mountains. Berthing, if you pay at all, is half the price of the English Channel and the endless islands ensure there are no waves. So, we turned our bows towards the Baltic again last summer, bound for the legendary Stockholm Archipelago. The quickest route there is via the Kiel Canal. Built for the Kaiser’s battleships before World War I, it joins Brunsbüttel on the Elbe river with the Baltic via 50 miles of rural waterway patrolled only by German walkers with ski poles. However, the approach from the German Bight doesn’t feature in my book of idyllic sailing tours. The seas are often akin to a washing machine, with lee shores, TSS roundabouts, wind farms and every hazard to navigation except coral reefs. But soon the windy Elbe and Kaiser Bill’s ditch were history. We motored out of the eastern lock into a tranquil Baltic and squared away for the north-east. From the canal it’s 250 miles to the Hanseatic city of Kalmar where the real island-hopping starts. The only question is whether just to go for it or to break up the passage. Ystad in southern Sweden is 140 miles, so it’s an overnighter. But if you’ve had enough of watch-keeping, a series of cracking minor harbours in Germany and Denmark can chop the journey into bite-sized chunks. Ystad is the centre of operations for the TV detective Kurt Wallander and the town now makes an industry of his efforts to control crime. We didn’t see Wallander, but we enjoyed the modern marina, with its little restaurant overlooking a white-sand beach. The place also boasts an 18th Century opera house, where we grabbed the last two tickets for a Mozart evening. The music sparkled, the old gentleman next to us in a white tux and pink bow tie was charming and the champagne bubbled over. As we strolled back to the ship in the long evening shadows, three ladies dressed in ballgowns for the performance sauntered homeward through the cobbled streets ahead of us. When the Almighty designed Sweden he thoughtfully dropped the skerry of Utklippan off the corner that leads into the central Baltic. Utklippan on a sunny day is about as good as life gets. Not quite out of sight of the mainland, its shelter marks the limit of the islets offshore, so anyone on passage to Stockholm via Kalmar Sound, inside the island of Öland, can leave its big lighthouse to port and kiss his troubles goodbye. Birdlife is so undisturbed by the eco-aware Scandinavians that you have to dodge the nests on an afternoon stroll. The midsummer sunset after a day of intense blue and gold was a kaleidoscope that went on until dawn paled it out. We carried our supper down on to the rocks with a group of Swedish sailors. Someone produced a bottle of malt and we drank to Nature, then to the sun itself as it rose again in splendour over the distant land. Kalmar Castle came up ahead the following afternoon, impossibly exotic with its onion towers and domes. Like Ystad, the marina here is clean, cheap, has its own sauna and is virtually in the centre of town. Five minutes walk saw us raiding the supermarket and the victuals were terrific – if you enjoy marinated herring and caviar, nobody does it better. As well as food, Kalmar has one of the rare government-approved wine shops. Prices were little more than Majestic’s in Salisbury, but I still kicked myself for not loading up in Germany, where they almost seemed to be giving the stuff away. Over towards the castle we strolled through the Gamla, the villagey old part of town, in search of a spot of lunch. Here, old wooden houses painted in brave colours crowd together while roses pour over garden fences. Half a day north of Kalmar, we reached into paradise, heeling to a warm south-easterly breeze. The archipelago we were entering could now take us all the way to Russia in flat water. There are so many islands with anchorages yet to be discovered that the pilot books give up trying to describe them all. Facts and figures Distances Dover to Kiel Canal 350 miles Kiel Canal 50 miles Kiel to Ystad 150 miles Ystad to Kalmar 130 miles Kalmar to Bottskar 200 miles of islands, with many more to come going north and east all the way to Finland and Russia. Victualling Buy heavy dry goods – spuds, rice etc – at home where you have a car. Stock up in Germany: it’s cheaper than Britain, especially for beer, wines and spirits. Brunsbüttel has a convenient supermarket. Fuel and water Water is everywhere, but bring a hose. Fuel is not a problem nor more expensive than in Britain, but you don’t get the option to split some of the tax for ‘heating purposes’. If you have red diesel on board, make sure you keep the receipt and have it stamped ‘tax paid’ in case you’re boarded by zealous officials, particularly in the Netherlands, as I was. Charts Admiralty charts will get you to and through the Kiel Canal. Once inside the Baltic you must use local charts. Paper charts are vital; without them it’s simply not possible to achieve an overview. They come in chart packs and are not too expensive. They can be bought in Ystad, Kalmar or, believe or not, all good bookshops. The same goes for local pilot books, which are useful for the plans alone even if you can’t read Swedish. The southern area edition comes with an English translation. E-charts are available from Navionics (who cheekily charge extra for Denmark) and Garmin. Both also offer iPad Apps at a very low rate, but the Garmin one has no projected track feature, so is less useful. I use paper charts for passage-making then switch to the iPad for pilotage and to find my position if I get lost among the islands and rocks. This is an extract from a feature in Yachting World May 2014 issue The post The beauty of sailing in Sweden. Tom Cunliffe goes cruising in the archipelago appeared first on Yachting World. - #Yacht & #Boat #News
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 09:09:20 +0000
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