TripSailor.com® Sailing Blogs

3rd August, in Dragør, dawned threatening, with a promise of better to come.

The Music Festival equipment had all disappeared during the night, and an army of sweepers were busy clearing up the mess of beer glasses and cans, hamburger wrappings and cigarette packets and stumps. There were three horizontal ‘revellers’ left, occupying benches. They were still there when last i looked.

Late morning the skies cleared and the wind went round to the south west and blew. So we were off, northwards, with maybe the island of Ven as a goal, or further north to Helsingør. The route was a compromise between close to the coast where the wind was turbulent and variable, or further out where the waves were less comfortable, but the wind was steady. Saw 28 knots of wind on the instrument a couple of times, and speed, under just genoa, was max. So Ven was passed and must wait for another day.

There are three ferry companies operating between Helsingør, (Denmark side) and Helsingborg (Swedish side), and about ten vessels of varying size and speed shuttling back and forth. Choose your moment to cross the road carefully. Permanent swirls of currents and turbulence to entertain the bobbing seafarer, and the ferries only steer to avoid each other.

The small boat harbour is just on the north side of the enormous and magnificent Helsingør Castle, (Shakespeare, Hamlet, Elsinor, OK?), causing even more turbulence. Approach under engine only is the advice. The harbour is large, estimate two thousand boats, and finding a slot is time-consuming. Ended up alongside a friendly German, who was alonside another German, who was alongside….  I moved Josin to a quayside next morning, before the weather really blew up, and myself to Bodil’s flat, as she had just come home from a hike on another friend’s sailing boat.

Monday and Tuesday the wind howled, and the harbour was filled with the screaming and flapping sounds of sailboat rigging. It pelted down too. The Swedish met office reported a record 33 meters per second (over 60 knots) wind in Helsingborg, and a rainfall of 88 mm in 30 hours. Heads down and check the mooring ropes often! Nothing untoward happened in the harbour, but checking with the Rescue Service brought the news of a German solo-sailor’s boat on the rocks and no sailor. Later in the day another boat was towed off the rocks at the last moment, before it would otherwise have been smashed. The crew survived.

The weather calmed down enough by late Tuesday afternoon for us to venture out, so we drove to Louisiana, a fantastic museum of modern art about 20 km south. Place was practically visitor-less, so we had an undisturbed wander, and wonder. A special exhibition was of models, drawings and videos of many of the modern museums. Incredible structures, some of them, which this engineer studied at length. (Much more enthralling than the Art!) Some of them have obviously only been made possible by the use of Computer Aided Design. Some beautiful, some hideous, all very imposing.

Wednesday was calm-ish, so we had a slow sail to the harbour of Kirkebakken, on the west side of the island of Ven, a walk up to the top of the hill for the view, and a quick rush down again as the weather was threatening. A blustery 10 nm sail back to Helsingør. That was the calm between two angry Lows

Thursday, Friday and today have thus been also non-sailable, but dry enough today to enjoy an open-air Glad-Jazz concert in the town square.

Forecast is for the wind to go round from the NW to S during the night, and blow only 20 knots. Rain spreading from the west later. Forecast to be winds generally from the south for the next few days, so progress northward can be resumed.

A really early start is planned. Alarm set for 5am.