TripSailor.com® Sailing Blogs

15th August :

What’s that big yellow ball in the sky ???? Sunshine ?? Are we still in Denmark ?

Why move on when we can stay put and do more chores ? We take advantage of the day and polish the stainless steel on deck, do some wax and polish in the cockpit, get all the anchor chain out for a wash and dry. We are way ahead now on our cleaning jobs before leaving the boat.

Paul and Jean come to Solero for dinner of risotto and more stories. Though we make it to bed a bit earlier than last night. 

16th August :

Our last day…..

Beautiful day for a sail. Sun is out, 10 knots of breeze from just the right direction to get our the Fantazolam again !!!! Dave has to promise to not get it wet when we drop it. Not bad when you can do 6.5 knots in 8 knots of wind. We love this boat !!

Glad we did put it up as the wind keeps easing and we’d be very slow without it.

The 5 NM Haderslev fjord is now in sight. The long motor ‘home’ to the X-yachts factory where it all started last June. I’m a bit melancholy about the end of our sailing for the year, and then it starts raining. 

So our 2011 year is over. We have done 1277 NM this year (1457 last year, but with 2 more weeks on board). While the weather hasn’t been as good (the west coast of sweden gets more rain than the east) we are still very glad we did this side of Sweden. A very different nature here. The scenery is fantastic. Norway was great too. We met so very many friendly and generous people this year. A sure way to meet new people was to declare an AFD or LAD (Alcohol Free Day or Low Alcohol Day). Before you know it you will be enjoying the sunset and a few beers or a wine with new friends.

Here in Haderslev we have a few days to do all the washing, vacuum the boat, stow our things away for winter.

Dave has Man Flu, so looks like I will get to do most of the cleaning. He declares a LAD. Denmark’s National Dish beckons as we go into town for dinner – pizza. On the way back to our boat we see the stern of another X-yacht here at the yard – whose home port in Port Vila Vanuatu. We have to find out the story here, so knock on the hull and meet her owner. Before we even tell Peter our names, he has poured us a glass of wine each !! Yachties are such friendly people. Turns out he lived for many years in New Zealand and had some business in Vanuatu. Now he lives in Tuscany but cruises in the Baltic each summer on his lovely X44, Pacific XL.