Author: captain

On 3 May 2011 Isabell is going back into the water at the Rastaholm Varv Marina. It is raining that day and +3 degrees Celcius in the air. But it is done! At 15.45 Isabell is floating in the harbour. The engine starts right away and off we are for a little tour around the Marina. I get to stay in a slot on the Guest harbour pontoon jetty. In the rain, then, I put up the boom and sails, stackpack, anchorage gear and rescue materials over deck. Checked for leaks throughout the ship. No leaks! Good.

Ready to sail. During the 4-6 May provisions are stored aboard, and all gear is checked. The new generator appears to work ok.

Now it is ready to use the Monsun listing in the Isabell web pages. It has been a small challenge to get the list to work interactively and to be able to read the listing in english, dutch, german and swedish, but it is done. Owners can now also add their boats directly into the listing, which will save me a lot of time. Nice to already have received several international comments from Monsun owners on the list. They like it!

The past weekend it was time to start fixing things inside Isabell. The weather was cold and dreary on Saturday, but turned out real nice on Sunday afternoon and evening.
Saturday it was windy and sitting inside the main cabin the wind was howling in the rigging. Oh what I have missed that sound!

Lots of small fixings to do. But the heater is on and with 220V connected there is enough light in the cabin to see. In the afternoon of Saturday the cable connected to the wall electricity shorted (one of the leads was damaged) and after a big smelly flash, power went out. So after shopping for a new connector the cable was shortened and reconnected.

Not many persons have yet started to do maintenance. It is still cold outside and there was ice left on the lake. See the pictures below.
And Sunday evening!

The weather is getting warmer and drier by the day and the feeling of Spring soon arriving gets stronger and stronger. Now the sails are ready repaired for the season. The sail cover stackpack has a new “expensive” zipper. The to-do list is shrinking. This weekend we are going to have a look at the Marina and see if the snow is gone. Possibly not, since in between the covered boats the sun does not reach down and melt off the thick snowpack until quite late in the Spring.

Isabell is nice and dry inside during the winter. No problems whatsoever with condensation or dampness inside. That was another story with other boats I’ve had.

Nonetheless, most of the interior is sitting at home in the apartment, waiting for better weather, just like the Skipper…

This Spring not much underwater body work needs to be done. Most of the work is inside the cabin and bathroom. The heater is being fixed and the autopilot is at the workshop for service. Let’s hope it can still be used a few more years.
Here Isabell comes out of the water last year, see that there was very little fouling on the hull, in spite of no antifouling use. Great!

Friday 2 July 2010
Askfathamnen Dalarö

We sail through the archipelago to the island of Munkö where we find a nice cove N of the island. We have cover from three sides and about 3-4 m water under our keel. Perfect.

Thursday 1 July 2010
58* 47.03 N 017* 50.17 E just SW
of Torö (Landsort)

On our way at 1040 local time. Nice weather, Winds W 4-8 ms
We
sail inside the archipelago and here we meet many sailing boats on their way every which way. But there is good space and the wind is right. We are still a bit tired from yesterday, so we decide not to make this leg too long.

At 1700 local time we are in Askfatharbour at Dalarö after a very nice straight line sailing tour. Todays distance sailed 30 NM. Position 59* 08.14 N 018* 24.12 E.

Askfathamnen is a nice guest harbour to visit. Excellent service. Wlaking distance to the stores and town centre. Dalarö is a must see! We go shopping for some food and a treat of ice-cream. Well earned. We eat a nice dinner with some wine and good toetje!!!
Hah! Back into the race. Barometer is going up again. Better weather on the way. Let’s hope it will be some wind as well. Goodnight!

Wednesday 30 June 2010
Fångö anchorage outside Waldemarsvik
58* 10 N 016* 56.17 E

On our way at 1000 local time. Nice weather, Winds S-SW 6-8 ms
We pass the lighthouse Gustav Dalen late in the afternoon (1930) and decide to go for the island of Landsort southern Stockholm archipelago today. It is still a ways off but the winds are fair and the waves reasonable. So we go for it. Then the wind dies down…

At
2340 local time we drop anchor outside Landsort, in a nice cove at
position 58* 47.03 N 017* 50.17 E just SW
of Torö. We are very tired but happy to have got this far
already. We are in the Stockholm archipelago!!! YES. The least 15 NM we sailed with the help of the many lighthouses and lit marker buoys as navigational aids. Dark when we drop anchor.

Todays trip was 55.2 NM long.

Tuesday 29 June 2010
Kråkelunds archipelago anchorage
57*32.028 N 016* 45.831 E

On our way at 1030 local time. Nice weather, Winds W-SW 5-7 ms
We pass the entrance to Västervik and have good winds to sail a reasonable distance today. Not much noted in the logbook.

At 2100 local time we drop anchor outside Waldemarsvik, in a nice cove at position 58* 10 N 016* 56.17 E (todays distance sailed 35.9 NM) just S of Fångö. Beautiful. We are very tired but happy to have got this far already.

Monday 28 June 2010
Borgholm harbour
56*53 N 016* 38 E

On our way at 1030 local time. Nice weather, Winds S 5-7 ms Again 22*C in the air. But the barometer is falling slowly. Better enjoy the weather while it lasts. We have wind and from the south so we have the foresail out on the spinnaker boom and just enjoy the ride…

Later in the afternoon the wind picks up again (S-SW 8-10 ms) and we have the wind against the current, so waves a growing short but high (>2 m). No big deal, but quite a contrast with the easy flat sea from the past few days.

At 2040 local time we drop anchor in a small bay in the Kråkelund archipelago on the side of the mainland Sweden. Our position is now 57* 32.028 N 016* 45.831 E

The natural surroundings are beautiful. Well worth a visit. We have 7m water under the boat, and this cove is well protected from all sides. Time for a quick late dinner and then turn in for getting on our way early tomorrow.

Goodnight! Here is a picture of Blå Jungfrun.
And a grumpy skipper!

Sunday 27 June 2010
Berkvara Harbour/Marina
56*24,032 N 016* 05,407 E

On our way at 0925 local time. Nice weather, air temperature 22*C, Winds W-SW 0-2 ms
Hardly any wind, we have to go on engine power. At 1100 hrs we pass mittgrundet in the Kalmarsund sound, still no wind. We set up the bimini-top over the cockpit, because the sun is burning down on us. Could be worse!

When we get past Kalmar and under the Öland bridge, the sea breeze picks up a little and we manage to sail the rest of the day on all sails up, wind SW 4-6 ms.
At dinnertime we get into harbour at Borgholm guestharbour (gästhamn) on the island of Öland. Position 56* 53.306 N 016* 37.922 E at 1840 local time.

In the evening we go for a walk in the town, not much to do here. Fix a couple of things and bunker drinking water again. In Karlskrona I did not dare fill the whole tank, in case it would still be leaking. But it did not leak. So now we can fill up tops.
Goodnight!