Wednesday the 7^th June- There was very little wind when we left in the early morning, but the Strömung pulled us along at 3 knots into the middle of a shipping area, where it then disappeared and so did the wind. We had to motor out of the way, and the engine made a worrying noise which luckily turned out to be an empty soya sauce bottle on the Motorkiste. It was 31 miles to our first Swedish island, Haland Väderö, where we attached our boat to the rocks using an archipelago anchor. We paddled to the island and walked for hours through the fields and little forests followed by a growing cloud of mosquitoes all taking their chance as humans weren’t common here. We found seagull nests full of eggs, a seal skeleton, roses and wild strawberries. The rocks where incredibly beautiful with many tough little succulents and tiny flowers growing on their salty surfaces, among big splashes of colourful lichen like lazy graffiti.

The Following morning we left the island at 11am before the mosquitoes found us again, and sailed 25 miles to the mainland where we found a quiet anchorage with clear water full of jellyfish, where we paddled to land and climbed the rocks and little hills up to a beautiful oak forest planted along a land boundary. The trees were small but old and mossy. We ran around jumping from rock to rock to release some tension in our bodies after spending two weeks as four people on a small boat, all sleeping in a small bed. Later we got cosy in the cockpit with a beer, not able to see many stars as it doesn’t get dark enough, but enjoying the quiet windless nights.

Swedish elderflower tea

I poured for you and me

The pollen floats just like our boat

Far out on the Kattegat sea

9^th June- Niels made pancakes which we ate in the sun with apfelmus and puderzucker. There was north wind which meant we had to zig zag for 9hrs until east wind came, and we sailed through the night taking it in turns to navigate and steer. We sailed 78miles, but only went 48 miles forward as the rest was lost to the zig zag! Finally after anchoring at 7am, we all got into bed and realised that the bowsprit was banging on the rocks which we had anchored on… the wind had turned.

10^th – 12th June- After a rough sleep with lots of adjusting the anchor, we woke up surrounded by motorboats. This was noisy and wavey, so we motored to Gothenburg where Niels cycled to pick up some solar panels, and Mila and Momo went to the supermarket to buy some more beans. The harbour wall was warm and sunbaked, and after persuading Niels to do handstands and teach us how to circus, we motored back out to a little island for the night. We spent a few days by some little rocky Swedish Islands, and while waiting for good wind, we set up the solar panels, ate cous-cous, played the guitar and planned the next part of the journey. We want to cross the North Sea before the beginning of July.  During this time I also found some Tangy Cheddar cheese that had been in the back of the cupboard since Christmas. We ate it, and it was actually really nice , very ‘mature’ of us…

From the 13^th-16^th of May we sailed 165 miles from an island just outside of Gothenburg, to just above Risø- Norway.

On our way we used the Archipago anchor several times, sometimes side on to the rocks with buoys in between, or with an anchor at the back and the archipelago anchor holding the front of the boat facing the rocks. It´s so lovely arriving and sitting on the warm stones in the evening. There are big flat rocks covered in  bright lichen patterns, orange and soft green, very dry as it´s been warm, next to pink roses which seem to grow on every rocky island despite having very little soil and rainwater. Many sea birds live on these rocky islands, white sea swallows, seagulls, and different kinds of geese, and as we would explore we had to be careful not to disturb their nests, as the birds screeched over our heads, calling out to warn us. The further North we go, the longer the days stay light, the sun is now setting at 22:30, and it doesn’t get dark at all, there´s always a rainbowy light glowing on the horizon which makes night sailing allot easier and incredibly beautiful. In Grebbesstadt we had our third stop in a harbour since our journey began, it would be our last stop in Sweden. Here we could go for a romantic evening dumpster dive and bring back  crates of tomatoes, bananas, another of oranges and apples, another of potatoes, cucumbers, melons, lettuces and pastries. We are fighting the fruit flies and trying to get through it all before they do!

Boat lingo Glossary:

Archipilago anchor- A piece of steel you can hammer inbetween rocks (or in a crack) with a steel loop on the end to attchach the ropes from the boat to.