28^th May – 2^nd June 2023

After weeks of unexpected repairs, building in our new engine, sending 62kilos of ´Gemüse Kisten` to Niels´s parents, we packed our Klapprad,  a pile of colourful PVC, a welder, a sewing machine, two guitars, an accordion, a Hoover and hopefully everything else we might need on our journey into our little boat. We were finally ready to leave Stapelfeldt – at 4am.

The neighbours were relieved, and as we silently pulled ourselves out of our Liegeplatz, the swallows sang their first song of the day and colour crept its way across the horizon, and the neighbour called out that they would report us to the harbour master in the morning…

Before falling asleep at the Tiller we made it 1.4 miles till we anchored and rested until the afternoon. Leaving in the evening, we sailed out of Schleimünde under very different circumstances than those in which we had sailed in with back in December, at -7°C with a freshly broken engine, and no wind.

Time for our first beans of the journey, and with good north-west wind and waves from the side we rocked our way to Fehmarn at 5.5 knots arriving at 3am (there´s a bit of a theme) where we anchored in a fishing net.

29th May, After finding out that Niels´s grandparents were coincidentally on holiday in Kühlungsborn, only a 33 mile sail away, they met us on the pier after descending a 20% incline down a ramp in a wheelchair, and we got invited for a real holiday day together.

To celebrate being on land after our first 2 days at sea, we had Kartoffelbrei and white wine.

The 30th was a rest day and while Niels and I ate ice-cream with his grandparents, Mila and Momo sanded the deck, peeled potatoes and washed our socks in a saucepan. We anchored just outside the harbour for the night, where we took it in turns to stop the anchor chain rattling, drawers squeaking, cupboard doors opening and the kettle from creaking.

31st may- A 54 mile sail to a Danish island with big chalky cliffs, and our first experience of what it is like to NOT have a ´Hand breit Wasser unterm Kiel´ was waiting for us. We dropped the anchor and paddled to explore the island. After climbing 499 stairs up the cliffs we found cows and wild oregano which went straight into my spice box, the oregano.

1st June- After being determined to leave at 8 in the morning, and only leaving our anchorage at 10, we saw a little lonely seal sticking its head of the water. We sailed for three hours, the wind completely died, and we proceeded to drift around for 7 hours in the sunshine where we got a nice crispy sun tan. I made spaghetti and we got the sails out again, and by 20:00 we were going 7 knots and the wind began to turn east just as we entered a sea traffic roundabout. We shifted the sails and consequently everything inside the boat shifted as well, straight to the floor. We did the journey with the mainsail only, and reefed it when the wind was too strong. The waves splashed over the cockpit and we got to try out our new second hand sailing clothes, spoiler- I got a wet bum, but our waterproof socks worked incredibly well. Our boat bobbed into Copenhagen harbour around 3.30am, which made finding all the buoys exciting…and spent a night tied to the wall. At 8:30am the bridge lifted and we motored into the canals, finding a cosy place to stay tied to two other boats, who were very kind when we tripped their electricity twice.

Our 4 days in Kobenhavn were spent catching up on sleep, washing our clothes, and eating Danish pastries from Too Good To Go. We also accidentally spent 40€ on not very much sandpaper, scrubbed the propeller and made a pirates ladder up the mast. The city was very green withmany trees and cycle paths, and the water seemed really clean for the middle of the city, and we all had a swim. The harbour was 26€ a night, but food and even clothes at a flea market were still very pricey, one scoop of ice-cream would have been 4€! The people were also very well dressed and neat, which was a real contrast to us, but they were very friendly and some food stalls gave us free food when we explained that we are travellers on a low budget.

Denglisch Dictionary–

Gemüse kisten- Vegetable boxes

Klapprad- Foldable bike

Liegeplatz- Boat parking space (berth)

Hand breit wasser unterm kiel- A German saying wishing sailors good luck, and a hand width of water under the keel, which we didn’t have when we drifted too shallow while anchoring.

Kartoffelbrei- Mashed potato

We sailed into Copenhagen

the people were stylish and shaven

We ate their old pastries as we could not waste these

and so we decided to save them