Crewing Henån Sweden to Kiel Germany
/The Start
After getting the invitation to crew on the Naja 440 that was tied up in the berth next to us, we were pumped to do this and couldn't wait to get going. The original plan was for us to leave on Friday or Saturday but it all was all dependent on when the owner (refered to as D, here on out) would finish all the work he wanted to get done. As with all things in sailing, everything takes at least twice as long as you think it will take. This was the case with getting underway. D was not done with the jobs he wanted to do until late Saturday and this meant we were already behind schedule before we even left.
The weather on Sunday was not at all good for sailing. The wind was 30-35 knots with gusts to 45 knots. Needless to say, Sundays departure was was delayed until Monday. But looking back on this, we should of maybe waited until Tuesday due to the sea state.
We decided that we would move our things onto the boat around 08:00 and then we could depart around 09:00. Again, things took longer than what was planned. You will notice this will be a common theme throughout. D was not ready to go, he still had to fuel up, settle his account with the boat yard and wanted to do some other things. Finally around 13:00 he was done and we could set off.
We started to motor out towards the sea with our destination set for Østerby Havn on the Danish island of Læsø. The weather was ok. Overcast and it was not to cold but that would change in a few hours. Motoring out towards the sea was nice. The archipelago is really beautiful and Henån is tuck away inland so it took a few hours to get out to the sea. When we arrived at Gullholmen, D decided to follow the channels laid out through the archipelago to get further south and stay protected for as long as we could.
Once we got to down around Hälleviksstrand we turned to starboard and headed out into open water. As soon as we got out into open water and away from the protection of the islands, we could feel the remnants of the storm from the day before. The sea was in a very confused state and the wind, of course, was blowing exactly from the direction we wanted to go. So we had to continue to motor. As we got further out, the swells got bigger and we had to reduce speed in order not to burry the bow into every swell. At one point we almost turned the sailboat into a submarine.
As the hours went by, we were getting pounded by the swells. D made the decision to divert to the Port of Skagen since the swells were not on the nose and we would have an easier motor. Anna was rocked to sleep by the rocking of the boat and no mater how much bouncing around we did, she slept right through it all. Right there in the cockpit. I myself, started to feel less than stellar. A little seasick was trying to put a damper on the day. I refused to give in and as long as I was steering or do some other task, I was able to hold it in check. Then D wanted to steer and I laid down on the starboard cockpit seat to relax. That was a mistake that turned into a good thing. No more than 5 minutes later, I was tossing cookies over the side of the cockpit. But as soon as I did, I felt 100% better, like I was never seasick. It was such a releif :)
We finally arrived at Skagen about 02:00 and tried to find a berth for the boat. We did but we needed to use the stern anchor and D had not used one before or had it set up. So while he circled slowy in the marina, I hooked up the stern anchor and got everything ready to dock the boat. Finally, we had the boat docked and we could go ashore. Unfortunately the showers closed at 02:00 so we just went to bed since it had been a long hard day.
Day 2
We woke up early around 09:00 and grabed a change of clothes and headed for the showers. We had to get change first since it cost like 5 dkk for 2 minutes of hot water. After having a nice long hot shower, we headed for breakfast at Jørgens Spisehus. It was a good breafast. We ate bacon, eggs and fried potates. Just what we needed to get the energy up for the days sailing/motoring.
There were a lot of little shops around the marina and it seemed like it was a little turist area considering the amount of people that were there. Anna did a little shopping and D and I got the boat ready to go. It took some time to bring up the stern anchor since I set it really good the night before but we finally got it unset and up on the boat. Once we stowed the anchor away, we set out for Sæby Havn Denamrk.
It was much better weather conditions then the previous day. Sun was shining, it was warm and the sea state was calm. Perfect for sailing! The only problem was that the wind was on our nose again and there was very little of it as well. So it meant more motoring. We did however get a chanceput to put up the sails when the wind increased. We sailed for a little while but not in the direction we wanted to go. After a while, D wanted to keep his schedule so we dropped the sails, started the motor and headed towards Sæby Havn.
We arrived in late afternoon which was a much nicer and easier than arriving at 02:00 in the dark. There was plenty of daylight left so after docking, we got a chance to explore the marina for a while, relax and have a decent dinner before it got to late.
Day 3
The alarm clocks rang early since we wanted to get an early start. We had about 65 nautical miles to cover this day. Again, there was hardly any wind, which is not so great for sailing. The sea state however was flat which meant we would be able to speed to our destination at the break neck speed of 7 knts.
We started motoring towards Grenaa Denmark. I steered most of the way while Anna slept and sunbathed. D checked on things on his boat and tried to sleep and was a little stressed since some things were not working as he thought they should. This leg of the trip was pretty uneventful until we got close to the marina.
Once we got close to the marina, D thought we should go into the area of the marina where all the ferrys and other big ships dock. Anna and I both told him that this was wrong and the marina for sailboats was further down the coast. We could see all the masts and pointed them out to him. But D knew where to go.
We did a lap in that area and D relized that this was not the place for a small 40' sailboat. He took our advice and we motored over to the marina for sailboats. As we came into the marina, it looked pretty full but we found a spot where we could moor up long side to the pier. We came in bow first but D really wanted to go in stern first for some reason. Even though he kept saying how he could not maneuver the boat in reverse. I told him all he had to do was keep going in bow first, I would take a turn around the cleat on the pier, then all he had to do was go forward and this would suck the stern into the pier. D did not want to listen so he tried to go stern first but the boat was out of position and he had to back all the way out spin the boat around and make another try. In the end, he went in bow first, I jumped off the boat onto the pier and secured the line. Then Anna threw the stern line to me and I pulled in the stern.
Once the boat was secured, we had a little walk around the marina. It was a very nice marina. It seemed that they had apartments right there facing the water. I am not sure if these were permant residents or if they just rented them for the summer. Either way, they had a nice view of the marina.
Getting back to the boat after we showered, D noticed that the batteries were really warm. He was afraid to check them since he thought they would blow up due to hydrogen leaking out. I told him that we have vented the boat and any hydrogen has already left so there was no danger. After checking the voltage D noticed that some of the cells had no water in them. He filled them up and there was not much else he could do until he could talk with an electrician the next morning. D got up early to try to find an electrician to talk to about the battery problem. The electrician was to busy to come to the boat but told D that it was either the regulator that crapped out or the batteries were old. D wanting to keep the schedule, decided that we would set our for Kosor but keep an eye on the batteries.
Day 4
We got out of Grenaa at a pretty decent time in the morning and headed for Kosor Denmark. D was really worried about the batteries so he was contiually checking them so that left Anna and I to steer. Not much happened until we got closer to Kosor. Once we got within sight of Storebælt Bridge, the wind picked up enough were we could sail. We were able to get up to about 7 knt sailing, just as fast as with using the motor. It was so nice shutting of the engine, hearing the water slap the hull of the boat, and see the Storebælt Bridge get bigger as we got closer.
As we got into the channel to go under the bridge, the wind started to really pick up. We drop the sails and motored under the bridge and to Kosor marina. As we got to the marina, the wind really started howling. This was the front end of a big storm front that would wreak havoc in Denamrk and on the west cost of Sweden for the next couple of days.
Anna and I got the lines ready and we found a spot to moor the boat. We were coming in bow first and D was a little hesitant about coming in towards the pier and started to back down. After talking with him and telling him what to do, he went in bow first again. I was on the bow with line in hand ready to jump to the pier to secure the boat. I am not sure what happened, a gust of wind, D backing down to soon, or what, but I got one foot on the pier and then I found myself in the water. My life jacket inflated and my first thought was "Shit, now I need to buy a new re-arming package and repack my lifevest". I also still had the line in my hand and wanted to hold onto that so it would not get tangled up in the prop.
Anna and D were scared and I told Anna to pull up the line and I swam to the bathing platform ladder to climb back on the boat. D kept asking if I needed to take a break and wanted to warm up. I told him to take it easy and that we needed to get the boat docked. I quickly changed clothes and went over with D again what he needed to do. On the second try I got onto the dock and secured the bow. Anna then threw the stern line over to me and I secured the stern. Afterwards, once I could relax, I noticed that I had a little pain in my armpit. Later I come to relize that when I fell, I must have hit the pulpit on my way inot the water. (Check out the bruise below)
About this time the wind really started to pick up and the sea state started to pich up as well. The way the marina break water was setup, the waves would curl around it and gave them a straight shot towards the boat. This keep the boat rocking the whole time which made for a rough nights sleep.
Day 5
The next day, the weather was still pretty windy and the boats was still rocking a bit, so later in the day, D finally wanted to move to a better and calmer berth. D was very unsure about mooring with the pilings so I explained it to him and explained what Anna should do. I stayed on the dock as they motored around to other berth. This way I could guide him and once the boat got close enough, I could grab the boat and hold it while Anna set the lines. This went off with out a hitch. That night we all sleept pretty good.
D said we needed to fill up with diesel before our next leg of the trip. He was unsure of the depth at the fueling station and was worried that he could not maneuver his boat in the tight space so he wanted to fill jerry cans and use them to fill up the boat. The only problem was that he only had one container that held water and it was only 10L. This being a Saturday, in Denmark, not much is open after 14:00. We tried to tell D this but he did not want to listen so around 15:00 he said he was going to go and buy some jerry cans. After a few hours he came back with a on 10L plastic fuel can. He actually found it in a trash can since, as we said, nothing was open.
Then he wanted to do some other things, and after Anna and I came back from buying some food for the next day, we thought he would want to start the fueling. We were wrong. He thought cooking hotdogs for dinner was more important. By the time D got ready to start fueling, it was already 21:00. The wind was blowing around 25-30knts, he had only 2 10L cans to use to fill up with diesel, and come to find out, his card did not work at the fueling station. So everything was going good right from the begining.
We used my card to buy the fuel and due to all the wind, D seemed to spill as much diesel as he got into the jerry cans. After 3 hours and 3 trips, and 60L of fuel, D gave up. Plus he had no choice since one of the nozzels that connected to the gas can, blew away :)
Anna and I grabbed our stuff so we could go and shower and get ready for an early start that next day. When we came back, D was washing the pier, trying to get off all the diesel he spillt. But I think the chemicals he was using were probably more hazardous to the water than the spilt diesel. Lesson learned here kids, do things in the daylight when you have the chance.
Day 6
48 hrs really can make a difference. This day the wind was still blowing but was dying down. The sea state had 2'-3' swells but our course was going to put us on the lee side of an island and thus protecting us from wind and the swells for the first part of the trip.
It was pretty unenventful all the way until we got to Kiel Germany. Docking was not a problem and the marina was really nice. We had planned to take a bus from Kiel back to Malmö at 01:40. So we took a bus from the marina to the Kiel tranin station and had about 7hrs to kill. We grab us some dinner, and found a nice pub to take a Guiness or two. While we waited, we meet a really nice drunk German guy who could not believe we did not know about his favorite group Eskalator.
Finally it was time to go to the bus and of course it was 20 minutes late. Upon showing our tickets, the bus driver asked for passports. We showed him our Swedish ID and he said it was not good enough and he needed a passport. He stated This is Germany and you need a passport. He was basically an ass in his attitude and all the smart ass remarks he was making. Anyways, we could not get on the bus and we went to find a hotel at 02:00.
The first two hotels we went to were fully booked and finally we found a hotel that had an available room. We bagan to think of how we were going to get home. We had no problem getting into the country with our drivers license since no one every asked to see any ID or anything. Seems like that as long as you come by sea, Denmark and Germany are wide open. But if you try to get out of Germany, you need your passport.
In the morning, we were back at the train station buying a tranin ticket to Danmark hoping that we will be able to smuggle ourselves out of Germany. Once we were in Denmark, then showing our drivers license would work. It was weird that we could travel or do whatever we wanted in Germany except leave.
Waiting for the train to see if we can smuggle us out of Germany
We took a train from Kiel to Flensberg. There we waited an hour to catch the train from Flensberg to Fredericia Denmark. This is where the doubt started to really stress us out. Would we get in or would we be hauled away by immagration? At the first stop in Denmark, they had immigration come on board to check all passports. We started to get nervous and when the immagration officer asked for our passport, Anna said that we did not have one while smiling and pretending to be a dumb cute Swedish girl. We got a little lecture from the immagration officer and was told to have our passport next time. We were in!!! Once we knew we were not going to jail for trying to smuggle us out of Germnay and in to Demanrk, we slept all the way from Fredricia to Copenhagen like babies.
To celebrate that we were going to make it home and our great escape from Germany, we bought a dozen donuts at Dunkin donuts at the Copenhagen train station. We caught the next train to Malmö and when we came home, we chowed down on the dohnuts. We arrived home only about 12hrs later than what we would of if we took the bus. So it was not that bad all things considering. A little tip, if you every want to leave Germany, remember your passport :)