We
spent a fascinating morning at the Vasa museum – the Vasa is the 17th
century warship which sank on its maiden voyage in 1628, but was preserved in
the cold Scandinavian mud so that it is 95% complete. It was gradually dried out (like the Mary
Rose) and can now be seen in its entirety.
It doesn’t actually look very stable – rather top-heavy – but many
artefacts have been rescued and it is an amazing insight into life on board at
that time. I’m glad we were going back
to the comforts of Astraia!
Apparently, the Vasa would have been brightly painted in its
day and look more like this model …
We then had a typical Swedish lunch of open prawn sandwiches
at a riverside restaurant with a view of the city of Stockholm …
Back at the Navishamnen Marina on Djurgården,
we were astonished to find an identical Nauticat 42 backing into the berth next
to us – you don’t see many of them around at all …
Later that evening, we welcomed our friends, Caroline and
David, on board with an attempt at a traditional Swedish smorgasbord – it was
delicious anyway …
The next day, Caroline and David were up bright and early
and ready for a spot of sailing …
First, we motored into the centre of Stockholm and took a look at the old town, Gamla Stan …
… we were amused by this crane disguised as a giraffe …
… and loved the ‘olde worlde’ look of Stockholm with a fleet
of classic wooden sailing boats in front of it …
Here they are in full sail ….
… this one seems to have as many as 4 foresails on the
bowsprit …
After that, we had a little hitch! Investigating an engine alarm which was
bleeping, Charles found the bilges completely full, with water halfway up the
engine itself!! So we had to quickly
hoist the jib and gently sail downwind while pumping the bilge water out. Meanwhile Charles crawled into the engine
room to investigate the problem. It
turned out to be a split in a pipe in the sea water cooling system, which he
temporarily fixed by cutting off the end and refitting it. Later, we replaced it completely. We seem to have had more than our fair share
of technical problems with the engine, generator, hot water system and so on
this year, perhaps a combination of the age of the boat (19 years) and the
harsh Swedish winter. Anyway, apart from
actually being at sea, Charles is never happier than when he is doing something
with the engine.
The problem fixed for now, we were ready to head out into
the archipelago, but decided not to go too far in case of further engine
problems. So we returned to
Napoleonviken, one of our favourite spots …
‘Old’ friends enjoying spending some time together …
We enjoyed a walk around the island, and found a ‘hobbit’
house! Some sort of store room in a
scout camp, I think. Bilbo – are you in
…?
A glass of pink fizz as the sun goes down over the islands …
The next day we set sail for another island, Caroline
looking quite the ‘pro’ at the helm …
… and tied up to a rock in Karvaholmarna …
… where we had a nice lunch on board followed by a little
walk around the island …
… with beautiful peaceful views over the fjord …
But,
by the time we returned to the boat ten minutes later, some grey clouds had
suddenly appeared, the wind had got up and completely changed direction, and we
had to get away from the rocks as quickly as possible …
… and head for Saltsjöbaden Marina, where we got safely
tucked in among the other boats, anchored to a stern buoy, with the Grand Hotel
in the background …
From here, it was a short walk to the station, and our
friends could easily take a train to Stockholm Arlanda airport.
Just as well we were safely in the marina, as the following
day was really quite windy …
It was a good day to do our laundry and catch up with other
domestic boat chores and further engine repairs, then return to Sune Carlsson
boatyard.
We did have one more visitor to the boat – Teddy, a lovely,
well-behaved golden retriever from ‘Adagio’ came on board for a drink …
… with his ‘parents’, Sheila and Edward …
The following day, we left to drive the car back to UK and
leave it there for the summer. We drove
across Sweden (hundreds of miles of trees), took the ferry to Helsingør in
Denmark (of Hamlet fame)
… drove across Denmark to Esbjerg, took the overnight ferry
to Harwich, and drove back to Bosham – 2 days and 3 hours in total from leaving
the boat.
No comments:
Post a Comment