Richard & John were keen to have a sail today, so we thought we could combine moving harbours with a sail and they could get a taxi back to their hotel at the end of the day. Now the more interesting part of the coast was to the North of us but sadly that was pretty much the wind direction but as we were not going that far, we decided to go that way anyway and tack our way upwind, notoriously inefficient when your vessel doesn’t sail well upwind. However, prior to leaving we needed to do some housekeeping such as fill the water tanks and top up with diesel and so on, so it was late morning before we were ready to depart. Unfortunately, we left with poor CW in slightly worse condition than when we arrived ,as we had a mishap whilst maneuvering towards the fuel dock. I set up a spring as per normal but something and I’m, not sure what, went awry and the bow came into contact with the dock with enough force that some gelcoat repair will be required this winter. Poor CW, she had a repair there last year too….

Once we were clear of the harbour, we hoisted the sails in the warm F3 breeze that was blowing from the ENE. Our best, ie. highest  angle relative to the wind, took us out to sea and we maintained this tack for some time before going onto the other tack and headed back towards the shore. Our initial aim was to sail to the next marina to the North of Rønne, at the town of Hasle, about 4 miles away. In fact we intended sailing past Hasle and making our way closer to the interesting castle ruins called Hammershus for a photo opportunity and then turn around and sail downwind, so that Richard & John could experience that too. However our upwind progress was so slow and the wind angle was slowly worsening as time progressed such that once we were north of Hasle I decided to furl the genoa and motorsail up to Hammershus. We then collectively decided that rather than turn back we might as well carry on and go to the next harbour after Hammershus, called Hammerhavn. Now Julie and I were last here in 2016 and here is what I wrote about the castle then :-

I’ve not made much reference to Hammershus castle so far, not that it’s not deserving of mention as it is quite an impressive structure. However, we have been here before, on August 7^th 2012 to be precise (see past blog) and here is what I said (for more photos see 2012)

‘ the castle dates from around 1260 and was originally commissioned by the Bishop of Lund and it stayed in Swedish hands until 1658 when a number of Bornholmers took it over and returned it to Denmark (presumably with the rest of the island!) . The castle was abandoned in 1743 and partially dismantled and then it was open season and much of it was taken to build houses nearby.’

So, photos duly taken we proceeded on to our harbour, which unlike our last visit when there was lots of room, this time we were lucky to find one space that we could squeeze into against the harbour wall. Also unlike our last visit, the blue green algae were in full bloom, so much so that large patches of the sea were a browny-yellow colour, looking for all the world like a major sewage spill. The wind and current effects meant that there was a concentration of these horrible things actually in the harbour, where they were rendering the water anoxic as they died and decomposed with the result that the air had an unpleasant odour. Still, we were in, safe and sound and within 30 minutes we were hosting another boat outside us, Swedish flagged but crewed by 3 charming young Swiss men, well boys really. Even though Julie and I have been here before, we do like the harbour and its situation offers excellent views over to the castle ruins and the cliffs around it. It’s also very sheltered when the wind is from the north and east so we were quite snug.

Sadly this was the last time that Richard & John were with us, they had arranged a taxi for 20:30 to their hotel and they would be flying back to the mess that is Britain – Boris of all people! Everyone on board was depressed at the notion, not only of Brexit but that Boris was now in the driving seat, a scary thought. However we didn’t let that spoil our last few hours together. Julie cooked one of her boat signature dishes, Delia Smith’s recipe called Tart Spaghetti ( tuna, anchovies, pepper, tomato, onion, garlic, mushrooms, capers & black olives in a stew, served over spaghetti with parmesan cheese grated over the top) which went down very well. That was about it for the day, we saw John & Richard off and after a small nightcap & coffee, it was time for bed.