We had set our alarms for 06:00 but as usual, I was awake before that so everyone was showered and breakfasted in good time for our planned departure. The trouble was, the forecast was not good. At 07:00 it was raining quite hard and in the distance we could hear thunder booming. Thundery showers were promised for the whole of the passage across to Ystad, a distance of some 35 miles and the wind was predicted to be gusting F7. In short, all the makings of a stay-in-harbour day. Tomorrow’s forecast was much better and normally, Julie and I would have stayed put, as we have time to spare. However, Jon & Elaine only had a couple of days and they wouldn’t like to spend one of them hanging about in Hammerhavn, so we decided to take a gamble and go.

Our Polish friends were ready for us and by 07:30, we were helping them remove their lines from our boat and the shore and we were soon off and they took our space alongside. By now the rain had eased right off as we headed out to sea in flat calm conditions under the lee of the land. Pretty soon we were in the wind and we deployed the genoa, just as the heavens opened and visibility was reduced to a couple of hundred metres. I’d insisted that only two of us be on deck as there is no point having dripping wet bodies going into and out of the cabin so Julie and Elaine were shut inside. The rain had happened so suddenly that we were caught out a little as we hadn’t checked the AIS because all of a sudden, the massive bulk of a tanker appeared on our starboard side, on a course that would mean that we would pass within a few hundred metres of each other. Lesson learnt, always check your instruments! Julie was on station from then on but luckily, the torrential rain stopped as quickly as it started and thereafter, it stayed away and visibility was back to normal.

The motion of the boat and the relative wind strength meant that the genoa was flapping annoyingly and each flap meant a loss of power as it spilled the wind. The only way to stop this is to use a pole which is fastened to the genoa sheet (rope) at one end and the mast at the other and with lines travelling up the mast and down to the deck to prevent the pole going up and down. In wet ie slippery conditions and with the boat rolling about, getting the pole deployed can be challenging. Still between us we managed it and we were soon back in the safety of the cockpit and bowling along with a nicely controlled genoa, with winds gusting at up to 24 knots, a bit less than the forecast. Julie and I left  Jon and Elaine on watch as that is what they wanted to do and we passed a few hours reading and dozing (me) as the miles were whittled away. Conditions continued to improve and pretty soon we had bright sunshine and having rounded the bottom corner of Sweden we were slightly in the lee of the land and the sea flattened so the motion of the boat eased – in short, pretty close to perfect sailing conditions!

Our friends Richard Baker & Gill Worthy on Calypso, whom we ‘d last been with on the Rally, were already in Ystad having come down the coast from Simrishamn yesterday. Richard and I had been texting and he’d told me that the marina was chock full but that he would try and reserve a space should one become available. Fortunately, on the hammerhead very close to Calypso there was a reserved space but the harbourmaster told Richard that we could use it, so at 14:02 (I’d told him 5 hours ago that we would be there by 14:00, not bad eh?!) we were being helped with our warps by Richard & Gill. It was lovely to see them again and we invited them to join us for dinner that evening, veggie chilli with smoked chippotle chillies.

Having tied up we all went into town to do a little shopping. I was keen to check that the local supermarket had stocks of my staple toast spread, a cheese paste with crayfish or prawns in, lovely – and they did, so I was much relieved. On the way back we passed an ice cream shop and most of the party joined the queue, Richard and I prefer our calories in beer form so we declined and came back to the boat and it was then that we bumped into another rally attendee, Liam Mac Mahon of Anica. He’d had a good time since the rally, his last crew had departed that morning having been in the same harbours as us on Bornholm, only a day apart! We invited him to join us for dinner but he told me that he’d already agreed to join another Cruising Association boat that evening. Upon enquiring who it was, I was delighted to learn that it was Alan Williams, on his own unfortunately, as his wife Christine had returned to the UK that morning for a week. Later I went to chat to Alan to learn that he was taking Osprey back to Gedser early tomorrow, it had to be early because Gedser is 80 miles away. I hope the wind is strong enough to give him sufficient speed to make it without resorting to the diesel.

We had a nice evening on board. I think Jon & Elaine enjoyed the company of our newer friends – either that or they’re very good actors! Tomorrow, our last day together, we will catch the bus to go to show everyone the stone ship out on the headland, a spot called Ales Stennar or Ale’s Stones.