Today was to be the longest trip that we would be making with Elaine & Rosemary, 36 miles across the Sea of Åland from Sweden to the Åland Islands, destination Käringsund, a small harbour on the North West Coast of Eckerö. It was sunny and warm and the SSW breeze was blowing at about F3-4, perfect downwind sailing weather! We even tried the cruising chute, but it was too downwind for it to be effective so we reverted to goosewinging, with the poled out genoa on one side and the main out on the other, locked in place with a rope called a preventer (so it can't accidentally swing back and bop someone on the head). Eventually, the wind fell so we had to revert to the engine for a couple of hours but then it came back, from the east, so we could sail again, arriving in the delightful harbour at around 15:30.

Now a word about the harbour . It was in use by about 20 yachts, so they must have got in but according to the paper and electronic charts, the maximum depth in the entrance was 1.5m and we draw that much. Common sense told me, as we approached and took a sharp right to avoid some large boulders immediately inside the lagoon of the harbour, that as there were boats there and there were two cardinals denoting clear water between the aforementioned boulders and the rocks at the entrance, to repeat as this is such a long sentence (!) common sense told me that we would be safe but that didn’t stop me from asking some locals who were sunbathing and fishing if we would be OK and of course, we were. We tied up, registered with the pleasant harbour master come café owner and after a cup of tea, went for a little explore.



We didn’t actually walk very far, just around the bay to look at the buildings at the other side . It transpired that it was a holiday –come- conference complex with the usual facilities to ensure that the guests were happy eg crazy golf, cycle hire and so on. There was also a pretty extensive camp site with a small, poorly stocked café which sold bread and milk.

Back to the boat and when drinks were being served, I set up the barbecue on the rocks and happily sat there with a beer, chatting to our Swedish neighbour who had a Hanse 47’ and who was happy with its stiff hull and strong rig that gave him great sailing speeds, I was mildly jealous! The barbecue was a great success, Elaine had marinated some chicken and we had 3 chorizos for the real carnivores (ie excluding Elaine) so there was more than enough for all. Later, I went to the café where there was internet access and dealt with my mail and updated the blog and whilst I was there, a fairly inebriated young man started chatting to me and introduced me to his friends, 2 young lads and a pretty young schoolgirl. They professed a love for the UK and a keenness to see a real sailing boat, so back on board they came. It is incredible, here we are in the outer fringes of Europe and in the company of young working people ie not students, one of whom who was definitely 'tired’ to use the Private Eye expression, and yet they were able to speak English really well! The only down side was that they were a bit noisy which may have caused problems with our neighbours who had closed their boats down for the night. Actually, the other down side was that it did take them a while to leave! Still, they were harmless and hopefully they gained a favourable impression of us Brits.