Author: ben

The sun was simply not cooperating, so we left Ærøskøbing, and headed south east.

How to describe the day? We had perfect sailing conditions right down a narrow channel, between a litany of bouys, a navigators delight.

We head for Ristinge, little known to us to be “Denmark’s smallest harbor”. How do you know you’re in Denmark’s smallest harbor? First, you run aground. Second, the man who tows you off the ground immediately suggests you go ask ‘that guy coming in’ for fresh shrimp, because he will have them. After having cooked the shrimp, you ask a local how best to peel them, at which point they call over another local to consult. The remedy- head over here to this table, I’ll get some beer, and we will show you.

The locals’ kids then took it upon themselves to fish for mussels- successfully. They swim, fish, we drink, and eventually, after the kids go on a beer run, we cook the mussels aboard Rini. Three children absorb the utilitarian beauty that is Rini while you cook their catch, the sun sets, mussels are done, shrimp and mussels eaten, and so on.

What a day.

We took a walk to the new beach before all this happened, and pictures will follow.

-ben

Chances are we will not head out today, despite decent conditions. Slept like the dead last night…

There’s a picture of a gull below who was waiting to poach our food, which reminded me that I forgot to mention what happened in Gilleleje. I was hit in the head by a huge gull who swooped down and stole an entire fish fillet off my plate, dumping my .75L beer in the process. It was quite the scene.

-ben

Today was work, but ended beautifully. We ran the engine to exit Middelfart harbor, then that was it- rare. Check the position update for a killer speed profile in the afternoon- averaging near 6 knots people, do you know what that means?! The fastest I saw on the GPS display was 8.4!

Pics to come in the morning, we are Lyø, an amazing little harbor, tied along side some Germans, despite strong forecasts for today and tomorrow, we made it 36 nm to get here, and now Æroskøbing is only 18 miles away…

Saw a dead seal on the beach, did not take a picture.

-ben

Update: pictures, lots of ’em. The stones are a neolithic grave/bell tower called a bell stone (klokkesten). You hit it with other rocks, and it sounds like a bell, go figure.

Short day, beautiful sailing, plenty of dolphins, a new battery so we can anchor at night.

Forgot to post anything, position updated of course.

We are waking up in Middelfart, heading near Assens, to possibly spend the night at anchor!

-ben

Shortest day yet, had some rain, some low wind, choppy seas but nothing terrible.  There’s a fiskehuset with an all you can eat buffet which was tops.  We finally got a pic of another seal, staring again, and saw either a dolphin about 2m off the boat or what we’ve been told is actually a very small brown whale.  We’ll have to research.

Spain won.

Position updated.

-ben

Click for larger versions. The ones from the shipping lane turned out pretty good, it was extremely odd being out there in those conditions, looking back on it gives me even bigger willies than I had at the time.

We made it to Odde, and have just 4.5 miles to go to get past the tip of Sjælland.

As Gilles warned us, and we found out, Westerlies. They actually weren’t so bad, the sea was still down, it was a beautiful day for motoring! Rini got the best bath she’s had in two years, including soap, the works- it turns out you can make teak look good without oiling it, you just scrub the green moss off of it. A little uncomfortable motoring around 4 miles off shore, but best two days of weather we’ve had in 3 years. (Catie says, “It’s true.”)

I forgot to mention yesterday that we saw a dolphin about 20m off the starboard side. But today- two more sightings, one of them surfaced twice about 2 to 3m off the boat, it was eerie and lovely. No pictures of course.

Position updated.

-ben

Gilleleje, nearly perfect day save one storm and a shorted battery…