April showers

I managed to get away a little earlier than planned for and arrived at the berth a little after 1300 on Friday afternoon. It was dry but was blowing half a gale from the west. Micheal fish must now be working for Windfinder.com. I was caught out in the gales that hit UK in the late 80´s I was windsurfing in northern Holland and had a fantastic time..! Back to the present ..i took my time packing all the gear on board, do I really need that much food and stuff for 4 nights away ? Finally with everything stowed in the fashion of what has become a case of "junk on bunks" I sat down and had a cup of coffee whilst contemplating the situation.. There was no other boats getting ready to sail..mm what to do ? Strong westerlies meant that the water level at my berth were becoming low, if I did not sail soon we would be sitting on the bottom if the wind kept up. Because of the shape of the fiord the prevailing wind acts like a tidal machine pushing the water in and out. So decision made I was going to set sail.. First of all a reef was required.. I was reminded by something Steve wrote to me, "if you are thinking about it, it´s too late.".So reefed down and nr 2 Jib set I left the berth under motor for the first 200 mtrs. to windward. Then Helm over sheets in and off we went ! Flat water and a beam reach.. with F6 of wind ..wow exhilarating to say the least.. swiftly passing Gull island I headed NEast and on a broad reach was soon up to 6,8 knts ..without a tide ! Toy Box was low in the water due to all the stores but she seemed to really like it. We flew towards the first navigation point which is the " Enge" it is a sandbank that reaches left and right into the deep water channel making it a maximum of 40 meters wide at this point. We slipped through here with a current that pushed us through despite being in the wind shade of a stand of large trees. I passed the sandbank about 15 meters of my port side. Then followed a quick crossing of the open water and into the small winding stretch of the fiord the Missunde Enge..

 Still under sail we carried on nort east with the plan to drop Anchor near the small island that would shelter us from all directions.. Fishermenn seemed to have taken a last resort chance to lay nets along every stretch that I thought suitable to stop over.. A quick look at the Chart and decided to go for broke at the next cove ahead.. Forecast was westerlies becoming south and then strengthening from the east. Dropping the hook with its new ground tackle in what was to be an ideal place to stop over.. The wind died down and apart from the sounds of nature I was alone with several million mosquitoes.. This was not discovered until I arose at 0530 to find the boat covered in them.. I had not one single bite though... do the things metamorphose or something..into biting machines.?
I slept well with the knowledge that the anchor was going to hold no matter what.. The forcast Easterlies were not there.. it was blowing strongly from the Northeast and looked like rain.. I decided to get under way on motor and see what the day brought me..

I managed to stay under motor for the next 4 hours with rain and wind becoming more severe as the morning went on. I passed the SS Alexandra as she left her berth in Arnis for the trip back to Flensburg.. Steam and the smell of coal filled the air..
I simply carried on and decided to stay over at Maasholm untill the weather cleared on Sunday afternoon.I am now in Kiel and will return to Maasholm tomorrow afternoon.