Tuesday

The rolls from Maasholm bakery are simply great, I can fully recommend them. a great breakfast of bacon rolls ..I decided the only way ahead was to motor and  sail back down the Schlei..The forecast was now for rain and storms for the rest of the week and after such a crap 36hours I decided I was not going to bother with trying to get out on the Baltic.

I cast off and motored against the wind and waves down to Kappeln passing under the bridge again..there were quite a few boats coming back this way.I had decided to pass Arnis under motor and then set the sails and sail down the long stretch of water to the next bridge around 5 miles away.  I turned the last corner in Arnis and saw the white water that was ahead of me with the wind howling through my rigging.. mm not a place to be. I turned around and ran into Arnis yacht club to await the weather front passing over.3 hours later saw me under motor again..the wind had died a little and was not enough to power me with any speed over the waves..
I stayed on the motor now all the way to where I met Ulli with his little boat on the GroßeBretie.. we then sailed back together.. the wind died at about 2100 and i started the motor again.. clunk..the shear pin for the prop snapped and left me sitting there in the middle of nowhere..Ulli bless him towed me back to my mooring. I dread to imagine what would have happened if it was 24 hours earlier.. Toy Box would now be a pile of matchwood and fiberglass on the beach !

Ulli´s little boat..! 

Another lesson learnt.. I am even after all these years still learning and spending my life with good luck following me. I hope it never runs out.

Monday..no sun day

Waves were sloping over the deck in the morning as the wind had gone all the way around to west leaving me open to the force of  the wind and waves.. The anchor held well and I was not too worried the wind was going to die down later.. So I was led to believe..I spent the day reading and planning what I was going to do for the rest of the week ahead..Wondering where it would take me.
Time flew by and I was still sitting there awaiting the wind to abate.. the Anchor alarm (depth sounder) told me that I was dragging the anchor towards the shore. Decision made I was going to weigh anchor and motor around to the harbor itself and take shelter there.. I should perhaps have gone sooner the waves by this time were reaching over 1 meter in height.. I went forward and dropped the anchor ball and started to raise the anchor, the wind was strong and tore the ball away from hands as I tried to secure it.. Bugger another 10er gone..The anchor was really deep.. how come my alarm went off.. I was not thinking straight and simply raised and stowed it quickly before getting back into the cockpit.. I was knocked of my feet by one wave and felt rather small in all this power of nature.20 minutes later I was safely at a mooring having given all the big boats a bit of a shock seeing me coming in..Toy Box being so small in comparison.

Oh well I learnt a lesson ..it can be too late..if you think about it do it ..or it may be too late..! I will admit to scaring myself a tadge..we all learn from our mistakes next time I will be more careful. It was late and I was now tired and simply wanted to use the loo and go to bed.!!

Saturday eve..at anchor

At Anchor..Sunday eve saw me tucked in behind Maasholm the wind was now from southeast and I was safe here for the night.. Forecast was for more of the same weather. My plans for a trip out onto the Baltic itself were slowly diminishing as the wind was definitely not that I was expecting, what ever happened to those balmy days in July as I was a child and youth ? I seem to be simply plagued with bad luck in my attempt to sail to Denmark again.
It was only last year that I sailed from Flensburg with Toy Box to take up her new mooring here on the Schlei, was I never to leave the entrance again ?

I settled down to a peaceful night despite there being a 25knt plus wind howling over the peninsular in front of me.. the water around me  was calm, I was only 100meters from land. Around me was several other yachts all thinking the same as me and saving the mooring fees in the Maashlm harbour..It sarted to rain..and I mean rain..it came down in buckets

This was to be the way ahead for the next 24 hours..!

The Sun day...

I awoke after a good nights sleep to the gentle rythm of Toy Boy as the bow  rose and fell with the waves.. Waves ? I was surrounded on 3 sides by land and the forecast said I should be ok .. Instead of the said southerlies it was blowing out of the northeast.. Exactly in the direction I wanted to sail..I anchored in a small bay with a long sandspit along the southeasterly side and had expected to see even more of it as the southerlies uncovered it... Now it was a case of  beating to windward for the rest of  the day. So off we set close hauled in a  freshening breeze. I thought I had seen a friend of mine passing under the bridge on his way home.. I was to think of him later that day. After sailing past the larhe ships moored there I passed under the next bridge at Kappeln

Summer sailing ...I laugh !

I had been planning this trip for weeks and looking forward to it for months. Perhaps that is the thing one does wrong, anticipation being better than the real thing.. What ever, I had 10 days to sail to my hearts content my intention was to use then to the best.
So plan was sail as much as possible without motor..Friday was a day of little wind with Saturday being the same until midday..So Saturday midday I was aboard with provisions for a 4- 5 days with the intention of a resupply underway.I sailed with a light wind northeast towards the Missunde straights and passed under the lifting Lindaunis rail bridge at 1945hrs. I decided I was going to anchor in a small bay I knew a mile or so north of the bridge. this I did in 2 meters of water. Safe from all directions apart from the northeast. The forecast was for southeast/south winds so I slept well. I took time to tidy up the boat. As always I seem to generate a large amount of "mess" everywhere.

I spent a while contemplating the weather forecast and it´s affect on my trip. the following week was set to ba a great one with light southerlies to southwest and sunshine. i looked forward to getting over to Denmark again with Toy Box. With this thought I went to sleep feeling satisfied and happy...

Back onboard

It has been a strange few days without the boat. I awoke 10 days ago to feel dizzy and nauseated, and felt very unsure as to what was happening, it was so bad that I had to hold onto the bed whilst laying on it as i thought I was going to fall off ! After a weekend of worry and fear for the worse I was diagnosed on the Monday afternoon as having an inner ear problem, this after a CT scan to make sure I had no brain..tumour..I was advised that the only way around it was to carry out a special manoeuvre which entails throwing ones upper body and head into different states of repose holding the pose for a minute and then doing the same again on the other side.. the problem is getting better.

I left Toy Box to her own self for the whole time. I returned Saturday and fitted her with the new solar panel I had purchased with 20wts it is double the capacity of the old one.The weather was not as fore casted...again and so I decided to make the most of it and went window shopping instead.
Sunday lunchtime saw me on board and I actually went for a short sail around the local harbours, a bit daft as the dizziness is only being suppressed with drugs. I am to see a specialist tomorrow I hope he can help clear this problem once and for all.
As you can see from the picture it was a little bit dark at times even in the middle of the afternoon, though it never rained.
I did my good deed for the day by rescuing this lovely toy for a chap who said his rudder had stopped functioning.. Seems it shot off into the distance and simply stopped working.

I reunited the owner with his expensive model declining the cash reward.. I can be nice sometimes.. I now await 1, a favourable visit at the Doctors and 2, favourable weather for the weekend, being a public holiday thursday I have taken friday off to elongate the weekend.!

Sunshine and a light breeze..!

I returned Sunday afternoon to find all well apart from the howling of wind through the stays and lines of every boat moored. Weather for Monday was promised as being a Northeasterly which was going to be great for the trip back down the Schlei, it runs roughly Southwesterly from its start all the way to Schleswig..I slept well on board and was getting used to being on board. It is nice to get back on the water and meet new people I find boaters especially sailors to be friendly bunch in Germany with less of the snobbery one finds in England. this is reserved for the "new rich" here, or at least that is how it appears to me.Maasholm is originally a fishing village.
The Statue is a reminder of how Eels were caught in the winter months to help them get over the long winter months. They were simply skewered with the fork in the mudflats.

Long winter months .. to the south there are summer like temperatures but up here in the north it is still chilly at the present with 10 deg C..Monday is going to be 15 deg so keeping fingers crossed.

  Monday morning and the wind from last night was gone and instead the sun was shinning at last..After a leisurely breakfast I sailed away from Maasholm with a following wind..Slowly.as the breeze was light.It was to be the same for the remainder of the day  under a blue sky I sailed down the Schlei untill I dropped anchor in a small anchorage and simply watched the day end with a meal of bacon and mushrooms..luverly grub

 Here a few pictures seen from my boat as the evening drew to a close.The young couple were simply passing through and I thought it looked too good a picture not to take it.

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The sun sunk behind "Burg" the hill top used to be a "Viking" settlement and still shows traces of the fort etc if you take a walk around. The whole of the Schlei is steeped in history I would love to write more on the subject from a laymans point of view. I think I shall have to do some serious research for that.

Tuesday morning I awoke at 0530 as the boat was swinging around on its anchor as the wind had increased causing the water to reveres it´s flow or something . I actually felt dizzy laying in my bed with the view constantly changing so swiftly. I decided to get up and make a move back to my berth in Schleswig. Mike Fish or who ever it is had forecast a stiff breeze and at 0630 it was already blowing a good F4 and I didn´t want to risk being stuck in the Anchorage all day through too much wind even if it was from the right direction. Under main alone we were swept along at 4,5 knts and quickly made it into the berth.. I am not too pleased at the German style of berthing with poles and jetty.. bloody difficult to jostle around with 4 lines at the same time with a stiff wind from astern trying to shove the boat at an angle to the berth.
I took the idea this trip not to use the motor unless really required and that plan i stuck to. Apart from Saturday morning when wind rain etc made it a must i only used the motor to give me steerage way through the bridges and at anchoring up when I had to test the depth the old way.. I must get the transponder sorted asap.. All in all I am pleased with the way things went.. Costs were 5 liters (actually a little less) and 16 Euros berthing fees for the two nights in Maasholm. So not an expensive trip by any means I and I have left enough tinned food and water on board for another trip later this month should the weather allow.!
Thanks for reading the blog.. drop me a line or leave a comment.. cheers.. Jim