Sailing Stories » Kiel to Henån

Kiel – Henån with Gulliver, Najad 570-016

Hamburg Boat Show is over and Gulliver, Najad 570-016, needs to be sailed to the yard before the Baltic will be frozen. Outdoor almost 10 cm of snow is falling so it’s obvious that two fools, however experienced fools, are required to fix the job.

So on Thursday morning, Magnus K. and Eugene find themselves disembarking the ferry in Kiel. The weather forecast is promising 40-45 knots of wind, but as we use to say here “det blir det nog inte” which can be translated “actually we always know better”.

Thursday, November 18

10.00 Still stuck on the ferry. The terminal is being rebuilt and foot passengers have to leave the ferry in a bus. The bus driver manages to get the bus stuck between the walls on the car deck. This is really a good start.

11.00 Finally, on our way to the marina. We lost some time and today we will sail with a journalist, tank diesel and buy food for the trip. Too less time to sail the 80 nm to Middelfart and we decide to leave tomorrow.

In the marina it’s blowing 30 knots and it’s cold. Leaving the marina for a test sail with a German journalist. I never really sailed a 570 before but this feels very good!

The bunker station is in a very narrow part of the harbor and there’s really an awful lot of wind. We know the stern thruster is out of operation, but backing the boat in this wind is no problem at all. She’s handling like my own 36-footer, really amazing!

Friday, November 19

07.00 Time to leave. Wow, it’s really cold and the wind has increased to 40 knots. This will be fun. For a short while we carefully plan how to leave the berth. Magnus, who is the most handsome of us is doing the line handling and off we go. This boat is almost handling like a Laser dinghy. I love her.

09.00 Out in the Kieler Bucht. Wind speed 40-45 knots, gusting till 50 knots. Boat speeding 10-12 knots at 120 degrees wind angle. Mainsail and genoa reefed “quite” a lot. However we feel the autopilot is having a tough job so we decide to reef even more and change the balance between genoa and mainsail.

The classic mistake, always too much cloth on the mast… Now the autopilot has an easy job and boat speed is even increasing up to 14 knots. Not a single round-up.

13.00 As there is nobody on the water, a cargo vessel heading north has to be our sparring partner. The AIS shows it’s doing 12 knots and the vessel really has a tough job to pass us. Once more north in the Little Belt the wave pattern becomes a little more regular. A good opportunity to do some fine tuning on the sails and take the helm ourselves. It’s just fun sailing this boat, 30 tons displacement yet so agile to handle and in the end we manage to reach 15 knots of boat speed!

15.00 Wind increasing to 50 knots and veering west. No problem. Downstairs in the saloon it’s warm, comfortable and most of all: quiet. We could even watch television or take a shower if we wanted to…

16.00 Wind veering even more, which means we are sailing 40-35 degrees wind angle. With the main reef ed between the first and second spreader we still reach boat speed about 8.5 knots. Need we say more?

17.00 Middelfart, finally. It’s getting dark quickly . The harbor is crowded with boats so we look for another marina. Once in it, it appears way too small. The only way out is backing. There is quite a lot of current running but I’m not even considering getting nervous; handling this boat is a piece of cake.

Finally we manage to find a good berth alongside an old sailing barge.

It’s become dark and really cold. But we start the genset, take a warm shower, cook a meal and forget about the cold and windy day. This must be the Najad adventure cruising feeling.

Saturday, November 20

05.30 Time to get up, today the trip will be another 80 nm to Grenaa. When leaving at 06.00 it’s still completely dark and we have to go on engine for a while because the fairway is busy with traffic. Never imagined that a 180 hp engine could run so smoothly and quietly. Running 1800 rpm the boat speed is about 8,5 knots, consuming only 6 liters per hour. Even going on engine can be fun.

08.00 Darkness disappears and the sea is empty, time to go sailing. Which means push the buttons and main and genoa are furling out. Wind angle is again 120 degrees but wind speed is less than yesterday, 30-35 knots today, which suits Gulliver very well.

We are doing 12-13 knots in a comfortable, almost luxury way. Suddenly wind is gusting up till 40 knots again, which means that we are bearing too much sail. Now we really experience the comfort and safety of the hydraulic furling rig. Rounding up a little bit to decrease the pressure in the sails, push the buttons to furl in – done. No leaving the cockpit and going out on the deck.

09.00 Magnus disappears in the pantry serving breakfast 15 minutes later. Sausages, baked eggs with cheese – life is good. Meanwhile Gulliver is still doing 12 knots on the autopilot.

13.00 Weather almost perfect. Clear, crispy blue sky and the sun is shining. But it’s cold, really cold and still 30 knots of wind. However, the pilothouse offers a warm shelter and more important: a clear view of almost 270 degrees.

14.00 Don’t want to stay in the pilothouse, it’s way too much fun being on the helm ourselves. Unfortunately, Weir Krakens’ speed record 15,7 knots won’t be beaten today, we have to satisfy ourselves with 15,4 knots only…

15.00 Discussing how to improve comfort sailing in cold and wet conditions with wind and rain from stern. Found some good ideas which we will discuss with our sail makers.

16.00 Time flies when you’re having fun and miles pass when sailing a 570. Time to enter Grenaa harbor. Push the buttons and the sails furling in. Start the engine, oops, it’s not running? However, the rpm counter shows it is – no vibrations, no noise.

The marina is a little bit narrow, but once again, mooring Gulliver is easy. A lonesome boat owner cleaning his boat is watching us and seems to be quite surprised, a 57 footer being backed in without a lot of crew members running and panicking on deck. But he doesn’t know the secret: it’s a Najad 570 he’s looking at.

17.00 Magnus the master chief warms the frozen pizza. Then we wash the dishes – Much too lazy to load the built-in dish washing machine.

19.00 Falling to rest in the warm and cosy saloon it’s very difficult not to fall asleep. We manage to stay awake till 21.00 discussing small improvements like some grab rails, identification of switches in the dark and other small things.

Sunday, November 21

05.50 Gulliver leaving Grenaa harbor. It’s very, very dark. No moon, cloudy. While the plotters help me to navigate along a shallow area, Magnus makes some coffee. The coffee warms our cold hands.

07.30 East on the horizon above our home country it’s getting lighter. It must be the sun coming up but she is not showing herself. Today the weather is rather dull, sea and sky having the same color: grey and visibility is poor. Wind in the back, only 12 knots which we consider to be nothing. Need to have the engine assist the sails, since the trip to Skagen is 80 nm and there is still a lot of swell but no wind.

Because of the poor visibility the radar is transmitting. The combination of radar, plotter and AIS is just superb. In overlay mode it is easy to determine what is sailing around us. The AIS offering MARPA and CPA is a great help indeed. Of course it’s us being responsible for keeping sharp lookout, but these functions really help to confirm our observations and take decisions when changing course for giving way to cargo vessels. A tremendous safety aspect in my opinion.

13.00 Still only light winds. It’s half November and cold. We wonder why we are the only pleasure craft out on the sea? Anyway, steaming on engine isn’t that bad.

15.30 Skagen is welcoming us. Within one hour it will be total darkness. When returning from the pizzeria, Gullivers’ 26 meter uplighted mast easily leads us back to the pier.

Monday, November 22

07.15 Leaving Skagen, heading northeast. First we have to cross the shipping lane and the traffic is quite busy. Once again the plotting functions of AIS and radar help us to take the right decisions. Any skipper should really want to have this stuff installed on his ship. Once out on the sea the wind is increasing to 30 knots at a 130 degrees angle. Speed as usual, though a lot of squalls with rain are teasing us.

When the rain gets too much we settle us in the pilothouse which offers a clear view close to the boat while the radar offers clear sight to the horizon.

13.00 Swedish coast appears among the rain and the clouds. It looks quite unfriendly with its rocks and though we know this area, it’s good to have the plotters.

14.00 Sailing inside the coastline in the direction of Henån. After the soup and a sandwich we make shipshape and finally moore in Najads marina. Back home.