We sailed south from Napoleonviken to visit friends on Gipsy Lady. At first, we had good speed and nice sailing going east but, as we had to turn south the wind headed us. We gave up after tacking for an hour in strong breeze and applied the iron genny instead.

We had a long text in the morning describing a protected shortcut through Vitsgarnssund. Hard to spot on the charts. We thought it was narrow and winding and threaded carefully with reduced speed. The following day we saw the ferryboat pass through at full steam.

Our friends live close to Horsfjarden and Musko, an area with lots of naval history. The took us for a tour in the area, starting with Musko (Muskö) canal.

In one war with the Russiand in the 1700 century, Sweden had managed to lock the superior Russian fleet in Horsfjarden by blocking the narrow entrances. The Russians only way out was to dig a canal across the island at the narrowest part. Mostly slaves and prisoners of war were used.

They succeeded and could start bringing their ships out. As the canal was narrow, only one ship at the time could come through and they were not strong enough to battle the Swedes who were waiting outside.

We visited an interesting old fishing homestead now museum before turning back to the municipal dock (free!) at Micklum (at the eastern end of the canal) where we had dinner together in the restaurant.

Yesterday was a long downwind sail in moderate breeze. Interrupted by a huge rain shower with fickle winds that lasted for more than an hour – we motored. The sun and following wind came back allowing us to sail into the bay of our friend from Albatros.

They have traded their HR to half an island in the archipelago. A lovely place and a very nice reunion. What a luxury to stay at their dock and to enjoy good company and excellent food.

We continued northwards today in the outer parts of the archipelago. This is an area more similar to what we have on the West coast. We were haunted by ominous clouds, but we managed to avoid the rain until we arrived. The heavens opened up just as we were ready to anchor.

We are in the peek of the season now. Boats are everywhere and the “sailors rock” on Rodloga (Rödlöga) was filled when we came in. It may look like there is one spot left but it has a nasty submerged rock and we saw several boats fail to more there.

We anchored of and took the dingy ashore. There is a small shop (with big prices) about then minutes’ walk from the anchorage.

We started early today to time the opening of the first bridge in Stockholm. There are two opening bridges and one lock between us and the Baltic and the bridges only open once per hour except for rush hours when they do not open at all.

We had a nice following wind, so we sailed while we had breakfast. Unfortunately, the wind was not quite strong enough to give us the speed we needed for the 9:30 bridge. Once we entered the narrower parts first the genoa was replaced with the engine and when the wind headed us, also the main was furled.

We got there in time and once the bridge let us through, we called the lock. They said they would be ready for us, and we could motor straight into the lock. For some reason our gamble on what side to go to always fails. Also this time, and we had to rush to move some fenders and lines as we entered. Today because they only took payment on one side.

South of the lock lays Stockholm “docklands”, Hammarby sjöstad, with plenty of new housing on the old docks. After a short wait, also last bridge opened and we had managed bridges and lock in little more than one hour instead of the three we had planned for.

We motored up to have a look at Stockholm city, the royal palace and the old town before turning around and sailing out from the city.

When we entered Baggensstäket, sails were furled once again. Baggensstäket was the main waterway to Stockholm until the end of the Middle Ages, when the post-glacial rebound made the channel shallower while at the same time ships progressively had larger drafts. The waterway was cleared in 1705 and has since been the main rout for smaller vessels and ferries going south from Stockholm. It is very narrow in places.

The wind picked up and at times we had close to 30 knots (15 m/s) on the nose. We found a good and calm spot for the night in the innermost corner of Napoleonviken where we tied up to the rock.

Today is our first “rainy day”. It gives us an opportunity to catch up on several things that has been left waiting. We are also, finally, in “cruising mode”. We left Sodertalje three days ago, after several interruptions, with four weeks sailing ahead of us.

It is about time to write some blog posts. Will try and fill in the blanks starting from the beginning, see below.

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We left Selaon yesterday. There was very little wind, and we gave up on sailing after some fruitless attempts. The wind had been very shifting both in direction and strength for our entire time om Malaren. This fooled us to thing there might be enough, only do dye down completely shortly after the sails were unfurled.

So, we motored east towards Stockholm. As we got closer, we saw how old summer houses had given way to new villas and the first suburbs appeared.

We stopped at Jungfruholmarna, strategically located for a day of battling the canals of Stockholm with some more opening bridges and the lock down to the Baltic.

Jungfruholmarna is the outharbour of Gota sailing association. It has electricity, excellent facilities and nice docks. But the shore sloops gently towards the bay so one must go bow to. The chart indicates shallow water, but our impression is that it is deep enough for most sailboats. We dropped the anchor in 7 meters on a spot the chart indicated as less than 3 meters.

Today is our first “rainy day”. It gives us an opportunity to catch up on several things that has been left waiting. We are also, finally, in “cruising mode”. It was about time to write some blog posts.

The sun came out in the afternoon and that gave us an opportunity to try out our new toy, a SUP, for the first time. A very wet experience. Eva mastered paddling standing up whereas Hakan refrained from trying – his balance is not what it used to. Paddling standing on the knees was difficult enough…

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Sailing on Malaren is a special experience. Here the water lever is stble and there is no salt. What we normally would regard as a small skerry could turn up as a large tree.

Our first stop in Malaren (Mälaren) was in Mariefred a nice small town with wooden houses and not all that much city development during the last decade or so.

A lovely tourist place with a crowded marina. We were lucky to get the last space. Nex time, we will call in advance for reservation.

The marina is partly protected by the Grippsholm castle and the view from our cockpit was unusual. Gripsholm Castle (Gripsholms slott) has since Gustav Vasa, belonged to the Swedish Royal Family and, was used as one of their residences until the 18th century. It is now a museum but, it is still a palace at the disposal of the King as it is part of the Crown palaces in Sweden.

Two bronze cannons, nicked from the Russians in the 16^th century, guards the inner courtyard.

We took a guided tour, and it was very interesting to hear about the history of the castle and it´s kings. For us, who have not read about Swedish history for over fifty years, it was also nice to have a repetition of the adventures of our Vasa kings.

We left the marina after lunch and sailed up to a nice anchorage on NE side of Selaon (Nällstaviken, Selaön) to spend the night. Malaren, the third largest lake in Sweden, has nearly 8 000 skerries and islands and about 10 % is large enough to be inhabited. We saw many nice summer houses.

Eva had to go home for MRI, (magnetic resonance imaging), of her back that has been troubling her for some time now. She had been fortunate to get a slot in Gothenburg on Tuesday 11^th. We concluded that Nykoping (Nyköping)would have relatively fast connections, so our goal was to be there on Monday.

Another day of motoring took us across Braviken to a SXK buoy at Hasselo-Bergo for the night. Next morning, we motored to Nykoping. After waving good by to Eva on the buss, to the train to the buss home, Hakan continued east in the archipelago to an anchorage for the night.

The next day provided nice sailing the remaining 40 nm to Sodertalje (Södertälje). This is the starting point for the Sodertalje canal, the southern rout to lake Malaren (Mälaren). The water levels differ up half a meter between the Baltic and the lake so there is one lock in Sodertalje.

The canal is under reconstruction (and will continue to be so until 2026) to allow for larger commercial ships. For us, it meant fewer slots in the lock and for the opening bridges.

Eva came back by train on Wednesday and Thursday morning we started on the journey towards fresh water. First looking was at 9:30 am and the bridge opened at 11:00. This gave us just enough time to go shopping for pastry and have a “fika” before it was time go through the bridge.

The canal is short and opens to a long and narrow bay.

Sally was waiting for us in Timmernabben, a small village with around 1 000 inhabitants in the winter, including our friends Birgitta and Leif who had been looking after her while we were in Norway. Timmernabben has with a nice, protected harbour and, located some 20 nm north of Kalmar, it is on the southernmost end of the Baltic archipelago that is our sailing goal for this summer.

We retraced the fairways used by the small costal trader for centuries. Hakan sailed this rout in 2021. This time we followed almost the same track but stopped more often, using the many easily (and sometimes not so easily) accessible anchorages along the way.

We provisioned in Loftahammar, a good harbour with white diesel (without RME) and easy access to reasonable shopping. Fyrudden once again became a good spot to pick up grandchildren. Three kids between three a half and seven makes life interesting. It was really nice to be able to spend some time with them, and their father.

After a restful night at anchor on Hasko, we sailed to Arkosund to meat up with friends and to do laundry and reprovisioning. The staff at Arkosund marina came to meet us in a tender and helped with the lines, just as the “marineros” in the Med. We thought “this is going to cost us” but, the fee turned out to be very reasonable and includes electricity and access to nice facilities and four washing machines.

We left our home port in Ljungskile on Monday 12 June. The preceding weeks had been filled with work and the week-ends hectic with provisioning and preparations for our summer sail.

After so many years of sailing, we are still surprised by how much stuff and provisions we carry onboard in the spring. One reason is that we like to take onboard provisions for the summer that are either heavy or bulky to carry from the shop or difficult to obtain in some places. This includes toilet paper, canned goods, long-life milk, our special brand of coffee, wine and bear, snacks, bake-off bread and more.

The weather was sunny and warm with light and fickle winds as we sailed, or rather motored, down the coast. Having sailed the same distance several times before, we planned the trip so that we could stay in new anchorages and harbours.

Read about or last time sailing the same route in the blog from 2021.

Our first night was spent on anchor (Styrsö potta) just south of the main fairway to Gothenburg. On the following day we left the archipelago.

Some regard the characteristic island of Nidingen, with its twin old lighthouses, as the southernmost part of the Scandinavian coast with fjords and islands that stretches for well over thousand miles almost all the way up to Kirkenäs, close to the Russian border.

Next stop was Glommen, a small fishing hamlet offering some protection on the open coast.

The third day took us to Öresund and the small island of Ven. This was the only exception from places new to both of us, we were here together some 20 years ago and Hakan stayed here (in rain) in 2021. Ven is a lovely island to cycle and our bikes came out for the first time this year.

We had sunny weather, light and variable winds all along the way and this continued as we sailed on. Our Code 0 gave us some speed when the wind was from the right direction but most of the time, we had to use the engine.

We spent a night in Höllviken at the northern entrance to the Falsterbo Canal (a convenient short cut past the sandy southernmost tip of Sweden).

After the Canal we continued to Ystad where we spent two days with our friends on New Sun. Ystad is a charming old town dating back to when this part of Sweden was Danish.

A long day, mostly motoring (again), took us to Utklippan, a rocky outpost well south of the Blekinge coast and 77 nm from Ystad. A small harbour was blasted in the rocks to provide shelter for fishermen at the time when fishing boats were small and vulnerable. Now, it provides a convenient stop on route on the way to Kalmar sound. A first for us but we will be back.

The last day on this first part of our sail took us 71 nm to Timmernabben and, the winds were finally favourable allowing us to sail most of the way. The following day, we left Sally in the care of our friends while we went to Eva’s family in northern Norway over midsummer.

The forecast for Easter had been changing from day to day between wind, rain and sunshine. We were set to go sailing and was rewarded with beautiful sunny albeit chilly weather. One reason for going was that we had overstayed or time in our winter marina and needed to sail Sally back home.

We sailed a little bit north to a lovely anchorage where we had just one other boat as company. We had a very nice evening with the sun heating enough for us to have dinner under the tent in the cockpit.

We sailed south along then coast the next day. The morning was all right but by midday we discovered that the wind became chilly as the sun disappeared behind our sail. Easter was celebrated with traditional food in the quaint old fishing village of Skarhamn.

We sailed a short sail down to Marstrand for a lovely dinner with friends the next day. They had just moved ashore after living 20 years onboard their boat. The boat is now for sail. It was very late when we took the little ferryboat back to Sally.