When the alarm rang at 05:30, we both knew it was time to cast off. This departure would take us from Norrland to Svealand — across the Bay of Gävle. As we peeked out through the hatch, the wind came from the east, just as the weather forecast had promised the night before. In the previous days, we had sailed in with a straight northerly wind towards Storjungfrun 🌐 in complete darkness, barely able to make out the outlines of the breakwaters — we could hear them, though, from the thunderous sound of waves crashing against the rocks. The full moon and the lighthouse helped us a good way in. As we came dangerously close, we grabbed the headlamp, and its beam revealed the channel markers. Once safely inside the harbour, we could finally relax a little, moor the boat, and open our traditional “dock beer” — Finnish, of course.
The video above shows us crossing the Bay of Gävle, sailing toward Öregrund. The waves rolled in large and heavy; at times they reached up to three metres. I (Anders) am not used to waves with such long troughs — up in the northern Bothnian Bay, the waves are short and brutal. But here, with these long, smooth waves, the boat could surf beautifully along in the strong wind.
When we arrived in Öregrund, we realised we had overlooked one small detail: it was the annual Boat Week — a festival filled with music and celebration. After ten hours of sailing, exhaustion took over, and the lively atmosphere didn’t bother us in the slightest. Calm would perhaps have been preferable, but our neighbours made up for everything. The German sailor on our port side offered to wash our dishes and tow us through the Göta Canal, while the neighbour on our starboard side kindly offered us electricity, as all sockets on the dock were already taken.