Stralsund
The biggest city we will visit in Germany and also our last with Poland being a day sail away.
We did the customary walk and found the remains of the fortification walls of the city, surrounded by water now turned into parklands. Again another hanseatic city and with the accompanying old buildings to find and stare at in awe.
Much to my disgust I have been fishing almost every sail since arriving in the Baltic Sea without success. To my defence however we are usually moving to quickly in the water for our traveling line to be effective however I am still very upset by not having reeled anything in, lucky we have kept our fish intake up however as since Lubeck we have developed a habit of eating the local delicacy of Fischbrötchen for lunch, which are raw (or pickled) fish (usually herring), on a roll with lettuce and raw white onion, these are very cheap and very delicious and we again enjoyed them here.
From the boat at Stralsund we could see all the fisherman on the concrete breakwater reeling in herring and lots of them, at time you could also see them breaking the water in the marina as they fed. Phil took a rod up to the wall to bring us home a feed – lucky I had a back up plan as the bucket came home empty. The excuse being that he didn’t have the correct real or long rod for casting a long way out which is where they were catching them.
We timed our departure along with the bridge opening that connects the island of Bergen to Stralsund. We were headed south east towards Poland but planned to anchor for the night before arriving as the wind has now disappeared completely so to compensate for the required motoring we enjoyed a tranquil night on anchor and I am also very pleased to also inform that we also ate fresh fish that I caught during the trip for dinner!
Just as I was about to declare that there were no fish in Germany I reeled in a very decent 73 cm size Garfish! Skinny but long enough to get some good fillets off, lots of small bones but those that don’t cook soft turn iridescent blue/green so are easy to find and pick out. We fired up the cobb in the cockpit to enjoy not only the fish but the view as we were anchored off a beautiful white sand beach backed by forest. The cobb being now declared a great investment as we have now enjoyed many meals, having success with each method of fuel and cooking we try . . . and I even cooked an apple pie on it this evening on anchor after we had our fish and potatoes as the bricketts last a good two hours all up, so was able to boil (or stew) the apples in a saucepan over the heat then cook the pasty and pie – delicious!! Next stop Poland.
Kuhlungsborn & Warnemunde
We set off from Wismar with the intention to arrive at Rostock but after a lumpy frustrating 6 hours beating into the wind on the nose and a very wet forward berth (bed) decided to pull in at Kuhlungsborn at what was to be our most expensive marina to date, and therefore a one night only event.
The day had started out really lovely bright and sunny, hence the reason Phil decided to crack open (a couple of cm’s) the forward hatch above the for cabin bed – usually locked shut during sailing. The day then deteriorated and the waves built up and the wind on the nose, and after bashing into it for some time and having the bow dipping into the swell there was a loud expletive from Phil in the form of “Oh #### the hatch” and of course there was whole lot of sea water on the bed, sheets, duvet and mattress (with them only recently being washed in Laboe may I add!) Anyhow I rung them out and got them off before it had penetrated into the mattress from the duvet and mattress protector above. A lot of water was rung out but no harm done – other than to Phil’s pride. We were able to use the drier at Kuhlungsborn and hang the mattresses protector out to dry also.
A walk showed us this was another German Baltic beach town, with the required beach access fee and ugly beach huts and also a lot (I mean a real lot) of hotel and appartments along the foreshore and associated tourist shops. The hotel and apartment blocks were all very square and plain (but painted nicely) making us think they were refitted for holidays makers – basically just adding gardens and a pastel paint job, having previously been used as camps or military buildings or even communist housing? But regardless the area was full of happy holiday makers enjoying the promenade and the beach.
Having arrived around 4pm we only paid for the one night (as mentioned very expensive) but we got our moneys worth as we stayed until around 4pm the next day before making the short hop (just a few miles) to Warnemunde to overnight and set us up before the bigger sail around to Stralsund. We arrived before dusk as a couple of large cruise ships (carrying thousands of passengers each) sounding their horns as they departed the river. We found a spot alongside on the wooden jetty (not the marina – still broke from the night before) and tied up for the night just as the sun disappeared and then left before the sun was up the next morning, meeting that day’s cruise ships approaching as we departed.
As the sun rose as the day got underway it became obvious this was going to be a motor (or motor sail) and not a sailing day, there was virtually no wind and an hour later the fog arrived. Thick fog lasting hours – I really don’t enjoy fog. Anyway 2.5 hours and 176 soundings of the fog horn later it cleared, and much to my disgust we could see other yachts and continued to do so for the entire journey despite us being the only vessel sounding a fog horn in fog that we could hear. I really do hope they were all sounding and we were just not close enough to hear them.
As the wind grew we were able to sail but still needed the engine ticking over occasionally as we turned to go down the buoyed channel through the very shallow waters to Stralsund. At least the sun kept up all day and again our skin enjoyed soaking up some long lost warmth (a lot to make up from the last year spent in the colder climates of England and Scotland).
Wismar
A good days sailing even though the sun has gone and hidden itself somewhere again!We even had a drop of rain, however the wind was kind and we were able to sail from Travemunde to Wismar, slowly but sailing all same. We found a spot on the town wall rather than in the marina and were right in the thick of the tourist walking route.
I was again pleasantly surprised with this German town (not having any particular expectations for Germany it is proving to surprise me). The town is very tidy, neat and well maintained. Although, as we discovered in Travemunde, Lubeck and I am sure here also a few blocks back (as in any town worldwide I suspect) there is evidence of old abandoned buildings and overgrown industrial areas.
Wismar also has an industrial front with it being a major port especially for timber industry and there was a constant stream of ships carrying timber into the port and being unloaded. Many of the older warehouse type buildings along the quays are in the process of being rebuilt into shops and appartments.
Wismar was heavily bombed and damaged during world war II however there are some gothic type architecture buildings in the town that survived.
The other interesting part of the city history is that is was actually under Swedish rule from 1648 until 1903.
A noteworthy mention also for our stay in Wismar is that we actually dined out for a meal in a restaurant – very special indeed. To fully explain one must understand that for some time now (at least a year) Maree has been wanting to go out for a pub meal of a chicken parmigiana (or schnitzel) not an outrageous request I would have thought since they are available in every pub in Australia, well to my shock and horror it seems this is not a world wide pub fare and I have been promised by the captain that I will get one when we get to Germany, and guess what – he delivered. He went out in the day to read the menu boards at all the pubs/restuarants and came back to announce we would be dining at a German Beer Hall (happy Captain) which serves Schnitzels (happy Crew), and further more it was even better as the crew of Cyclone of Langstone were also going to splash out and join us – a treat for one and all. We had a fantastic night with great food and great beer (brewed on site), so happy in-fact that we were not even insulted when we asked the waiter to take a picture of us with our camera and he commented “wow, camera’s – people still have these?” I assume he means in the current digital age of smart phones and such he was astounded that we had not one but two cameras on the table and both wanted a picture. I am pleased to say he knew how to use them so we are obviously not that far out of date.
Travemunde & Lübeck
As we sailed out of Laboe it suddenly hit us that we are in the Baltic Sea – our summer destination! It certainly brought a smile to our faces and we are certainly ready for summer – even if the weather isn’t quite ready yet.
Making our way to Lubeck we anchored overnight in Grovenbrode a small bay which has a buoyed channel to enter, a small marina and an area suitable to anchor (free – that’s us). When we awoke the next morning however we discovered we were not alone, millions and millions of bugs (absolutely no exaggeration at all) had decided to join us and the whole boat was covered, so thick you couldn’t see the deck in places – YUK! They were everywhere. I tried brushing them away but they just resettled, I tried washing them away with buckets of water, but there were always more. As we began to sail they then made home either around my face as I was on the tiller steering – not so nice, or on the white sails (leaving thousands of squashed bugs imprinted on the sail when we furled it up later, a disgusting green/black squashed gut/dot that I can’t get off). Really hoping it was a one off as we were anchored close to a rape seed oil crop (much like canola back home). It explains the tapping on the deck and hull overnight, which we now understand to be the ducks and birds eating them, shame they didn’t eat them all.
With the sun up we soon shredded additional layers and enjoyed a warmer day sailing to Travemunde, being a Sunday (especially a sunny Sunday) as we got closer there was a lot of weekend sailing and water activity going on, providing a really nice view and vibe.
As we entered the river, which is shared with large commercial international vessels, shipping containers and huge international passenger ferries we sailed past the “Passat” a german four masted steel barque which used to sail grain between Europe and South Australia. The ship later went on to become a training ship for young sailors, before eventually being preserved in it’s current location and now used as a hostel and even venue for conferences, weddings as well as tourism.
We originally planned on taking Red Roo right up the river to Lubeck but after finding a nice (cheap) spot along the wall in fishing harbour at Travemunde we decided to catch the bus to visit for the day instead – a good call.
Lubeck, the old city it’s self provided a great day out (but after inspecting the yacht pontoon and facilitates we were especially glad we stayed where we were and caught the bus to visit).
Loads of history in Lubeck and it was great to able to do a self guided walking tour to the major sites and for once the map and flyer to guide you were free. We are finding it more and more common that places are charging for town maps these days (even with it only being a euro or two we find it strange and not exactly promoting tourism?).
Lubeck is/was a major port for Germany (now with most of the infrastructure and shipping coming into Travemunde, and not quite all the way to Lubeck). The old part of Lubeck has extensive brick gothic architecture and is now a UNESCO world heritage site. Again the original or old city is on an island enclosed by the river Trave (hence Travemunde). Now this place is old, when I say old I mean 9700 BC. There is evidence of humans here at this time after the last ice age (mainly neolithic dolmens). Castles were build here from 1143 onwards, and the city gates (standing today) are dated back to 1444 and 1478.
Also in Travemunde Maree hand repaired a small tear we had noticed in the top of the mail sail. We managed to be able to feed the sail into the cabin through the saloon hatch – nice work, meaning it could be sewn in comfort inside the cabin.
Laboe
I would describe Laboe as a German beach Holiday area, lovely beaches the first real sandy beaches we have seen since Ireland. Not rocks, not grey sand but real yellow normal sand, unfortunately the beaches however are covered by beach huts, these strange (cheap) looking plastic/cane creations are on every beach. I guess they offer shelter but many of them seem to be facing away from the water and in our opinion the view. We assume they turn them according to the wind? However before you can get to the huts (which you hire) you must pay to use the beach, yes that’s right there is a €2.50 beach user charge from a machine (just like buying a parking ticket) so I assume there are also beach inspectors, although we didn’t see any and the weather wasn’t really beach going weather (although a few huts were being used). Of course my mind wonders directly to how you would keep your beach user ticket you brought from the machine dry while you swim in the ocean and use the beach. Along with the beaches is also an attractive promenade lined with ice-cream shops, cafe’s, fish and chip shops and trinket shops. All very clean and rather new looking.
A short walk from the marina is Laboe Naval Memorial (tower) built over 9 years (1927-1936) it was originally a memorial to World War I, then after 1945 was added to in memory of those killed in World War II, finally in 1954 in was rededicated to commemorate the sailors of all nationalities who died during the World Wars.
The monument is a 72 meter high tower topped with an observation deck which stands 85 meters above sea level, and yes we took the stairs to get to the top. There is also a hall of remembrance and linking the two is an underground memorial (which I must admit I found a bit spooky with a few slow dripping leaks seeping in from the soil above, as well as wind howling through the ventilation holes, and the dimness being only lit by a very small circle sky light in the middle of the really large area, making it all rather dark). Also on the beach below the tower is a German submarine U-boat, the only remaining type u boat in the world which is now used as a technical museum.
Laboe was a chance to catch up on washing (long overdue) whilst we had two days of howling wind and rain but were safe in the shelter of the marina. Phil also had a chance to replace the water intake hose for the engine, which had worn a small hole in the bend that rubs on the engine cover – which was the source of small amount of water beginning to pool at the bottom of the engine when motoring (not a big deal as it was the original hose so had worked well for the last 12 years), he also give the toilet out tube another good clean (glad he gets that job).
Kiel Canal
Budelsdorfer – Lake Obereider
Following a day of rest (a free night in the marina always helps to keep us there) we set off on the Kiel Canal transit to bring us out into the Baltic Sea (and cut off many many miles rather than having to go up and around Denmark).
It is possible to get through the canal in a day with the total distance from one lock to the other being 98km, but you are not allowed to sail due to the big ships so you have to motor and we always motor very conservatively (no need to flog the engine, and conserving fuel by just going at around 1800 revs) which is a long winded way of saying when we motor we motor slowly. Therefore we pulled up at Lake Obereider (the 66 km mark) for the night. It had felt like a longer day than it actually was as we were motoring into the wind, quite a strong head wind at times gusting to 30 knots right on the nose and the wind was also bitterly cold despite it being a bright clear day. In fact it was so cold we both put thermals on for the second day.
We motored the remaining 30km the next day with the Cyclones passing us about 1/2 hour from the end, they had stopped elsewhere along the canal overnight but caught up to us. We pulled up together at the waiting pontoon at the Eastern Lock and ended up with a 4 hour wait to get into the lock, lots of tea and biscuits. The lock cycled twice while we waited, filled each time with large commercial ships. We were finally called to enter on the third cycle out but first they put two ships in (large ships but definitely not the biggest we had seen) one on each side of the lock, then told us yachts (4 of us) to go in around to the front of the port side ship into the gap at the front of the lock. We did this and Red Roo was last to enter, securing to the pontoon in the lock right in front of Vera Rambow, making an impressive picture. Around half an hour later we were out the other side into the Kieler Forde. The wind hadn’t eased and we were met with choppy water and strong winds still on the nose from the east when the lock gate opened, but we pushed on into the now fading evening sky across the forde to Laboe to tie up in the shelter of the hills for a couple of days while the weather got worse before getting better allowing us to say on.
Germany – Brunsbuttel
We are now in Germany 🇩🇪
We departed Lauwersoog at midday arriving outside the Kiel Canal (western lock) about 2pm the following day. We then had to wait until after 15:30 to enter the Canal and finally tied up at Brusbuttel around 4pm.
Good sail overall, we had to motor out north for the first 3 hours from Lauwersoog (as we were expecting) against the last of the incoming tide, but once we passed the islands and turned to the east and cut the motor, winds were light to start with and we had the gennaker up going along comfortably when all of a sudden under a dark cloud the wind went from a light 8 knots to a whipping 28 knots – way too much for the light gennaker and as we were furling it in, the wind caught it flapping and tore it – doh!! We will not know the extent of the damage until we get somewhere were we have the room to unroll it on shore and inspect, but we expect it’s too big for a home hand sewing repair and will need to go to a sailmakers.
Anyway the wind settled again to a comfortable 20 knots and we sailed well through the night and the next day. It was a little rolly as we were going across the swell not into it, but a pleasure to be under sail rather than motoring. First time in a long time that we have done a night sail without the stress of crossing shipping lanes, some other small craft (mainly yachts) all travelling along parallel to the coast. We didn’t see them sneak up on us as it was dark and all, but overnight Cyclone of Langstone stealthily overtook us and got through the lock into Brusnbuttel well ahead of us – the joys of a lighter faster boat. (They were happily waving to us as we entered the marina that afternoon, all tied up and already showered sipping on a wine!)
We started the motor again once in the Elbe past Cuxhaven and joined the procession of yachts down to the Keil Canal lock, waiting for an hour and half (just treading water, no where to tie up) with 16 other yachts to enter the lock. Plenty of room in the lock for us to all fit as these locks are made for the commercial ships transiting the canal, really huge ships and they can usually fit more than one ship in at a time.
Went through the usual rigmarole once arrived where I (Maree) am not allowed off the boat until cleared by customs (me being an alien and all – not holding an EU passport), so ‘captain fantastic’ went to the Polizei to see the customs gents and get me cleared. Again lovely people whom didn’t see me as a threat, having our own accomodation, full travel insurance, not working, and realistically only spending money in their country welcomed me and didn’t issue an entry stamp as they didn’t want to restrict my time in the Schengen zone. Then we finally cracked a beer, had a shower, and fell into bed quite early after being awake in shifts all the previous night during the sail.
The marina here is right at the locks and you can hear, feel and see the huge ships coming in and out of the canal. First thing is this deep noise that comes through the water, the noise being their screws turning and slowing them down or powering them up, its incredible how you can hear these from inside Red Roo through the water, but not hear them outside. Next clue is the large shadow pass over as they block the sun as they pass the boat, each one seemingly larger than the last. Certainly puts our size into perspective.
Brunsbuttel was obviously our first look at Germany, and it looked fine. Being a Sunday it was very quiet, and nice that all the shops were shut without exception, great that there are still places in the world that are not driven by commercialism. Not a huge change in colours, landscape or architecture from the Netherlands, but that isn’t a real surprise them being neighbours and all.
Dokkum & Lauwersoog
Before we talk about Dokkum lets relive our passage through Burdaard.
Burdaard consists of a bridge 200 meters of canal front houses and then a second bridge. Lovely one could say, and yes it was very pretty, however it was also the place we became “one of those boats” that lost it in the wind. Much to the frustration of the bridge master, and of course to us also!
It was a very windy day, however it can be a little deceiving when in the canals as you can easily be sheltered from it for long periods by trees and houses etc and then all of a sudden – wham it hits you, and of course always hits from the angle you don’t want it to. This is what happened to us at Burdaard.
The first bridge opened and we passed through and very slowly crept toward the second bridge (as most of these small towns the bridge keeper has to open both and he/she cycles between them). We crept up and waited, waited and waited, we started to wonder what was happening, it was nearly 12 o’clock and we thought surely he wasn’t going to leave us in-between the two bridges whilst he had his lunch??? Luckily that was a no, and we saw back in the distance behind us another yacht approaching and figured that he was waiting for them to pass the first bridge before cycling to the second and opening it just the once to let us both through – good, no worries…..until ……. the wind gusted up and got us as we came out from the shelter of the last houses along the canal and into the lawn area just prior to the second bridge! So now we had a bridge shut in front of us, a yacht coming up behind us (in a skinny canal) and Red Roo getting wind blown across our bow turning the boat 90 degrees across the canal which is really not much wider than we are long, yes, very awkward.
As mentioned in a previous post the only time you get really good steering in a yacht is when you have good way (speed) on and in a canal trying to hoover still waiting for the bridge is not when you have good steering. The wind was steering us, we were not in control. So put some speed on I hear you say, hard to do when your sitting 90 degrees across the canal with no space to go forward or backwards.
In the mean time the bridge keeper had made his way to the bridge and began to open it . . . 5 minutes too late for us. We had been blown all the way sideways now and were going to have to do a complete 360 (or 270 now) to get back to face the bridge, so Phil put the throttle on, then reverse on (over and over again) and we eventually completed the 16 point turn to get us around . . . . now facing back the way we came and not towards the opening bridge – hmmm , this at least allowed the second yacht to pass us and get under the bridge.
The bridge keeper now started to speak in Dutch quite loudly as if he was being inconvenienced (well I guess we were now encroaching on his lunch time), I smiled nicely and waved and said we have to turn around as the wind was pushing us, he then closed the bridge just as we were doing our next 16 point turn to get us facing the correct direction to pass through the bridge. I most kindly asked him to please reopen it again, now, quickly please, the panic rising as we were almost back at the point of the wind catching our bow and turning us around again!!!!
With much arm raising, huffing and puffing he re-opened the bridge and collected our money as we passed by (myself apologising to him profusely – he just nodded).
Yes we were very much embarrassed and “one of those yachts”. However, we were very happy we didn’t hit the bridge, very happy we didn’t hit the other yacht (staying well clear of both) and very happy we didn’t run aground or hit the banks of the canal when doing our circle work, just also very embarrassed.
Dokkum was another town surrounded by a canal in with lovely gardens down to the water where you can berth along the edge, I managed to take a couple of cracker pictures of Red Roo settled down beneath a windmill.
We were in Dokkum for Kings Day a national public holiday and enjoyed the kings day parade around the streets, especially the xylophones playing modern pop songs.
We also met the Cyclone of Langstone (aka Jo and Rob) who were to become great travelling companions for the next month or so as we were heading in the same direction, meaning we would catch up every few days as we both travelled to the Baltic and then east along the German coast to Poland.
Getting organised now to leave the shelter of the Netherlands canals and once again head into the North Sea to go out and around into Germany – exciting another country.
Lauwersoog
We have filled up with fuel and water and are ready to depart the Netherland. It will be an overnight sail travelling North East in the north sea across the top of Germany and into the River Elbe from which we will cut through the Kiel Canal to the Baltic Sea 🙂
Leeuwarden
A city of bridges with 6 in total to transit. The first of those being quite unique. Most of the bridges we encounter either swing open or go straight up from one hinge, or some of the bigger ones actually have a tower at each end and the whole road piece lifts up in-between on a pulleys staying horizontally flat, however the first bridge into Leeuwarden was really quite strange, it was like an arm lifting the whole section of road up from the bridge and it lifted at a very strange angle and was really very different.
It is always a bit of a guess as to what a town will have in the way of berth, some being concrete walls, others wooden pontoons but Leeuwarden had beautiful green lawns and gardens all along the canal sides with plenty of room to berth, so of course we squeeze in between two other boats to a place where they have just laid sand and planted new grass seeds which equalled sand being carted on deck and imbedded in the lines to shore! But who am I to argue with the captain about where we berth!! In his defence it was sheltered from the wind (hence why the 6 boats all gathered there over the other kilometres of shore line) and was also close to the amenities block, but still the grit and sand in the boat – grrrrrrrr!!! and of course it also rained so that it soon became mud.
Note in the picture above the lovely green grass near the white boat in the foreground, and if you look carefully you can see the grey sand/mud at Red Roo.
Leeuwarden was a bigger town than we had been to for quite some time (since Amsterdam) and to be honest we really both prefer the smaller places. However with the garden berth we were easily able avoid the city, and it felt very tranquil especially as they have music in the gardens each Sunday and we were in for a special treat with todays music being bagpipes…so nice to hear the sounds of Scotland again.
Pikmar (Grou)
Red Roo 
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