On Monday I found an unexpected weather window. If I were to leave Monday night and then go as far as possible until the weather turned to shit again sometime Wednesday afternoon. I was hoping to get as far as Brighton but Dover would be a possibility, too.
I was particularly anxious about crossing the Thames estuary behind the TSS and I had a time window where I would need to be at the mouth of the river Blackwater at a certain time to cross the estuary with the tide (or most of it anyway) in my favour. That meant leaving Lowestoft against the tide but at least with the wind from behind. Because of the wind over tide situation there was a very nasty wave but we gut used to it and were barreling along with a poled out genoa with 5 sometimes 6 knots through the water. Unfortunately with the tide against us we were only doing 3 to 3.5 over the ground. But we made it to the Blackwater in time around 3 a.m.
Lemvig to Lowestoft across the North Sea
I had wanted a weather window like the one when I had sailed to Scotland with winds from the east, a blocking high reaching across Ireland and pretty much nothing to worry about weatherwise.
It was not to be. The best I could come up with included leaving Tuesday afternoon after the storm had just abated but nasty waves were still to be expected. Then being hit by a cold front on Wednesday to Thursday night and getting into harbour on Saturday as early as possible because of another low creeping up the channel and making for nasty weather.
Løgstør Bredning anchorage to Lemvig
At 4 in the morning I took things apart. Cleaned the heat exchanger stack and put it together again. Turned on the engine…. No change.
Very frustrated I left, knowing that I would be able to sail most of the way today and only use the engine a little bit. The wind had picked up again and was now gusting to more tan 30 knots. We were flying along with only a deep reefed Genoa at 7 knots and more.
Hals to Løgstør Bredning anchorage
This was a day of motoring. With three bridges where the opening times would need to be met and mostly narrow channels where sailing (with the wind on the nose) was no option (at least not for me, because I was in a hurry). I know this “in-a-hurry” thing is not a good idea at all and totally not part of my plan but there have been weeks of no weather windows for crossing the north sea and there may just be one next week and if I’m not in Lemvig or near Thyboroen before the storm hits I will probably miss it.
Greifswald to Hals anchorage
I had taken the early train from Berlin and done some last grocery shopping in Greifswald to keep me from starving for at least five days.
Below decks it was still chaos and I put all the things wherever I could find some room (I’ll probably never find them again).
I was in a bit of a hurry because I wanted to catch the last bridge opening in Wieck at 2000 because the wind was looking good for the next few days and I needed to be safely in a harbour (preferably in Lemvig) before a nasty low pressure system would come through towards the end of the week.
new solar panel and closing the holes
After having installed the panel mount on the stern pushpit, the ladder on the stern needed to be moved to make room for the windvane.
The holes are closed now and painted over. The solar panel is installed and also the new battery with the charger and a 230v inverter.
Preparations
There has been a lot to do during the last months. Although Amy had already been outfitted with most things, there were still many things that I would want along for the trip. Most of the things I would either find second hand or build them myself.
