Our AIS wasn’t working again so I stayed up most of the night because of heavy shipping traffic. We arrived at the Hamletcastle of Helsingør at dawn and were accompanied by some porpoises and then sailed through the Sound leaving Ven to starboard and now Zissi could take over the watch and I got a few hours of sleep. We passed Malmö in Sweden and went under the Øresundbridge when the wind died but it was only a few hours from there to Höllviken where the canal is.
We arrived at 5:30pm, paid the dues at a machine and went straight to have pizza and a beer. Upon returning we noticed a sign at the harbour informing us of the fact that the canal would remain closed for repairs for the following week.
This was a major bringdown. Not only would we have to go back north and around but also we would have to cross over to Rügen from a much more westerly departure. This would not work at all with the weather forecast for the next period. The forecast was for westerly winds for the next day veering south and increasing to over 30knots later in the afternoon. Taking off early and making it to Rügen wasn’t really an option.
