A failed attempt at Norway and back to Skagen

After some well deserved rest in Skagen, my plan was to cross to Norway but the weather was not really on my side and I made the mistake of trying to force things. So I left a bit abruptly when I thought there was an approaching weather window. Everything was completely still for now but fingers crossed it would be gently blowing west/west-south-west and I'd be able to get to the South Norway if not swifty at least comfortably.

But it never happened. I forgot who said “All models are wrong, but some are useful”, but they forgot to say that weather forecasts seldomly are… So there I was, sometime catching a tiny breeze, sometimes pushing forward on engine hoping to catch something a bit further. With the traffic coming out of the TSS nearby and fishing vessels all around, it was not the most relaxing night.

It's always good to rant against the fishing vessels that empty and destroy the sea... Not that they are alone in doing that but still...

I had to replace this shackle because it broke as I was leaving Skagen...

Sunset and a fishing vessel, there was quite a few of those.

The same sky at the same time, one looking South East to the moon...

And one looking to where the sun disappeared...

There wasn't much around in the morning but there was that little birdy.

The face you make when you realised you made the wrong decision.

In the morning, I got spooked by a weather warning on the VHF. Being already out of range for cell data, I couldn't confirm anything on the weather apps. All I could see was that the forecasts I'd saved for the coming days were wrong: there was still very little inconsistent wind, when there should have been a nice steady soft wind, the direction wasn't that forecasted either. I was still roughly a day on engine to arrive in Norway. I knew a big front was on its way and after listening again to the VFH message, I was really spooked that the wind was going to pick up strongly before I could reach the shelter of the fjords on the other side.

The idea of arriving and hurrying up to find a spot to anchor wasn't really filling me with anticipation, especially without a working depth sounder. So I took what appeared to me then like the reasonable decision and made route toward Hirtshals.

When I arrived there, I was expecting to see the big storm coming directly, but there was nothing much on the horizon… It took 30+ hours for it to come, and in hindsight I would definitely have had the time to get to Norway easily… Instead, I was stuck in a nothing-to-do place, without a good weather window on the horizon to go West (after all, that was still my plan: get back to the Netherlands).

After some wondering and wandering time, I decided I would instead sail back to Sweden (and Gothenburg) where I would leave the boat and go to the Netherlands for the Sail Amsterdam festival.

There wasn't much in Hirtshals but this beach.

I was struggling a big mentally and I needed a breather. So off I went, thinking I would sail directly to Gothenburg, but once again the conditions weren't in my favour, and so I did a bit of a detour to stop in Skagen again… The whole adventure will have taken 5 days of which only 33 H and a half sailing, but then again, what if the important was the friends we make on the way and not the destination? Bollocks to that I say!