The North rush

The forecast changed again!

Instead of having a bit of time to relax on the island, the good moment to make some ground north was now!

So after a fairly lazy morning after the sleep-lacking night, I started to set sails and off we go to the north. I wanted to go all the way to Skagen directly, but I eventually opted to make a pit stop in Grenå. It wasn’t the nicest of places, but it was good enough to rest a bit before the next leg. The weather was a bit nasty and the wind not really going my way overnight in the forecast, so I preferred to wait it out in a harbour.

In the morning, the wind had not yet turned in my favour, so after consulting the forecast once more, I waited a bit, prepared some food for the upcoming trip, etc. Around 10 it was time to get going and wait up for the wind shift at sea. After that it was just a long rush up north with not much to do but stirring from time to time because the autohelm was not happy. I also spent some time tweaking with an elastic line to see if I could make some sort of DIY-auto-helm, it was rather working well.

The arrival near Skagen was something though… It was pitch dark by the time I was approaching, the AIS on the phone was not great, and it was full of ships. So many big chunky pieces of rusty metal at anchors here and there, incredible! I had to slalom my way through with Elvira still flying high despite the reef. I was somewhat scared of sailing too close to them, or that one of them would be actually moving and not at anchor like the rest of them. But once again it went fine, and I was able to cross the mass of ships lying there and approach the harbour's mouth, take down my sail and doing the last bit on engine to find a spot. By the time I was done tying up and everything, the sun was up again, it was about 5am, and I was done. I went to sleep for most of the day then.

At some point when you're a bit bored by the lack of wind, you try stuff.

Not many people on the water that day, but I crossed that one sailboat going the other way.

There was a lot of ships waiting to be taken apart in Grenå, not sure about the sailboat there though. Seems like it has potential!

Trying stuff in the harbour while thinking about the next day sailing.

I found a nicer way to keep the main's traveller in place with a simple easy slipknot.

Another little DIY something made to make the boat steer herself nicely!

Crossed path with that beautiful vessel on the second day!

Trying stuff again, but keeping a (worried) eye on the navigation.

Some winds and wave at night and the moon from time to time

It's always a bit surreal to sail at night but it can be so peaceful!

The sun was starting to light up the sky from under the horizon when I was nearing my destination and starting to slip between the big anchored ships.

In the harbour at last! Not a soul around, so quiet... Which was great: I was in need of sleep!