To Sønderborg and other troubles

I spend a couple of days in Strande. Mostly because the wind was not conducive to pushing North or East. First, a decent blow from the North accompanied by heavy rain made me just shelter and rest. Then, no winds at all.

When I finally set up to go north (aiming for Sønderborg), the wind was rather strong (2 reefs on the main and genoa part-furled) and coming from the east. The autohelm started to be completely unable to steer to port, and the depth sounder's display stopped working altogether. That was less than ideal, since I was passing near some rocks and stuff, all of which was supposed to be deep enough to cross without problems, but still, a bit of reassurance wouldn't have gone amiss… Same with the autohelm; being able to relax and make coffee or food without having to constantly fix the steering would have been nice.

For taking the sails down as well once I was close to Sønderborg. My usual tactic is to point headwind, let the autohelm keep the boat that way with a bit of engine support while I take down the main sail. Here I tried to do that, but I had to rush back to the cockpit a few time during the operation to change the angle of the tiller (the autohelm could still keep the tiller in place but not adjust it to keep a heading).

Anyway, in the end I managed to do something and take down the sails. I could then spend a good amount of time going round and round the Sønderborg marina to find a spot. In the end, I joined a group of sailboat who were all crashing as best as possible on a pontoon that was not really made for that. It worked for the night, and I was able to pick a proper spot in the morning once it was not as crowded any more!

Heeling much?

Reefing, reefing…

Full (reefed) sail ahead!