Gothenburg 2010-07-31

Its getting close to midnight. The boat and the crew are ready. Its rain in the air and quit dark so we decided to sleep for 6 hours and start in daylight.

The crew are (from left) Unni Wendelsson, Jan Hurtig, Mattias Hurtig and me.

Gothenburg 2010-07-29

Getting closer and closer to departure. You see the signs; downloading GRIB files twice a day and listening to weather forecasting.
It seems that the gale coming in from W on Saturday will pass rapidly and then good weather. The latest update is 10-18 knots wind and its OK. Unfortunately from NW in the beginning of next week. It´s normally SW!!!
Still some days left and it might change. A day ago it was SE!

Gothenburg 2010-07-28

Finally the last issues with the windlass was fixed and it works. Just the 60 meters of chain left to drag to the boat. Also the broken wire to the bow lantern is fixed. Just some hoovering/cleaning left and then ready, steady go!
We also started to check the weather forecasting. Looks really promising but it´s still some time left and it could change.

Gothenburg 2010-07-27

North Sea in August. Could be good, could be bad. The weather forecast looks a little bit "various" at the moment. The most (?) difficult part is the first leg to Shetland Islands. Around 430 nm of blue water sailing. We have set 3-4 different routes across all the oil fields. Depending on wind direction and the motion of the sea we could go directly or stop at some port in Norway. Maybe Lindsnes, maybe somewhere around Stavanger entrance.

Gothenburg 2010-07-26

The preparations for the sailing to the Shetland Islands and Scotland has been active a while. Mentally it started a year ago when my friend Jan got the idea “I want to sail to Shetland”. Crazy thoughts but after some considerations “why not”. The first plan was to go there and back. Then I spent a weekend in Scotland with my dear friend Gabby in Oban and Fort Williams, the south exit of the Caledonian Canal passing Loch Ness on it´s way from Inverness. It´s a “once in a lifetime opportunity” to sail in the middle of Scotland and maybe get a look at Nessie. In addition we will have plenty of time getting a close look at this part of the world without having a stressful planning to get home to Gothenburg.