This is a little sad, as we go out for our last sailing this year. We usually stay in the water all year and this is the first time we’ve hauled her out. Why? We have osmosis (called böldpest here in Sweden) in the hull. It looks like little blisters on the area under the waterline. These can cause serious damage to the fibreglass if left too long, so we have decided to repair her before it is too serious.

But before then, we go out on a last sailing trip to farewell the local waters until next summer. First stop was one of our favourite islands of Utö. It was lovely sailing up there in these familiar waters. Sunshine and strong winds makes it a fast trip. We don't like the main guest harbour, so we decided to head in a couple of nautical miles south of there and drop anchor in the little bay by the church. On this map, the main harbour is marked by a green dot, with the church's bay a little further south is marked by an anchor.

Why am I crapping on about this? Well, because today we saw a prime example of sloppy seamanship by a couple of boats out on the water with us. And these were big, expensive boats. As I said, we were NOT going to the guest harbour. So as we turned off the main route, we were rather surprised to see these two boats behind us turn off at the same time. Where were they going? Nobody (apart from us) ever anchors in Kyrkviken and there certainly wasnt room for all of us in there. This was a bit annoying and stressful as we had to try and keep an eye on them as well as the depth meter and the surroundings in the tight, shallow route.

They followed us all the way there and looked really confused when they saw the church and watched us anchor. It was then that they realised that they were not where they thought they should be. As I said, expensive, well equipped boats with plotters, gps and all modern navigation instruments. Were they looking at them? Or just following us? Who knows. I know that I could never be out on the water and not know where I was at all times - even when we only had paper charts and no instruments.

Anyway, in the end we had the bay and the little church all to ourselves.



It's a really pretty little place that we discovered soon after we moved to this part of Sweden and we love the whole community here. In the morning, it was misty and guess what? We had more birds come to visit! This is all starting to sound a bit Alfred Hitchcock, isn't it? I was waiting for Tippi Hedren to appear out of the woods. But she didn't - there were only the birds.



We've never had them roost on the boat before we had our own birds onboard. While it was lovely at the time to listen to them chatter, we were less than impressed by the mess they left. After cleaning up, we head to another of our favourite spots, Östermarsfladen on the island of Nåttarö. It is cloudy today, but still the sky looks magnificent as we head southwards.



It is fairly quiet here, so we come in and moor at the pier near the beach. Normally this is quite crowded and we prefer the solitude of lying by anchor, but there are only two other boats here so we decide it will be quiet enough.



It fascinates me that you can choose a spot to anchor at in a big place like this, then another boat will come into the bay and tie up right next to you. If I'm in that position, I choose a place far away so that we can all have peace and privacy. I've discussed this with friends here and their theory is that the person arriving second thinks that you've already cased out the place, worked out the best spot in terms of sunshine, protection from wind, waves etc and tied up in that prime position. They want to be as close as possible to "the best spot".

So, they told us their strategy when faced with this situation. My friend (Stina) strips off her top and goes up on deck. This causes a bit of a dilemma for the other boat. Especially if it's a couple in the other boat. The woman will think that her man will be staring at Stina going around topless on their boat. Meanwhile, the guy is scared that his wife will get upset if he even looks at the other boat. While this is happening, our friend Douglas pops his head up and looks around. So the guy on the other boat has to also worry that Douglas won't like him looking over towards Stina. They decide that it's all a bit too much and so go off and moor somewhere else. They assure us that it works every time.

Hmm... while it seemed a good idea while we sat sitting on their boat one summer evening eating home grown strawberries and drinking rosé, in practice I just somehow can't see myself doing it. Actually, if I went about the boat topless, I think I could clear the whole archipelago.

We went for a walk over to the other side of the island, with it's view over the open waters of Östersjön.



The plants that grow here reflect the barren, windswept nature of the place. It looks like heather clinging for dear life to the rocks and moss.



THe wind is coming from the east today, driving the waves into the rocks on the outside of the bay, While it is still and lake like inside, you can hear the roar of the water from the outside. It's quite a soothing sound to listen to as you drift off to sleep. And it always looks great to see the waves crashing to the shore.



In the morning, we head west to our club island of Lacka, where we have arranged to meet up with some people who have the same boat type as ours. We all belong to a club - the OE Yacht Club of Scandinavia. The OE in the name refers to the initials of the boat's designer Olle Enderlein. While passing by the industrial harbour at Nynäshamn, we spotted a group of boats racing along the main fairway. When the Olympics were held in Stockholm in 1912, the sailing events took place here, so racing here has quite a long tradition.



We had really strong southerly winds today and we reached Lacka in only 50 minutes, which is very good, fast sailing. It was quite exhilarating to literally surf along on our 7 ton surfboard. And being the first there we grabbed "the best spot" *grin*

As other boats arrived, we all pitched in and helped them moor along side of us (don't worry, I kept my top on!) Here you can see the last ones to arrive being squeezed in between the other boats.



As you can see there were quite a few boats at the pier. I normally don't like such close contact, but in this case we know the people here quite well and everyone is interesting and fun to be with. These sorts of meetings are a chance for all of us to get together and swap information about our boats.



It looks really nice to see them all lined up together. It is a very peaceful outlook we have over the water towards Muskö. We discussed sailing around there. Even though it's so close to Nynäshamn, we've never really explored the area because a lot of the area is a no go zone, being owned by the Swedish navy. The charts are full of areas that are "Entry Prohibited" so we thought there was no way in for a boat our size. However, we learned that there is one narrow passage in, which our friend Björn marked on the chart for us, along with a few bays that he liked to visit. He painted such a great picture for us, that we decide we'll have to go there before we take the boat up.



In the afternoon we all go boat-hopping, checking out the other boats and discussing what we liked/didn't like about our boats and sharing knowledge. I love to do this. the OE-36 is a self built boat, not a factory produced one, so every interior is different. I've yet to see any two alike. Ours is unusual in that we have a mahogony interior wheras teak was much more common. Later, we all get together for a shared dinner, drinking and chatting long into the night. Check out the cask wine! Yes, we had Aussie wines there.



We made some new friends there, Bo and Anne who live not that far away at Tyresö. They have not owned their boat long and we had a long and very funny chat with them about the joys and frustrations of changing from a small sailing boat to a ship. They were a lovely, friendly couple and shared similar feelings about their boat. Both Bo and Lars-Göran are in love with their boats. Anne and I tease them a bit about "the other woman". We also swapped stories about mooring and steering disasters we have had. Our former boat was 6.8m long, weighed 1 ton and had a little outboard motor. She was easily steered and very light. The OE-36 on the other hand at just over 11m, weighing 7 tons and with a 38hp inboard motor is quite a different beast. (I know Lars-Göran is going to tell the boat I called her a beast). I joked with Anne that with our old boat, moving the tiller amounted to issuing an order and she obeyed instantly. With the OE-36, it's more a case of making a request, which she will think about and get back to you. Eventually. Maybe.



The other thing we spoke about was trying to get the men to see reson when it came to spending money on the boat. If we girls want something new, it's always "We can't afford it." But if the boat needs a new toy, well money is no option! The men think we are exaggerating and told each other they they may be the captains, but we women were the admirals when it came to the opening of the wallet! It was a lot of fun to get together for a weekend and we all swapped contact details (once we had sobered up) and then set off.



Heading back, we saw that it was Archipelago Day and there were a few boats at the harbour visiting - including a submarine from the nearby base at Muskö. So we set off to see what the area was like. On the following map, you can see the island of Yxlö in the botton left hand corner. It was here that we entered the main fjärd.



The line you see extending from Yxlö to Muskö is the main road. It doesn't pass over the water, but under the water, through a tunnel. We've been this way a couple of times. It was funny to know that while we were sailing by, cars were driving underneath us.

The next sight I saw looked like something out of a James Bond film:



I couldn't believe my eyes. Actual holes blasted in the mountainside. I'm sure the Swedish navy saw that on a Bond film. The submarine fleet is housed inside these mountain harbours and apparently there is a whole underground city there. Obviously you aren't allowed to get too close and there are many areas that are forbidden to enter, but we found quite a large area to explore and enjoy.



WE spent the night at a bay called Bukvarken (which translates as "stomach ache"). What a strange name for such a pretty little bay.

It was with a heavy heart that we finally returned to Nynäshamn knowing that we'd have to empty the boat, take off the mast and have her put in dry dock for the winter. We have had a nice sailing season, all things considered. With Lars-Göran's hands being do sore, it was looking doubtful that we would be able to go anywhere, so we were happy that we managed to do just over 500 NM this year. Maybe not such a great distance but we still had fun.

Next season (I can't believe I'm already dreaming of next season - I have been in Sweden too long!) we are hoping to get to Höga Kusten and across to Finland. But first we have to fix the boat!