The day after Saturday's storm dawned clear and calm. It was hard to believe that the previous night had been real when we looked out at the new day.



Despite the fury of the wind, there was surprisingly little damage in Nynäshamn. We were grateful not to be living in the west or south coasts where property damage, loss of life and cut power and telephone lines were the norm. Even today, three days after the storm, many areas are still without electricity or phones as the authorities work long hours to clear debris from lines. Many train services are also not functioning because of fallen trees.

Lars-Göran went out early on Sunday morning to check the town and especially the boats. We have friends who live in Stockholm and even further away who keep their boats down here and he wanted to see if they were damaged in case our friends rang. He also wanted to ensure that our boat was safe on land.

He was very relieved that the only effect on Fiona was that part of the tarpaulin covering her had come loose and was hanging down. Several boats at the club had torn or loose tarpaulins. As he surveyed the wharf, he turned a corner to see this:



It's a boat owner's nightmare and our friends Jan and Aina were horrified when they saw their boat like this. They live very close to the club and had been kept awake most of the night with the noise of flapping coverings from the wharf. Jan sensed something not quite right at about 5.30am and so he dressed and went out to check. Aina said she nearly fainted when they saw Karibu lying on her nose.

They were very upset and anxious about what to do, so Lars-Göran suggested getting together a few men and he would unpack the crane and together they would all lift the boat. So he hurried home, made a few calls and just after lunch a group met at the wharf to help out. When the crane was made ready, Lars-Göran drove it to where the boat lay - a very tight space with not much room to manoeuvre.



The group worked together really well and quickly attached the straps to draw the boat out of the space before righting her.



The worried man in the foreground is the owner of the boat that Karibu is leaning against. He lives in Stockholm and someone had rung him at 9am to say that Jan's boat had fallen against his boat. He rushed down, frantic about damage, but as it turned out, there was not a scratch on his boat and he was very relieved.

Before the final lift, The Panel got together to discuss strategy.



I shouldn't tease them, but it did look funny to see them all standing around with varying opinions about how to proceed from there. In the end, it was all decided and work continued. While they were talking, I asked Aina about the name of her boat. I had thought that karibu was the Swedish word for the English caribou and it seemed an unusual name for a boat. But it turns out that it is in fact a Swahili word that means welcome. See, you learn something new every day.

It wasn't long before Karibu was finally lifted back into her spot.



This is a benefit of living in a smaller town. Several people commented that this would never have happened in Stockholm. But here it seemed natural that a group of locals would come together like this to help out someone in need. As I told Aina, we were all thinking that but for a simple twist of fate, it could have been any of our boats lying there. There was a great community spirit about the day and I was very glad to be a part of it.

We were most surprised this evening when Jan knocked on our door and brought us some fabulous South Australian wine and a bottle of gin as a thankyou for helping out on Sunday. While we didn't need him to thank us, I thought it was a lovely gesture and illustrates why it is nice to be part of a warm, friendly community of people rather than living in isolation in a big city.

The water here is still very high.



The ducks seem to be having a ball, but the piers are under water and now it is creeping up the grass verges and will soon be over the road. It has also been warmer than usual, and my friend tells me that meteorologically, it is considered spring when there are seven consecutive days when the temperature does not fall below freezing at all. It can't be here already? Can it?

High winds and storms are forecast for tomorrow again hitting the south and west coasts hardest. We have covered over Fiona again and now await this new wind. Fingers crossed that no-body loses their life this time.