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15/05/2010, Denmark!!

The time had come to move on from the little slice of England in Germany, with its cheap beer and good food.
We decided to head for De Schlei, and see how we felt once off the entrance to this area, as to whether
we'd head further north to Denmark in the Flensburgh Fjord and drop the hook for the night. We left Kiel after a
splendid Full English 'army brunch' courtesy of the BKYC and managed to extract ourselves from the pile moorings
just about without hitting the boat next to us though there was an anxious moment or two!
Then we got ourselves ship shape for sea and got the main up....with the wind...you guessed it, right on the nose.
(there is a pattern building here!) So we made good time with 'victor'volvo driving us into a F5.
We were off De Schlei about 14.30 so decided to make the most of the dry weather and push on north. As we turned into
the Flensbugh Fjord, we spotted our first porpoises!! As we decided to keep going this meant a long
day and we got into our little anchorage about 7pm. However there were two boats already in the plum postions so we tried
to get in behind them, however there was a line of rock just where we were trying to get the hook to set, so after two
attempts we decided to try a slightly more exposed part of the anchorage and got the hook set first time, and were still
reasonably sheltered. However it was now 19.40, and the temperature had plummeted. (it is supposed to be hot here in may!)
Because we were tired, cold, hungry and a little anxious morale on board was a little low. However we got rupert the refleks fired up, on high
and Nichola rustled up a really great carbonara, and by 9.30pm we were warm, replete and ready for a nightcap!
Next day dawned nice but cold again, and we wondered whether to head into Flensburgh or stay at anchor. We were nervous about mooring
onto piles with a building wind, but in the end we had a crew discussion and decided that we should head on and at least scope it out, so
anchor was up at midday and off we went....
slainte skip

PS photo of sunset at BKYC, the beautiful yacht without the mast is Flamingo, part of the war reparations from Germany to the UK. There is a picture
in the mess of BKYC of it sailing with a swastika on the flagstaff, with Bismark, and Goering (I think) in the cockpit with a german naval rating steering.
It is currently being restored.

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skip
15/05/2010, By Jimeny we're in the Baltic!!!

We have stayed at the British Army Yacht club for three nights, to enable us to get a few parts (cheap Maplin switches on
the chart table are kaput!) and charts/pilot books, the main thing we were after was a german book describing anchorages
in Denmark, 3 bus journeys and 7 shops later we discovered it was no longer published............. however having just given
up hope we decided to try a little chandlery in Kiel that we just happened to spot by the docks... and they
had a copy!! Therefore we should pretty much spend the next 5 weeks at anchor apart from a few nights visiting marinas for
supplies, water and the like. Therefore we aren't sure when we'll next have internet access to post the blog and pictures,
but we'll write them as we go then bulk upload when possible so bear with us!

Hope everyone back in Blighty is fine, we met a few veterans of WWII in the mess at the yacht club, they
were all from 'T-Force'who were in 'advance of the allies advance into Germany' by almost 100km to
secure Kiel U-boat pens and to capture the senior German officers and scientists before the Red army arrived.
There was also another reunion at the same time of East coast convoy sailors and it was humbling and an honour
having a nightcap (or two!) with these very brave and gallant men.

fair winds
skip

PS if anyone is reading this in Brighton, did the swans eggs on pontoon 31 hatch, if so can someone leave a note on the blog?

PPS photo of the Haltenau locks on the Kiel Canal opening to let Emerald into the Baltic!

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Nichola - Drizzle
07/05/2010, Rendsburg

It was a beautiful but chilly (thank god for Rupert) morning on our overnight stop with what we thought was just a gentle breeze. As we motored the km back to the Kiel Kanal, monitoring the AIS for any big ships coming up or down we saw Aphrodite, the tall ship that had nearly squashed us leaving the lock at Brunsbuttel, coming up the canal. We let it pass and got into the Kiel Kanal proper, to then discover a headwind gusting up to F8. Our speed was reduced from yesterdays but as we
only had 15nm to go to our next stop we weren't fussed. There were a few large ships but even when they pass there is lots of room, although
I wouldn't want to be there when a big ship is overtaking another big ship. There are loads of little ferries across the canal but we didn't have to make any avoiding movements. The bridges all have a clearance of 40m so with our 20m mast we had loads of room.
The only bridge that is different is the one near the Rendsburg turning where it has a transporter hanging from it that is only 2m above the water, a bit like a cable car. From where we are now in Rendsburg yacht club the transporter bridge is only 10 mins walk away so if the rain dies off a bit we'll go take a look at it.
The weather is still blowing hard and the direction of it would make it difficult for us to get away from the marina so we'll stay another night. We managed to avoid the box moorings at the yacht club by going alongside the large boats pontoon that is supposed to be only for boats over 15m. But with the wind we'd have a nightmare getting in to the boxes especially without a bow thruster. The thought of installing a bow thruster is becoming quite enticing....
Byeeeeeeeeee, Nichola

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Colin
07/05/2010, Gieselau Canal

We left a little before high noon....... to punch the tide up river to the entrance to the Kiel Canal.
We wanted to leave ourselves enough time to get 20nm up the canal to the siding at Gieselau where we could
stop overnight. Sharing the trip with 6 traditional Dutch sailing ships and a square rigger passed the 3.5 hours down the
River Elbe and before we knew it we were dodging big ships and on our way into the Brunsbuttel lock.
We managed to get tied alongside the lock pontoons ok and we had loads of space as the lock wasn't very full with just 3 yachts, a big square rigger and
a pleasure boat. We'd just got properly tied up and then we were through! left the lock and were already moving
when the square rigger
suddenly powered out of the lock as well. I don't think the skipper had seen us. Time to put the foot down on Victor
the volvo and make our escape....... phew!Then we had to judge how quickly we could motor against a F6 headwind (sound familiar?!)
so had to run victor at 2500rpm to make 7 knots and get to our night stop before the 8pm local time curfew.
This is so they can bring 'BIG' ships down the canal at night. All went well and we made it with about 45 mins to spare.
Having only seen two other boats on the whole trip we were surprised to find that the overnight stop was almost full but
thankfully managed to squeeze in behind a dolphin to get alongside after briefly stopping on a patch of mud.

We thought we would be the second last boat in, but oh no, the boats were still streaming in an hour after curfew...
and having to raft up. However there was no space between us and the dolphin to get another boat alongside so
we slept soundly. Next morning we were up for coffee and everyone had left except the 4 boats blocking us in so we relaxed and
waited for them to move. Then it was off to the big ship dodgems and Rendsburgh.
slainte
skip

PS photo of Emerald in Kiel locks, to prove we were there!!

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