2020.01 – In Sweden again
13 August 2020 | Picture: Egret alongside (left) at Fisketangen
It was back in June when we spotted that BA was selling trice-daily, low-cost, fully-flexible flights to Gothenburg from the beginning of August. Surely, we thought, covid travel restrictions would be relaxed by then. We had left Egret in Sweden the previous year, we wanted to go cruising again, so we duly booked. As the day approached, British Government advice against travel to Sweden had still not been lifted, but we decided to "take back control" and go anyway. We reasoned that Swedes are probably more sensible than the average Brit, and we'd be pretty safe living on a yacht anyway. The flight was packed (BA had reduced flights to just two a week) and anti-infection rules were not well enforced, but we survived.
We arrived at the boatyard in Fisketangen and were greeted by Rolf, the owner. He told us that Egret would be launched the following afternoon, despite having previously agreed a date three days away. As a local commented when we asked him when he planned to lay up his boat: "Rolf will decide...." Panic stations, and we got straight on with undertaking the bare essential pre-launch jobs, such as fitting the propeller, replacing anodes, servicing the sea-cocks and de-winterising the engine. We were duly launched using Rolf's Heath Robinson trolley propelled by a prong of his fork-lift with the help of a few bystanders shoving and pulling ropes. As another owner said: "Launching is always exciting here!" It took another few days to commission, such as reeving all the lines, bending on sails and making the accommodation down below habitable again, and to provision her.
Our plans for 2020 had been to transit the system of canals and lakes through to the east coast of Sweden, followed by a circuit of the northern part of the Baltic Sea. In all, we had expected to be away for three months. With our start severely delayed, and only limited time left of the sailing season, we were determined at least to get through to the Baltic. Once there, we could have a week or so cruising down the coast towards the boatyard where we planned to lay up.
We had a lovely first day's sail southwards down the west coast, then turned inland up the narrow Koljöfjord, which leads around the north side of the large island of Orust. This is where several of Sweden's finest boatbuilders are based. We spent a night at Henan as we had an appointment the following morning with a specialist yacht broker there - purely out of interest for the future, I hasten to add!
We continued up to the top of the island, passing under a bridge and into Havstensfjord, which runs down the eastern side. These fjords are much gentler than those of Norway, with relatively low wooded slopes dotted with houses: white or red or occasionally yellow in colour. We anchored for the night in a totally enclosed bay behind St.Askerön Island. We had hoped for a swim next morning, but the peaty water was covered with a film of vegetation, beneath which drifted nasty brown jellyfish.
Back out in the fjord, we passed the mainland town of Stenungsund, birthplace of Egret at Sweden Yachts' yard 25 years ago. We had owned her for half of those years and she had carried us safely across 70,000 miles of ocean. Before we bought her she had been based on Tjörn, Orust's smaller neighbour that we were now rounding. We passed under "Tjörnbrön", its bridge from the mainland, and set off on a glorious beat down Hakefjord, tacking ten times amongst the rocky islets and bays between the island and mainland. This was just the sort of sailing for which Peter Norlin, the renowned naval architect, had designed her. We felt a tinge of emotion knowing that we had brought Egret home to her roots.