Intrepid Travels

Finding the marina at Kiel full we tied up on the outside of the breakwater wall before moving the following morning to a pleasant marina at the village of Laboe, a few miles away. From there we were able to catch either a fast (one an hour) or slow bus into Kiel. One of the highlights of our stay was a visit to the German Naval Memorial. It had some superb models of ships over the last 200 years, together with descriptions of naval battles and personal stories of those who had participated. This included the story of the HMAS Sydney sunk by the German merchant Navy ship Kormoran - a story well known to West Australians since both wrecks were discovered recently. There was also a beautifully restored U-boat which we walked through. This is one of the only remaining examples of huge fleet of U-boats which almost changed the course of the war through their destruction of Atlantic shipping.
We found a sailmaker to repair our hard-working solent jib, for the second time since Bermuda. The cause appeared to be a breakage in our furler and we ordered new parts which were promptly delivered to the marina. Now we just need a few days to repair the damage. This will not happen until Stockholm and in the meantime, when we need a headsail it will have to be the Code 0, storm sail or nothing.