As some of you probably know, our trip this year began in Gothenburg. Since my sister and my brother couldn’t join us for the whole trip this year, we had a bed to spare and decided to take a friend of mine, Aileen. Packing is always the beginning of the journey, when you realize that the time for holidays has finally come. In my whole life I have probably never done such a bad job on packing. After we put the (at this time I still believed) well packed bags into the car, my friend’s mom took us to the airport and dropped us of early in the morning. That’s when I realized that I had left my favorite pullover, that says Lyonesse on the right, on the table at home. On a boat a good pullover is almost as important as food or water. As I said I did a bad job on packing this year. We had a nice flight and arrived safely in Gothenburg and then later that day on the boat. To be honest, I didn’t think much about how Sweden might look like before we got out of the plane (although I have been to Gotland last year, but only for 2 days). However, as soon as we were in Sweden I was extremely impressed by the nature and the (sometimes a little scary looking) rocks that are literally everywhere. The first days on the boat we spent a little differently than we do usually. At least Aileen and I did. We went to the city of Gothenburg and to a Rollercoaster park. It was a lot of fun, but not exactly the kind of stuff we usually do on the boat. After we basically just relaxed and prepared the boat for the first couple of days, we decided that it was time to get going. We were prepared, we were excited, we were ready, aaaanndd we hit a rock. I guess every sailor especially in Sweden, will hit a rock now and then but let’s be honest, it sucked. So we went right back to Gothenburg where (of course!) someone had already taken our spot. 

To start off this years summer trip, Lyonesse had to be brought from Kiel in Germany to Gothenburg in Sweden. Starting the trip already presented difficulties, with a lost suitcase and no car to bring provisions. The crew of four arrived on Wednesday night and we left Kiel the next morning, after somewhat successfully leaving the marina (it took two tries, since we forgot to disconnect the shore power). The weather forecast was not in our favour, with little to no wind on Thursday morning, then increasing and coming from behind, leaving us in danger of jibing unintentionally. Despite of the wind, the morning was not uneventful, as we spotted a submarine, probably from the German navy, next to us. After passing under the impressive Storebælt bridge, which spans an incredible 6.7 km, the wind turned, resulting in a close hauled course, and increased to about 20 knots (predicted to increase even more). This made us decide to seek shelter in Samsø, which gave us the opportunity to regain strength and sleep in (and take a much appreciated shower).

When I first arrived in Tallinn I was surprised by the size of the city, it was smaller than I would assume for a capital. Despite the size, the old town was lovely; cute little houses, an old wall and good food.  After a few days in Tallinn where I had the chance to meet the other participants of the ARC Baltic, a lot different people who are all very welcoming, we set off to Kronstadt, where we had to wait for "a bit" while Russian officials checked our passports and boat. Later we sailed off to Saint Petersburg. Although that was only the last 15 nautical miles of the whole journey, it was the most uncomfortable part as it was raining buckets and it was not easy to navigate between the commercial ships in the narrow shipping lanes. Close to Saint Petersburg hydrofoils were heavily annoying me while at the helm. Finally after 35 hours we reached Saint Petersburg central river yacht club, where we had a pleasant meal at the harbour restaurant (finally we had wifi again :P).

It’s been almost a month since I have posted the first time. We are now already sailing and doing the ARC Baltic. I am writing from Bornholm the first stop with the rally.

While my dad was already on board for a week, my mom and me joined him in Kiel. We used the following days to sail to Warnemünde for that’s the place where the ARC Baltic starts. Yeah, the ARC Baltic... The rally turned out to be even more exciting and amazing than I thought it would be, and I already thought it was great. We spend the first evening in Warnemünde meeting other crews in the rally and trying to memorize about a thousand names (probably only 10 or so, but I’m horrible at memorizing them). The rally started on Monday but we had a dinner and a briefing on Saturday and Sunday. It’s hard to describe the two days but I can say that I met some amazing people and I am happy to spend the next four weeks with a friendly and impressing group like this. Although I really need to practice my English, it’s been a lot of fun meeting people from all over the world. Accompanied by Pascal, a journalist for a German yacht magazine, we started the 110 nm long journey to Bornholm. While I was sleeping almost the whole night, my parents and Pascal took turns steering the boat through a clear night. Although I was tired and wanted to sleep, I at least enjoyed a breathtaking sunset on the water. I don’t know how to describe it but the night was a bit shaky? due to high waves coming from behind. The arrival was another part of the journey that was outstanding. Although everyone left Rostock at different times, it seemed as though we all arrived at the same time in Ronne (around 8 o’clock in the morning). It was crowded in the harbor, but the World Cruising Club did a great job taking our lines and helping us wherever they could.