Week 38 17 – 23 September 2018 Hinsholmen – Vrångö 42 nm

17 September Monday Hinsholmskilen
Rainy night and lots of wind. We were happy to have stayed the night at the head of the bay where the wind had little effect on the boat. Our normal berth at the mouth of the marina is affected by swell through the piled pier and not very “sleeping friendly”.
At eight the workers started lifting boats out of the water and the jetty became very busy. We moved out to our berth, easy as the wind blow perpendicular from our berth. Our friend Berit stood on the dock and took our lines so everything went smooth.
Then she drove us around to various shops to get things we had need for. One thing was our charger for lithium batteries to our drilling machine that brook a year ago. Having been in 110V countries for almost four years we were now finally in Eurpoe and could look for a new charger. Expecting to have to by a new drilling machine to get the charger we were very lucky to find only one charger for sale. It turned out to be the last one and we managed to get 50% discount. Having expected to pay $150 we were happy to pay only $20!! Sometimes life is almost too good.
The rest of the stores, car dealers and chandlers were more or less informative. We have not bought a car since 1989 so we have a lot to catch up. We have decided that we need a car to be able to visit friends and to be able to help Björns mother efficiently. Back in Moon we had lunch before we took the car on a ferry to the islands west of Gothenburg to visit Berits brother and wife.
Nice evening with good food and a fantastic view from the house to the lighthouse Vinga at the entrance to Gothenburg. Then back to town where we stopped at Berits flat and picked up letters that had arrived by mail. Later on we walked back to Moon in the warm and no wind evening.

18 September Tuesday Hinsholmen
Calm and clear night. During the early morning hours south winds started again, but still with a crispy clear sky.
Breakfast and internet as we now finally got our phone card to work.
Tried to read as much as possible about lithium batteries as we are going to meet a couple that have had those installed three years ago.
Then some maintenance. Annika made the cap rail look as new and Björn attended the anchor rod that had got soaked with salt water in the aft locker during our gale south of Island.
In the evening the couple with lithium batteries turned up and we had an interesting evening that was rounded up with dinner in Moon. They planned to go cruising in a year or two, so of course they had many questions.

19 September Wednesday Hinsholmen
Quiet night and early breakfast due to an early visit at our dentist. Before lunch we were both done and cleared for another year. Berit drove us back to town and we did another tour among car dealers before having lunch.
Parked the car and walked up the bridge across Göta Älv to look at the foundations for the new bridge. Impressive, but the disturbance in central town while building all the approaches to the bridge is quite something. Had coffee before we joined Thomas D who guided us down into the new tunnel under the river that is under construction.
Later in his office he walked us through the design for the tunnel and the new lifting bridge. A very interesting afternoon and very tempting to take part in the production.
Back in Moon we had a simple dinner and a film before bed time.

20 September Thursday Hinsholmskilen
This night became absolutely hopeless. Moon was jumping around, jerking the lines. Before two at night we had to move to our aft cabin to get any sleep. The wind eased a bit in the early morning and when having breakfast it was down to twenty knots.
Berit came with her car and we drove to the southern suburbs where we got 100 m flexible six ton strong rope for our winter mooring in Helsingborg. Our old mooring lines are beyond repair. Coffee in Berits flat while Annika cleaned up Berits computer. Back in Moon we had early dinner before Berit drove back to her flat.
In the evening we had friends coming to visit as this was the last night in Gothenburg.

21 September Friday Hinsholmen – Sandviken – Högö 20 nm
Woke up early to be able to go out on anchor before the storm, that supposed to hit us this evening, starts.
After breakfast we disconnected Moon from shore power and started to take the lines one by one. Not more than fifteen knots of wind along
Moon made it relatively easy to leave the berth.
Drove across the water to Styrsö where we eventually thought we could stay during the storm. But the wind was supposed to change from south to west during the blow and the docks where not in a good direction to take care of that big change. Anchoring felt more up to the task for such a change.
Had a nice sailing in building seas and several knots of following current up to Högö where we anchored just before noon. It was only three meters of water making Moon sail at anchor so we used our anchor rider sail to minimize.
The chain is not heavy enough when the depth is less than ten meters to prevent sailing at anchor.

22 September Saturday Högö
Very stormy night! We went to bed shortly before twelve, but due to the noise and the heeling we couldn’t sleep. It also felt necessary to have at least one of the crew dressed if the worst would happen. So in fact we were both up all night watching films and drinking hot water. Around ten in the morning the wind finally came down to strong gale and the situation became more relaxed.
The whole day was spent on anchor keeping an eye on line chafing and the holding.
In the late evening the wind was still strong gale force, but the heeling was not that bad.

23 September Sunday Högö – Vrångö 22nm
The night became much quieter than yesterday. Average wind thirty knots and gusting forty. The sea was still foaming by when we woke up. After breakfast we weigh anchor, not an easy task as the anchor was extremely well digged down in the clay. Had to use the engine at 1400 revs to pull the anchor, having a vertical chain to the anchor secured with a line to a cleat!!
Then we unfurled the headsails and had a nice sailing south to Vrångö where we arrived after noon, had a long walk around the south part of the island, very necessary after two days stuck on the boat.
After the walk we were invited for dinner in one of the old houses in the old fishing village. One of Björn’s former colleagues lives here with his wife.
We had a very nice evening looking at the sunset over the sea from the second floor and later dinner downstairs. This is the second house in a week that has the features that might interest us to a house!!
We were treated with a fantastic fish soup together with delicious homemade bread.

Annika & Björn