Week 39 24 -30 September 2018 Vrångö – Helsingborg 115 nm

24 September Monday Vrångö – Varberg 36 nm.
Clear sky and lots of stars when we came back to Moon last night after a delicious dinner together with friends in their house.
During early night we got some squalls with hail, but woke up to a sunny morning with little wind from northwest. Had a slow start to wait for the wind to pick up. Left the harbour before noon and sailed south along the coast. We had planned to anchor at Mönster, half way down to Varberg, but the fresh breeze gave us a perfect downwind run that we just couldn’t miss.
We arrived at the inner harbour in Varberg just in time for Annika to visit a clinic that could look at her tick bite. Got penicillin and that made us free to leave when we wanted, not having to wait for the planned time at the clinic on Wednesday.
Had an early night due to all the fresh air and sunshine sailing down the coast.

25 September Tuesday Varberg – Råå 74 nm
Quiet night and no wind. Woke up before eight and still in bed we decided that we shouldn’t wait for the northerly wind on Friday as originally planned. As we already had executed Wednesday’s visit to the clinic we could use the gale warning for today and sail south. Having decided we rapidly went up and cast our lines and left before breakfast. Motored south with a reefed main as stabilize, waiting for the wind that was predicted to start before noon. Three hours later the wind came and we could shut down the engine and unfurl the head sails.
When the wind had stabilized from northwest and 15-20 knots we took out one reef in the main. Moon sails very fast and easy on the helm with one reef in the main and full headsails and soon we were making more than seven plus knots compared with only six under engine.
We had even today porpoises around Moon and in the sky we saw skuas and gannets, not something we remember from when we sailed here more than fourteen years ago. Hopefully it’s a sign of more food in the water.
When we reached the light house at Kullen at the entrance to Öresund we had plenty of leeway and could easily continue our fast open reach down into the sound.
Called friends in Råå, a little harbour just 3 nm south of Helsingborg, and got invited for dinner in their boat. Of course this made us continue past Helsingborg and just after dark we tied up in the Råå Yacht Club. Fifteen minutes later we sat around the dining table in the boat where Erik and Birgitta live when they are back in Sweden.

26 September Wednesday Råå
Woke up around three o’clock at night as the wind was screaming. We soon got used to the sound from all riggings in the marina and fell asleep again. When we later woke up and had breakfast we were fine in spite wind across Moon. The boats in the river got quite a swell from the opening out to sea and were jumping quite a bit.
We borrowed our friend’s car and drew into town to have lunch together with Björns mother. Back in the boat we had a shower before we started to prepare for the evening dinner. We had invited our friends and that always makes preparation more expanded. We had a nice and pleasant evening eating a delicious tuna, together with lots of talk about sailing and cruising.

27 September Thursday Råå
The wind eased during late evening and we got a quiet night. Sunshine when we woke up after a good night sleep. The sunshine kept on until after our late breakfast, but we got no rain and only a light breeze from west.
Used the day for some maintenance on the boat and Annika went through numerous of used cars on the internet.
In the afternoon we took a short walk to the supermarket before preparing dinner.
Quiet evening in front of a film or two before bed time.

28 September Friday Råå
Sunshine and fresh northerly wind when we woke up. This was the wind we originally had planned to use, sailing down the coast from Varberg. Nice to see the forecast being so spot on.
We used the morning to bring up all the chain from the chain locker now when we had only eight feet of water, making it easy to pile up the chain on the bottom. Cleaned the locker and then retrieved the chain while cleaning it. Even if we use a wash down pump while retrieving the chain, it gets dirty over time.
Then we borrowed the car. Had lunch at Björn’s mothers flat and then drove to one of the used car salesmen to have a look.
We bought a small cost efficient Skoda and brought it back to Björns mother’s garage, before we made our way back to Råå in our friend’s car. In the evening we were invited for dinner by Erik and Birgitta. The owners of the boat they borrow, who we knew from before, were also invited.
Had a very fun and nice evening that easily became very late.

29 September Saturday Råå -Norra Hamnen, Helsingborg 5 nm
Slept well and woke up relatively early. The forecast showed us a soft breeze during morning hours. We didn’t want to have strong wind leaving Råå and to get into our winter berth, so before breakfast we untied and started our last leg on this trip.
The harbour in Helsingborg has two basins, the northerly one is shared by the ferries to Denmark and the Yacht Club, only divided by a bridge. This makes the Yacht Club exposed to some surge as the ferries comes and goes. We have Björn’s mother only forty minutes walk north of the harbour, which is the strongest input for choosing our winter harbour. We had tied up well before noon and walked along the sound to Björn’s mother to have lunch together.
Back to Moon we took a longer walk up through the parks overlooking the sound and the Danish castle where Hamlet had his issues. It’s really a nice area.
Back in Moon we had friends visiting. Later Björn went back to get the car back to the harbour. There is no parking fee during weekends and we took advantage of that to be able to fill the car with stuff from Moon to put in Björn’s mothers storing facilities.
Had an early evening and went to sleep already after nine, exhausted after an intense week.

30 September Sunday Norra Hamnen, Helsingborg
Slept well in a quiet boat in spite we are in downtown Helsingborg, and the Yacht Club next door had a party.
After breakfast we filled the car and drove to Björn’s mother. After having had coffee together we drove back to Moon for another round of stuff. In the afternoon we were back with the fully loaded car. We even brought our laundry. Took a long walk before making dinner together at her flat.
Early evening we walked back to Moon along the sound through a quiet town, carrying the laundry in our back packs. Our intension is to have the car in the garage most of the time. When we have made our bikes ready for use, it then will be even faster to get to the car. We have started to get used to all people talking Swedish and we have already heard the ice-cream signal a couple of times.

Annika & Björn