As mentioned in our last post, we have had strong winds from the east for a while now. This lead us to spend some nice days in Skanör, where our first guests arrived Saturday – welcome to Anne, Anders and Simone!
As Simone’s parents have been sailing a lot on Désirée throughout the years, it was really nice that they decided to accompany her to Skanör. We had a cozy evening on board, with a lot of tales from Désirées previous adventures on the sea. Also, they brought freshly made rhubarb cake and a lot of sweets. And not to forget some wine and port wine – thanks so much! Life is good and we feel ready to explore Sweden with our big crew now!



Luckily the winds have relaxed a little now, but unfortunately they are still coming from the east – exactly where we want to go! Furthermore, it turns out that the harbours on the Swedish south coast don’t lie very close to each other, so making a ‘small’ trip against the wind is not really an option.
Yesterday we nonetheless got ready to set sails and leave Skanör harbour. As we would have to cross a lot either way, we decided to head north and then go southwards through the Falsterbo channel – it was a clear and sunny day, and the ride there was great!

After the channel, we got out on a rougher sea, and the waves that had built up in the last couple of days with strong wind definitely shook us through. We sailed close-hauled for some hours, but as we were all getting a little cold and Anne got very seasick from the aggressive waves, we decided to turn on the motor for the last part of our trip. Motoring directly against the wind and crashing down against the 1 meter waves probably didn’t help Anne’s sea sickness in any way, but at least it made us reach land faster. We arrived at the harbour of Gislövslägen, a little town that has no shops – but luckily a pizzeria! Anne got better the second she set her feet on land again and we enjoyed our little pizza & fries party.


The next harbour that we can enter with Désirée here on the coast is Ystad – and although it is only about 22 nautical miles away via the shortest distance route, we have sailed 23 miles today and are just over half way, trying to get the most out of our upwind course. Luckily the sea has calmed down and sailing is more pleasant than yesterday, but with this long of a day on the sea, Anne and Anders chose to take the bus and explore Ystad a little before our arrival later in the evening. They even said they would find kanelbullar for us, we can’t wait!




We look forward to exploring the city with Anne and Anders when we arrive later today. The wind still looks quite eastern for the next couple of days, but we hope to find a good window for our planned passage to Bornholm. Sailing is wonderful, but days like these with strong eastern winds and a planned route towards the east really make you realise how everything you do and plan is super dependent on the weather – but we try to make the best of it and enjoy the spring sun in our faces a lot.
God vind to you all from somewhere along the Swedish coast,
Liv
ps: if anyone has tips on what to experience in Ystad, please let us know!
Edit after arrival:
We have found Anne and Anders, and they found delicious kanelbullar! Happy sailors in Ystad 🙂

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