The last week has been packed with contrasts in many ways, and we have gotten to learn how these contrasts are a core part of life on board of a boat. After sailing for some weeks now, we are luckily getting more used to adjusting to these very varying places and situations that we find ourselves in, which leaves more energy to really explore and take in the places we sail to.
Sweden has such an abundance of islands that every little sailing club seems to have its own ‘klubbholm’ – a club island, often situated a short sail away from the mean club harbour. These islands are mostly quite small and usually have a little club house, sauna or just some tables and benches, along with a basic harbour in form of a pier or some anchorage buoys.
Last week we spent two days at the klubbholm of Lövsta sailing club. It is the smallest island we have been to so far – walking along the little path at the shore brought you back to the starting point again in less than five minutes. Being the only boat there for the two days, we kind of got the feeling of having our own private island in the archipelago – not bad!
The island is situated in the northeastern part of Mälaren, Swedens third biggest fresh water lake, which we entered through a lock in Södertälje about a week ago. We had some of the warmest days yet on the lake, about 25 degrees and intense sunshine all day long. The boat gets really warm in the sunlight, especially the pantry that is built just like a little green house on top of the boat. This of course resulted in many swims in the lake to cool down – and after two months of sailing in saltwater, it was really refreshing to jump off the boat and land in freshwater. And also very weird!
Before finding this little island, we had spent a night at anchor in a beautiful bay just a little more to the south. It was actually the first time that we anchored with our own anchor and not at an anchorage buoy, but the conditions were perfectly calm and we didn’t have to worry at all. The bay is situated between a bigger island and a tiny island, which is a nature reserve. From the anchorage we heard super many different bird songs at night, and when we got the dinghy ready and went to land the next day, we could see that some beavers had been cutting down several trees along the bay. Although the rocky islands in Mälaren look quite a lot like the islands in the saltwater parts of the archipelago, the plants and animal life do seem to be quite different, which has been fun to experience.
After those very peaceful and isolated days both in the bay and on our private klubbholm, it was quite wild to sail only for some hours to then arrive in the middle of Stockholm Friday afternoon. We had to adjust to the many people, sounds, cars, big buildings, and in general the very contrasting metropolitan life. But after such peaceful and calm days we were really ready to explore this beautiful city – arriving on a Friday definitely made the contrast even bigger, as there was a lot of stuff happening all around the city and everyone seemed to be in weekend-mode. It is really wonderful here! We have gotten a spot in a sailing club in the western part of Riddarfjärden and have been exploring the city by foot and by bike from here.
It seemed as if the city was having a party at every corner Friday and Saturday in the beautiful sunshine, but Sunday brought more clouds and some rain showers with it, and the city got a quite different feeling to it. Somehow it felt as if with the rain everyone got a chance to recover a little and regain energy after the very active summer days.
Now it is Monday and still quite cloudy, so we are enjoying a Stockholm that is less packed with party people and tourists – another nice contrast to experience after this weekend.
To summarise, the last week has been full of contrasts. Entering a freshwater lake from the salty Baltic Sea. Sailing from isolated islands that feel far away from civilisation to the middle of the vibrant Swedish capital. Observing the weather shift from the warmest and driest days so far to colder breezes and rain. But among these contrast, we also really feel the impact of the contrast between night and day that is dissolving – Wednesday will be the longest day this year and it is really amazing how it just doesn’t get dark at all anymore.
It has taken some time to adjust to this form of living, where the outer circumstances vary a lot on a daily basis. Not just because they naturally do so, but also because we are actively moving around between places almost every day. But it feels as if we are finally adjusting to the idea that ‘home’ isn’t really defined by a geographical position, but is defined by the about 10 meters of fibre glass that we are sailing around in. Whenever we see Désirée – be it on an isolated island or in the middle of the Swedish capital – it feels a lot like home!
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