Eric Ruth arrived in Copenhagen on the evening of the 5th. We had a delicious pizza dinner at a place called Bæst and caught up on each other's lives. He'd done some sailing on the Bay in San Francisco, but had a lot of questions about every aspect of the adventure we were about to go on.
The next morning I caught up on some tasks and added a few features to my ship log app, a little project I've been building over the last couple of years. Eric checked out of his hotel and arrived at the boat with his bags. We got him settled, went out for lunch, and did some provisioning for the next few days. We had dinner at Popl Burger, and it was one of the top five veggie burgers I've ever had.
On Tuesday morning, my friends Lisa, Cam, and Cam's dad and brother joined us for an hour-long sail out of Copenhagen and back. Lisa was responsible for recommending all the delicious food I'd eaten while in town. We sailed toward Ungdomsøen and then tacked back into the city. It was fun to have guests on board.
We ate pastries on the dock, said our goodbyes, and then Eric and I did one last provisioning run.
With a box full of open-faced sandwiches for lunch, we set sail in decent northerly winds that pushed us straight to Rødvig. The sun was setting when we arrived at the quiet marina. Once tied up, we figured out how to pay for moorage and shore power, and made dinner onboard.
We planned on taking the next day off, as the winds were forecast to be light. We had no idea it would turn out to be such a nice day. I spent the morning organizing the boat and finishing up a few loose ends from the rewiring project I'd done back in Copenhagen. I went for a paddleboard along the beach outside the marina, in just a t-shirt, which felt wild given that it had been 6°C just a few days before.
Eric and I walked to a Cold War museum and fort, but arrived too late to see the several-kilometre underground tunnels and old computer room. We still had time to walk the grounds and take in all the missile launchers, radar equipment, and enormous guns.
Our next stop was a museum about dinosaurs and the asteroid that wiped them out. A scientist had found evidence of the impact embedded in the white cliffs along Rødvig's coastline. What an interesting town.
We set sail in the morning for Gedser. Light winds early, stronger winds in the evening. It was a long but uneventful sail. We arrived at Gedser Havn Marina, tied up behind a German sailboat, went for a walk into town along the beach, didn't find much of interest, and headed back to the boat for dinner.
The sail to Kiel involved winds ranging from 10 to 20 knots in the morning, dodging large cargo ships and ferries, raising our German courtesy flag, and then motoring through the afternoon in light winds. After 11 hours, we sailed into Kiel and found a spot to tie up in town. I realized a little too late that I hadn't eaten much all day, and it was around 9pm before we gave up on finding anything in town worth eating. We were back on the boat by 9:30, and had cheese and crackers for dinner. Normally a wonderful meal, but that night it felt like a defeat.
Kiel Canal morning. Up at 5:30 to catch the first lock for pleasure craft.
We motored out to the waiting area and heard a hail for pleasure craft on VHF channel 12. We entered the lock behind a motor cruiser flying an Irish flag, and tied up beside a large cargo ship carrying components for a wind farm. It hardly felt like the water level had changed before the lock doors were opening and we got the signal to motor out.
Sailing isn't allowed in the canal, so the next 100 km would be under engine power. The transit took about 8.5 hours. Eric researched our sail to IJmuiden — a marina near Amsterdam that we were planning to aim for — while I steered and waved at everyone I could. The canal wound through farmland, small towns, and industrial areas, with a dyke path running alongside most of it. I got waves from cyclists, dog walkers, runners, people on benches, a guy on a tractor, passing boats, and even deckhands on some of the large cargo ships.
We got into Brunsbüttel just after 5pm, tried to exit the canal, but couldn't seem to get the lock master's attention and decided to stay the night. We had pizza at a restaurant and met a couple who were also sailors. Bjorn and Tatiana gave us a lot of advice for the upcoming segment and said we might even see them out on the water the next day.
We slept well. We were up at 7 and floating in the waiting area by 7:45, outside the lock and on the Elbe by 8:30, making our way to Cuxhaven. The plan was to fuel up, fill the water tanks, and do some food prep for the next big passage: a 30-odd hour overnight sail to IJmuiden in the Netherlands.
I'm writing this journal entry at 12:30am, on watch. Eric had the first watch from 6pm to 10pm while I tried to sleep, hoping he felt equipped with enough knowledge, information, and confidence to carry out his first watch into the evening.
It's dark out. Small lights dot the horizon. Fishing vessels to the south, and to the north, cargo ships in the traffic separation scheme — the designated highway for large vessels. My first real overnight sail.
Thanks for reading.