SV Ostinato: What Is It With Canals?

Skagen, Denmark, 57.43 N 10.35 E - August 17:

Full moon in Skagen

We slipped out of the marina in Kristiansand, Norway about 6 a.m. in anticipation of a long day crossing over to Denmark. If we were going to make landfall before dark we needed to average 7 knots so it was a motor sail kinda day. The winds, somewhat light, were off our stern and the seas a bit rolly. Although the sun shinned brightly, we still needed our long underwear to stay comfortable. By 6:00 p.m. we had slid into a long parade of big ships making their way out of the North Sea into the Kattegat between Denmark and Sweden. Our final job for the day would be to find a berth. The place was packed and music was blaring from the restaurants surrounding the docks. It looked like we had landed in the middle of a party! King cruised up and down the outside docks and then found the smallest hole that he could possibly squeeze through for our tie up. Shadows lurked behind ports as we passed by within inches of the boats on each side of us as King glided toward his chosen spot....in reverse. People on the quay stopped and stared, waiting for the train wreck. It was our turn to be the evenings entertainment. Ostinato was finally crocheted to the dock at 8:00 p.m., mercifully without incident. It had been a very long day. Even the band couldn't keep us awake.

We had hoped to formally check into the country the next morning but it was Sunday and the Police station is closed on Sunday..... I have no idea how that works. For Customs, the Harbour Master didn't seem to have a clue but suggested we try Copenhagen. To put it mildly they were a bit laid back about the whole thing. We saw an OCC Flying Fish flag on a nearby boat and stopped by to introduced ourselves to Bert and Marlene on SY Heimkehr. They kindly gave us their afternoon sharing their knowledge of Skagen and recommending options for stops between here and Copenhagen.

The following day, thanks to Google maps apparently being in a bit of a stupor, we walked 3 miles to the police department with passports in hand. Our request to be checked in was received by blank faces. They didn't think they did that. A confirming call was made to someone that advised them to send us on our way...Telling us "We didn't need our passports stamped". "Your Americans....we don't worry about Americans visiting Denmark." King took a picture of the police department sign so when we are picked up later on for illegal immigration we can at least prove we tried. After hoofing the 3 miles back to the boat we rented bikes to get us around for the remainder of the day. Don't even go there.

August 20 - Now that Ostinato was firmly wedged in the inside berth, it was time to leave. The wind was blowing 15k with gusts to 20 all morning and not one of the huge power boats sitting in front of us had shown an inkling toward departure to open up space for us to maneuver. King trudged over to the one we were most likely to crunch to give him a heads up....might want to do something besides lurk behind your ports. The guy decided he would put out some fenders. He was selling the boat and the new owners were expected to arrive today. Oh, for joy. Right on cue, they arrived just as King gunned it and made the 90 degree turn at their bow.....and then blew right by with no drama. The sail to Vestero 57.17 N 10.55E on the Island of Laeso was the nicest sail we have experienced all summer. The wind was 10-15 on our beam giving us speed that fluctuated between 5 and 8 knots. The engine was silent the entire 5 hour sail. Heaven. And ....we passed a submarine. Very cool.

We were told the Danish don't have submarine's anymore so who is this?

This should take care of King's salt needs

Check out the driver's right hand

The Island of Laeso is tiny so we decided a car might be overkill. Off to the tourist office in the morning to get the scoop on the bus. Its free! Wahoo! We returned to Ostinato to pack a picnic lunch and then find the bus stop just a few meters from the boat. We were off to the "Salt Factory". Exciting stuff here... It was difficult to enjoy the scenery during the bus ride because our eyes were glued to the driver as he zipped along the highway texting! Its always feels so much more dangerous when someone else does it vs when you do it. We fortunately arrived without incident and the driver pointed us in the right direction to begin our hike. The tourist office prepared us for a 1 1/2 mile walk. She obviously shares my talent with numbers as it ended up closer to 3 1/2 miles.....I like salt but I'm not sure it was worth the 7 miles round trip hike. The seaweed roofed huts, animal petting farm and the Icelandic horses (oh my, they were beautiful!) staged along the way provided only minor distraction to our weary legs. We did, however, have a lovely picnic.

Anholt - 56.43N 10.30 E, August 22
Next stop Anholt, an even tinier island. We learned from our experience in Skagen to rent the bikes early. The island reminded us of Dog Island with the addition of a small full time community. The bike ride lasted about 30 minutes from one end of island to the other. As we walked toward the entrance of the Island's Information Center they shut and locked the doors. It was 12:00....time for lunch. Same with the grocery! Dock neighbors, Paul and Annelie, invited us to assist them in devouring a tub full of the tiny local lobster they purchased directly from the boat that morning. Now that's an invitation that's impossible to decline. Wine and lobster, what more do you need? They also provided us with a list of leads for a mooring in the center of Copenhagen. Three catamarans arrived today. Its a catamaran convention! The most we've seen in one place all summer.

August 24: A quick stop in Gilleleje 58.55N 9.13 E and then on to Helsingor, to see "Hamlet's Castle" and the Little Mermaid's new brother Han. We were greeted at the dock by a local gentlemen who helped King locate the Harbor Master and then returned later that evening to give us the grand tour around town. We are continuously amazed at how wonderful we are welcomed in each country we visit. Attempted to check in again and again told "not to worry".

"Hamlet's Castle" from Ostinato

Han supposedly blinks once an hour
but we didn't confirm

Copenhagen - AKA: Kobenhavn Inderhavn 55.41N 12.36 E

Ostinato fills up the canal in Copenhagen

Very light winds from the SE so we motored south to Copenhagen in beautiful sunshine. King had followed up on the list of moorings Paul and Annelie had provided. "Yes" they could accommodate a Cat in one of the canals. Matter of fact, two "marinas" gave us a positive response. What did we know.....One wanted a 100 krone more than the other. No question about which we would choose. Entered the main harbor, ignoring the multiple international signs of a circle with a line through a picture of a sail boat, finally reaching the "little boat" channel without major incident. Once past the cruise ships, we encountered the sight seeing boats. None too thrilled with being behind us as we inched along not knowing where the heck we were going. All was fine until we turned into the first canal...with the sight seeing boat right on our tail....of course. The 2nd turn was even more narrow and now the sight seeing boat was honking its horn wanting to pass! Good luck with that! We obviously were on a different time schedule. King finally pulled over in a small hole and off they flew with tourist taking pictures as if we were part of the tour. The final turn made us question the sanity of the Harbor Master....and ours. No way we can go in there....and ever get out. Of course, we did, quickly becoming a local tourist destination. We immediately began wondering what winter would be like in Copenhagen because we might not be going anywhere soon. But what a great location, right in between Parliament (yes, of course we did the tour) and Christianna (and yes, we strolled through the "flashback to the 60's commune", accompanied by the strong smell of hashish). A sweet cafe was on the corner, steps from Ostinato's mooring that offered live jazz on the weekend and there was an ice cream shop that you fell into when you crawled off the boat. Mmmmm heaven. We tried one last time to check into Denmark while in Copenhagen and were told again "not to worry....nothing you need to do"...Okey Dokey.

The outdoor stage at Tivoli

Enjoyed a wonderful dinner at the home of Judith and Harken, our Danish friends on SV Touche that we met in the Orkney Islands. At their encouragement we went to Tivoli which is rumored to be the inspiration for Disneyland....but with a lot less concrete and right in the middle of the city. We knew something was up as we headed toward the blue peacock stage for the nightly outdoor ballet/pantomime and saw a women in a bright red suit with a large golden crown on her belt buckle AND big golden crown pin. Her escort was in a suit. Either I was very under dressed (would not be the first time) or she had missed a turn looking for the opera. Next we saw a guard rushing toward the entrance pulling on white gloves. I didn't recall the guards wearing white gloves when we entered. Just before the NBC peacock curtain rose in walked the Queen of Denmark. No fuss....just a few reserved seats for her and a few guests. We sat near by on the lawn.

September 3 -After a week of sight seeing, including a quick trip to see the Viking Ships in Roskild, it was finally time to "shoehorn" Ostinato out of the canal and on its way. Boat neighbors graciously assisted us in turning the wide girl around in the canal so we wouldn't have to back out. Nobody wanted to see that. Lines were strung across the canal and we climbed on boats lining each side to fend her off, but it was only after we removed the dinghy that we successfully got her turned around. We determined that departure should be timed to leave the canal before the tour boats began...some of our new neighbors had planned to take a slower approach to greeting the day but they quickly saw the wisdom when faced with the choice of moving out early or having us attempt to scrape by them as they got another hours sleep.

Copenhagen was the limit to our movement eastward, the following days were spent moving SW, stopping overnight at Klintholm on the southern coast of Lolland, Rodbyhavn and then on to Aero. We are seeing more and more of the box type moorings which will not accommodate Ostinato's 12 foot beam so she ends up at the quay with the big boys. Aero was the first marina all summer that indicated they would charge us double for being a catamaran. Fortunately, by the time the Harbour Master came to collect, he had changed his mind....so we stayed another day, riding the free bus around the island before leaving for Holtenau, Germany our exit out of the Baltic through the Kiel Canal.

Kiel Canal 9/07/13

Ostinato left Aero about 8:00 a.m and did a close hauled sail to the Kiel Canal (Nord-Ostsee Kanal) entrance in 15-20 knots. Just off the coast of Germany we began to encounter a steady stream of sailboats that kept increasing until we were completely encircled by 100s of boats. Everything from large finely tuned racing boats, day sailors, to three masted square riggers. Nothing like arriving in the middle of a Regatta! Now that's what I call a welcome! As if maneuvering around the gigantic ships moving in and out of the canal wasn't enough we now had racers to watch out for......who has right of way!? No room at the waiting pontoon so we did doughnuts outside the canal for over an hour. Each minute the group awaiting entry kept getting larger and larger. Finally, after a large coastal freighter settled herself into the canal lock sailboats began to shoot in. We never did see a green light to signify it was OK but quickly followed suit. In all there were at least 8 sailboats and the freighter tied up with plenty of room to spare. King followed the parade up to the lock master to pay the fee only to learn they didn't take Visa or AmEx leaving Euros as the only option requiring a quick run back to the boat to find the "left over money" bag to dig out the few Euros left from last winter's trip to the Netherlands. The charge was thankfully only 18 Euros. The locking movement was slow and easy. The doors opened and the freighter waited patiently while each sailboat motored out in a conga line into the canal. It was now after 16:00. Travel on the canal is prohibited on small boats after dark so our destination would only be a quarter of the 55 miles down the canal's length. We were greeted at the Brunbuttel Yacht Club by its Harbour Master as we reached the dock. Not only did it have a side tie up but dockage for the evening including power and showers....11Eu!

The next morning we had a great weather window so untied Ostinato from the dock with plans to reach Cuxhaven that evening.....but it was not to be. The steering bound as we headed away from the dock. As I held her in place with the engines, King took a quick look at the steering cables ......and then the rudders.... and returned with the bad news. Somewhere, sometime, our port rudder had decided to go walk about! Damn.

to be continued............