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Baltic Sea Challenge Part 2/4

Friday 26 July

Early in the morning we left the marina at Vitte. Most people on the yachts were still asleep or having breakfast. When Fuut was gliding by under oars, some of the boat owners were a bit alarmed. How can a boat of that size even manage without a bow thruster? they must have asked themselves.

Todays goal was Ralswiek, home of the Stoertebeker Festspiele. It was a sunny morning with a gentle W-NW 3. I rowed out of the marina and hoisted the sail in the reeds.
First we to beat upwind over the Vitter Bodden, then it was an easy reach towards the Wittower Ferry. Ingo M. asked where Mark was. So Ingo and myself sailed back to wait for Mark and rejoined at the end of the fleet. For a while we sailed close to Frits and Mark. After a while, clouds appeared and brought some coolness.
Vincent and Ladia were in front but not far. Near Wittow I passed behind the ferry from Ruegen and arrived at the improvised lunch spot just past Vieregge. We were all sitting in our boats with Ingo wading between them to talk about the remainder of the route for today. The destination was changed to Bandelvitzer Berge.
After lunch the fleet sailed on towards the Jasmunder Bodden. At the narrow entrance we were taken by surprise by very strong gusts and fierce waves. Vincent and Inge reefed down the sail of their Ilur while sailing. It was a scary sight with the waves rattling their boat. Somehow Inge got it done and they carried on.
Before me Frits pushed his Mirror through the waves and seemed to enjoy it. Mirrors are such good boats in waves!
I got into some big squall and a wave rolled over the bow into the anchor well. Not enough to get concerned and for a while I pushed on, hoping that the gusts would go away. After a couple of minutes more I decided to set 2 reefs in the relative safety of the reeds at the lee shore. The waves were much less here and I got the sail down and set two reefs.
Ladia followed my example and landed his Goat Island Skiff close by. While he reefed down I used the oars to push away from the reeds but the waves were too strong. Ladia saw me struggling and simply stepped out of his GIS, turned it onto an upwind course, stepped in over the side and got away. I did the same and we sailed away. Hatseflats was much easier to sail with two reefs, and after a while I found that the gusts were gone. The sky was grey and it was starting to drizzle. Most of the other boats were already out of sight. Behind us Fuut seemed stuck as if she had run aground. Ladia sailed towards them and offered to use his oars to get out. I also sailed towards Fuut and saw Sybren step overboard to tug it free. Soon after we were all sailing again, and then the wind died and it started to rain.

Ladia decided to cut short his trip and travel back to Prague during the weekend. He took down the rig of his Goat Island Skiff and waited for Michaela to collect him with the car and trailer. I said goodbye to Ladia and rowed Hatseflats off the beach to moor alongside Fuut. After I had bailed and cleaned the boat, I got the tent up and joined Sybren and Tineke for drinks.

From the cockpit of Fuut we could see Michaela arriving with the car. Soon they had the boat on the trailer and left for Prague. The others had already gone to the camping overlooking the Banzelvitzer Berge.
While I ate my 'sate babi' adventure meal straight from the package, Fuut started hitting the ground a few times. Maybe the anchor was dragging or we were being pushed into the shallows by the new wind. Anyway it was impractical to stay together so I left Fuut and anchored Hatseflats on its own. Sybren went overboard to pull Fuut into deeper water.
Meanwhile the wind and waves came from different angles and Hatseflats was tugging at the anchor. The movement was so violent that I hoped I would not get sick. Despite all that I must have fallen asleep pretty quickly.

Distance: 37km
Winner: Bert and Ingo E.(check this)