20240727

Baltic Sea Challenge Part 3/4

Saturday 27 July

I woke in the early hours finding that the waves had calmed down and Hatseflats was lying still.
At 645 I woke again, made the boat ready for sailing, had breakfast and went ashore. It appeared that there had been a beach party of 15 young Germans on the the previous evening. They had played music, drunk beer and waded past Hatseflats towards Fuut while I was asleep. I never heard a thing. Very strange!
At the skippers meeting we discussed our options for the next days. Heavy winds were expected for Sunday and Monday (the last day of the challenge). If we wanted to sail back to Stralsund in two days we should make it as far as Barhoeft today and set off for Stralsund early on Sunday morning to pass the tricky Kubitzer Bodden before the wind would get too strong.

We started at 0930 in a gentle NW2-3. It was an upwind leg towards the Lebbiner Bodden and then a reach towards the Wittow Ferry. I started last because I had to check the GPS and read the map. During the first half hour I could sometimes sit on the rail but the wind gradually died to a force 1. I still wanted to sail to make most of the conditions but it was hard to make good progress. The fleet got smaller until I only saw the tiny red triangle of 'Bubbels'.
It was hard to keep the boat moving in the shifty and fickle winds. I tried to cut corners by sailing over the shallows and was briefly rewarded with a light breeze. Then we hit the ground with the dagger board. The big dent on the trailing edge was now even bigger. Fortunately no damage.
When I got to the Lebbiner Bodden the wind suddenly increased at the same place where we had the violent squalls on the previous day. This time no squalls but suddenly a lot more wind.
I rounded the corner towards the Breeger Bodden and saw some of the other boats sailing in the distance. Once past the village of Breege I enjoyed the reach but again the wind died down and the rest of the fleet was further away then before.
After a long time I turned the corner towards the Wittower ferry around 1530 hours. I rowed past the ferry crossing hoping for a bit more wind on open water. Around this time I got a message from Bert that Barhoeft was too far and the new destination was Schaprode. After a couple of minutes of drifting I wondered if I would reach even Schaprode before sundown. At 1600 hours I dropped the rig and started rowing close to the shore to make good my lost time. Rowing at a little over 2kn I soon passed the waterside village of Vaschvitz. It was strangely beautiful to row on salt water past grass meadows.
I wondered about the half-immersed big stones in the water and promptly parked Hatseflats on a big flat stone. No damage since the bronze-covered bottom rails took the impact. To help my rowing rhythm I began to sing my favourite ditty 'Oi Moroz' as a mantra. Around 1650 I turned the corner at the Seehof camping, which had been chosen as our lunch spot. While I carefully navigated around the many stones in the shallow water, I saw a message from Koos who had been the first to arrive at Schaprode. To leeward I saw 'Fuut', 'Merirosvo', 'Bubbels' and 'Aries' which meant I had found my way back into the fleet. I watched them sail as I was rowing and decided there might be just enough wind to sail into Schaprode. Soon enough I passed the beach with the Artemis canoe and the yellow Pirat of Bert and Ingo E. I sailed on because I wanted to sleep in the relative quiet of the marina. A few minutes later I switched back to rowing to avoid the big ferries shuttling in and out of the harbour. Rowing into the marina was relatively eventful although I managed to crash Hatseflats into the derelict landing of the old cable-ferry. A few minutes I joined 'Fuut' and 'Aries' at the jetty.
Mission accomplished.

Distance: 36km
Winner: Koos