20250719

Limfjord Sailing Day 3:Tissinghuse to Doverodde

In the early morning some boats left the harbour so it was very still. As usual I dismantled our sleeping platform and stowed the sleeping gear below the aft deck. Klarie was boiling some water for coffee and tea on the high quayside. We had tortillas with peanut butter and sandwich spread for breakfast. I had left our Bialetti percolator at home to save space, so we had to make do with the instant coffee. At home I had prepared a ready-made mixture of instant coffee with one spoonful of creamer for every spoonful of coffee. It was not great but quite drinkable. I put down the boat tent, converted to sailing mode and we were ready to go.

Our destination today was Doverodde where Vincent was going to meet his Facebook friend Casper Olesen and give him a watercolour painting of his sjekte boat as a present. Our course was due west with a little detour round the island of Agerö. We beat our way out of the harbour against a fickle and shifty SW2 which even decreased as the sun got higher. It got quite hot while we left Glömstrup Vig and passed the island of Agerö. The Ilur of Vincent and Inge was out in front while I tried to tune our rig to find some extra speed.

While I was tweaking the sail we hit a musselbank with less than 20cm water. With my paddle I pushed Hatseflats into deeper water and soon we passed the channel buoy leading to Doverodde. In the distance Aries was taking a different direction. We tried the VHF: 'Hatseflats calling Aries, Hatseflats calling Aries', but got no answer.
We left the island of Lindholm to starboard and kept following Aries. Soon they turned the corner into Skibsted Fjord and were out of sight. Klarie tried the VHF again and this time got a reply. Vincent and Inge quickly discovered they were in the wrong fjord. While we were waiting for the return of Aries we made the most of the light breeze. Klarie practiced sailing maneuvers like bearing away, gybing, rounding up and going about on my command. At last Vincent and Inge arrived and we sailed back to the red channel buoy leading into Nees Sund ant Doverodde.

We passed Lindholm, a very low island only inhabited by birds. The wind died again and we were trailing the Ilur until black skies appeared and the wind suddenly piped up. We could put on our oilies just in time before the rain started. The waves started building and we saw flashes of lightning. I wanted to reef, but not here in the waves rolling towards the lee shore. Hatseflats accelerated quickly on the broad reach and we roared past Aries, where Vincent and Inge battled with the mainsail to put a reef in.

We sailed Hatseflats into Nees Sund and hardened up towards the windward shore. The waves were much smaller here. While I lowered the sail I accidentally pulled the halyard out of the mast top. With the mast down I fixed the halyard. Then I put two reefs in to be on the safe side. Klarie held the boat stable, there was no panic. Once the sail was up and we sailed towards the harbour, the waves went down. There were some flashes in the distance but nothing to worry about. 15 minutes later we reached Doverodde where Vincent had found a jetty for small boats in very shallow water.

While I was putting the boat tent up, the clouds went away and the sun returned. We walked around hoping to dine at the Kobmandsgard restaurant but found that it was still under construction. So we had to cook our own meal once more.

After dinner we looked around the harbour. We saw a replica of a viking ship, or skuddelev as Vincent called it. There were also a couple of traditional open fishing boats with sprit rigs. These were around 6-7m and looked as if they were still being sailed.

After dinner we had wine and snacks on the terrace at the nearby sailing club.

Distance: 10.5 miles - 19km