No Regrets: Chasing The Sun

North Latitudes

I hate to whine about the cold, but, it looks like I'm gonna have to.

Buying a live aboard boat in the UK in the middle of winter made economic sense, but for this Southern California dude, it has been too cold! We have thin blood in LA at 32 degrees north. Hell, there are palm trees where I lived!

Cowes in England, at 51 degrees, is further north than anything in the Continental US. Only Alaska is that close to the North Pole. And I'm still headed north up to 60 degrees near Stockholm, Sweden.

The shortest day of the year is December 22, the Winter Solstice. After that, each day gets longer until the Summer Solstice arrives on June 23. We plan to celebrate Mid-Summer's Eve in Stockholm, where it will be light at 03:30 in the morning and won't be dark until midnight.

So you see, I am literally "Chasing The Sun" north in order to get warm!

Kiel, Germany to Copenhagen, Denmark

After squeezing between freighters to get through the Kiel Canal and into the Baltic Sea, we took the next day off at Lebow, Germany, to catch our breath before setting off to Denmark.

6 freighters at once packed into this lock with us bumpered in the middle

The route north

Sonderborg, Denmark was our first stop and a chance to raise the Danish courtesy flag.

Sonderborg's Lutheran Church

The Danish pallete of colors is amazing!

This part of the Baltic is called the Lille Baelt (Little belt). It is a series of fjords cut between small islands and the Jutland Peninsula of Denmark. The quality of the light magically started to change. The longer days made the setting of the sun and twilight last for what seemed like hours, making the time almost become horizontal... The time stretches!

When the bridge opened at 08:00, we motored through on glassy flat water. The wind was gone and the surrounding islands created sheltered bays, fjords and a passage channel.

Surreal light on a mirrored Baltic Sea

After slipping into a small fishing harbor at Middlefart, Denmark, the light show continued much longer than it should have.

David wood enjoying the lingering sunlight

The Danish people are satisfied and happy. Free Education through college and a Doctorate degree is part of Denmark's investment in their people. Free Health Care for all is also part of their socialistic system. Yes, their income taxes are high at 50%, but the productivity, contentment and longevity of their population is impressive. So how can we in the US have a government intent on taking away public education and health care from it's citizens? It is ignorant, mean, wrong headed and embarrassing!!!

Politically, the Dane's biggest issue is immigration. At about 6 million people, Denmark has a far harder time absorbing 100,000 refugees than the US would with 320 million folks.

After overnighting at the tiny ports of Ballen on Samso Island and then Gilleleje, we cast off for Copenhagen, the Capital of Denmark.

Nyhavn harbor in Copenhagen

Thank you Penny and David Wood for helping to move No Regrets from Amsterdam to Copenhagen. You have been so supportive and kind, and very handy to have around! See you again in September in Kiel, Germany for the run back through the Kiel Canal and back into the North Atlantic.

Our plan is to wait in Lebow, Germany for a good weather window, then sail for 2 or 3 days in a row straight down the English Channel toward the Bay of Biscay and the south of Portugal, where I will winter in the warmer climate.

Copenhagen

The harbor at Nyhavn is the #1 tourist attraction in Copenhagen... Number 2 is the statue of the Little Mermaid. We were tied up in this colorful spot for 3 weeks.

Exquisite Colors

Nyhavn (New Harbor) was built about 1800 for lighter (smaller) boats to offload cargo from the merchant ships anchored in the deeper harbor. Sailors on shore leave frequented the bars, brothels and tattoo parlors in Nyhaven, where one could literally get screwed, blewed and tattooed !

Nancy Schreiber joined me for a week of sightseeing and playing tourist. It was soooo good to see her again! The Canal Boat Tour was our favorite attraction, with the hippy community of Christiania next up on the list.

Christiania is literally not a part of the EU

Old factories are converted into homes

Hippies took over this deserted industrial section of Copenhagen 40 years ago, and after fighting with the City government for many years, they now have a legal right to their land, and make their own rules. They openly sell pot, build Christiania bicycles and live in a sleepy Bohemia.

Rules for living in Christiania

Our 3rd favorite attraction was climbing up the corkscrew tower of Our Saviors Church, with great views, dizzying heights, and the bells ringing right by your ears as you climbed up.

An interesting thing about the Danes is their uniformity to rules and social norms. An example is waiting for the stoplights at crosswalks. In Amsterdam or Gothenburg, everyone jay walks. If there are no cars, buses or bicycles coming, people just cross the street. In Copenhagen, everyone waits patiently for the "Walk" sign, before crossing, even if there is no traffic. "That is not the Danish way!" is their phrase that sums this up.

We brought out the teak table and chairs for the first time on the aft cockpit, and when we were seated there, the tourists walking by asked us about every 60 seconds, "Did you sail over from America?" Our standard answer of "Of course... And we went around the horn... Because Panama is for pussies!" never got old. You can watch and see their minds connecting the dots.

One of the wall to wall restaurant/bars in Nyhaven is named Cap Horn, so we literally walked around the "Horn". Now we can pass a lie detector test without blinking!

We went around the Horn!

Just as Nance was about to fly back to LA, the generator died again. What a pain :((

But since I was due to leave for Sweden in a few days, I planned to get it repaired in Gothenburg, where I would stay for a fortnight.

Richard Mattus, a Swedish gentleman recommended by my Swedish cousin Carina, joined No Regrets in Copenhagen for the 3 day voyage up to Gothenburg, Sweden's 2nd largest City.

Here is Richard in his office, locating diesel fuel and a generator repairman

Justin Fry, a young golfing buddy from LA, was doing a whirlwind 1st tour of Europe by going to a wedding in Barcelona, riding bycycles in Paris then dropping into Copenhagen. "Sure, come aboard for a few nights", I told him. After his couple of days entertaining and sightseeing with his posse of girlfriends from the wedding, I invited him to sail with Richard and me toward Gothenburg. While Justin had never been on a boat before, he was game and was fun to have aboard.

Sweden

As we sailed out of Copenhagen's harbor, we dropped by to say goodbye to the Little Mermaid. There were not many ships traveling in the channel between Denmark and Sweden that day, but the tall wind generators made for a nice framing for the Oresund Bridge, which connects the two countries together.

Torekov is a pleasant little fishing village in Sweden on the route up to Gothenburg. Some retired friends of Carina met us on the dock, and took us for a tour by car of their golf course, adjacent home and the planted fields of new potatoes. The first new potatoes of the season commanded a very high price, so the growing race was on!

Varberg was the next stop and we walked through the old Fortress perched just above the boat, that protected the town. Denmark and Sweden have fought many wars over the years, and I couldn't imagine attacking this fort with only cannons and arrows.

Standing guard of the 600 year old fort

Justin took a train from Varberg back to the Copenhagen Airport for his return flight to LA. When he first came aboard, he was saying that I was his friend Drake's father, but now he also says that Drake is the son of his friend Rick. Thank you Justin for your youthful nativity, curiosity and enthusiasm!

Gothenburg

After one more day of picking our way between the rocks and the offshore islands in the dense fog, we were in Gothenburg, tied up between a 4 master and the Opera House.