The Sailing Boat as a Means of Transport. Discuss.

It's rubbish.

Well, I suppose I should expand on the above essay if I expect to get decent marks, but first let's bring the blog up to date.

To begin with, a few photos taken around Klintholm, Mon, from where the last post was written:

Cyclone on her new berth once (the other see Philippa's comment!) Mr Grumpy had left

The view over the pontoon that Cyclone was tied to

  

A close up of the beach that was in the background of the above picture

A sailing ship in Klintholm's commercial harbour. Interesting rig

Klintholm's yacht harbour and holiday village

We came across the memorial below whilst walking around the harbour area. The plaque explained that on the day of Denmark's liberation, the 5th May 1945, a barge was washed up near Klintholm with 370 prisoners from the Nazi concentration camp of Stutthof (near Danzig, which is now Gdansk) on board. 

Close to death from starvation and illness, they'd been ordered by their captors to their fate on the Baltic Sea. The residents of Klintholm manged to save the lives of 351 of them and the memorial was erected 50 years after the event to commemorate both those who saved the victims and remember those they were unable to save. 

There is more information at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rescue_of_Stutthof_victims_in_Denmark

It's interesting, if not easy, reading.

After a day off in Klintholm, we set sail at 0645 for Grossenbroder Binnensee, a German anchorage we'd stayed at on our way east. We had another really good sail with the wind on the beam as we headed south and then, perhaps unsurprisingly(!), behind us as we sailed west.  We averaged 6 knots from berth to anchorage - not bad for a 30 year old 33' yacht - and only used the engine for the exit from Klinholm and entry to Grossenbroder Binnensee. In fact, as our sail to Klintholm had been good too, our total use of the engine for the last 130 miles amounted to just 1 hour!

When we arrived at the entrance to Grossenbroder Binnensee we found it packed with kite surfers. There was no way we could manoeuvre out of their way (as required by the Coll Regs) - there were far too many of them and they were travelling several times faster than us - so we had to rely on them to miss us. Several of them clearly saw it as a challenge to whizz past as closely as possible, but at least a quick wash down would have removed any resulting stains if they had collided with us!

Kite surfers at Grossenbroder Binnensee. There were loads more than this!

View of the marina from our anchorage. You're not getting any money from us!

The next day was an 0550 start as our forecast indicated we'd have favourable winds until around midday when they'd start to oppose us. It was supposed to have been an earlier start than that, but I just couldn't get motivated when the alarm went off at 0430 so reset it!

Our destination this time was the Kiel Canal; specifically a small harbour near Rendsburg in Lake Borgstedt. This was about 20 miles inside the canal, a total distance of just over 60 miles from our anchorage (there's a limit to how many times I'm going to type out Grossenbroder Binnensee!). Doh!!

It turned out that the forecast was spot on about the wind. We were sailing happily and quickly under autopilot on a beam reach (the wind at 90 degrees to the boat) when, at the appointed time and in a torrential rain storm, the wind swung through more than 90 degrees in the space of a few seconds!

This made us look a bit silly to the approaching yachts I imagine, as it had the effect of backing the headsail (the wind got on the wrong side of it) and making us heave to (stop) at an angle of more than 90 degrees to our previous heading! Fortunately we were only a few miles from the entrance to the Kieler Forde so I gave up with the sailing nonsense, furled away the genoa and bunged the motor on!

Oh, as well as the torrential rain, we'd also had dense fog early on in the trip. As I've said before, we can cope pretty well with this because we have the advantages of a chart plotter, radar and AIS. It doesn't make it enjoyable though and there's no defence against idiots like the gin palace who loomed out of the fog at planing speed (probably around 20 knots) before disappearing behind us again seconds later...

The entrance to the Kieler Forde

We had a real stroke of luck with the lock at Holtenau. Just as we approached, the lights changed to allow yachts to enter! It was straight in, tie up and, within 15 minutes, out into the Kiel Canal! After our 3 hour wait when travelling in the other direction, this was a result!

Fine figure of a man in the Holtenau lock. 

Big ship in the Canal. Not built for looks then!

By 1800 we were tied up in Lake Borgstedt, a nice quiet spot just off the main drag. That was on 23rd July and we're still there as I write, having a well deserved rest!

Schreiber Marine, Lake Borgstedt

Oh well, having brought things up to date, I guess I'd better get back to my essay, the supposed subject of this post.

What's that all about then? 

Well, after 722 nautical miles since leaving Tallinn on the 2nd July (equivalent to 830 of the little land based ones), I feel qualified to comment on the pros and cons of a sail boat as a means of transport and, as I stated above, basically it's rubbish!

Any yacht brochure will picture a shiny new yacht sailing quickly on a beam reach. There will be an attractive bikini clad young lady draped across the foredeck (well there would have been before political correctness and all that!), blue skies, crystal clear waters and a flat sea. Of course the boat will be upright as the wind (of which there will be just the right amount) is on the beam, and perhaps its skipper will be enjoying a glass of Pimms or a G&T whilst sharing a joke with friends in the cockpit.

Fast forward to reality. 

This never happens.

The closest Jo will get to lying on the foredeck of Cyclone in a bikini is sitting hunched in the cockpit wearing her bikini bottoms under several layers of thermals, fleeces and waterproofs, because she's run out of clean pants!

The wind is rarely on the beam (it's usually blowing from exactly the direction you want to go) and, if it is blowing from a favourable direction, it's either too strong or not strong enough.

Flat sea and perfect wind? Pah! 

Blue skies and crystal clear waters? The former have been rare this year and the latter - well, in the Caribbean maybe!

The 722 miles we've travelled have taken us a total of 139 hours. That's an average speed of 5.2 knots (not actually bad for a boat of Cyclone's dimensions and vintage) or about 6 mph. A horse and cart would have been quicker.

Ah, but what about the purity of sailing I hear you ask? The happy chuckling of water beneath the bow as you harness the power of the elements to whisk you to your destination? Free power from the wind?

Have you seen the price of sails? Those aren't just bed sheets hanging from the rigging you know. They're bespoke state of the art (well, ish) fabrics stitched to demanding patterns that cost a fortune. Our latest headsail was over two and a half grand and they don't last for ever either! 

Plus, as a result of winds that were too light or blowing straight at us (and a bit of canal work, plus entering and leaving harbours admittedly), we motored for close to half of those 139 hours!

No this is the reality of sailing:

G&T? You must be joking! Cup of tea maybe - if you can make it at this angle!

Blue skies? Ha!!

Perfect wind? That's nearly 75 knots on the nose (actually the instrument was affected by nearby lightening!)

So why do people spend hundreds of thousands of pounds (not us, obviously!) on a mode of transport that is slow, uncomfortable, tiring and, frankly, well past its sell-by date? We've had the internal combustion engine for over 100 years for goodness sake!

Who knows? But then, I suppose, we're guilty of spending a significant proportion of our cash on a boat too...

I've got it! 

Madness. Pure, unadulterated insanity. 

That's why.

I'm off to go dribble in a corner somewhere now.

Thanks for reading.