An abundance of islands, anchorages, and boats.
The voyage from the south coast of England up to Sweden and back is a long one, 2511.2 nautical miles as it worked out. Our strict visa limitations and the short Scandinavian summer demanded that we cover those miles quickly. The idea of rushing was off-putting, but everything else about this trip appealed, and we were willing to push the pace a bit to pull it off. The idyllic scenery, the rich nautical heritage, the Northern European canals, and the great cities of Amsterdam, Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Copenhagen all called to us and we went.
Launching Sundance in Lymington, England, went smoothly. The spring prep work to follow came together with no significant faults found. We managed to transform our American propane cooking gas system over to the European butane standard with one simple fitting. Adapting our electrical system was even easier. We never plug into shore power, in fact we jettisoned our shore power cord off the boat years ago to save weight. Instead, we rely on solar and hydro to keep up with 100% of our power needs. For us, no adaptation to European electrical standards was needed at all.
By mid-May 2025, our American boat was ready to depart The Solent and sail north and east, deeper into European waters. Our only problem was a weather forecast for endless headwinds. The harbors of the Isle of Wight made for an excellent place to sit and wait for friendly westerlies to fill in.
The season was early, and the IOW was quiet. The northeast wind wasn’t good for the sailing direction we intended, but it did deliver clear, sunny, and mild weather to the south of England. Long walks and connecting buses took us to the big towns of Cowes, Yarmouth, Ryde, and Ventnor. There was also plenty of time on anchor to watch the local fleet of small boats that were out and underway in all weather. The Solent is the center of sailing in England, and some say, the world. It was a pleasure to sit there on our own boat in the midst of it all for a week.
Eastward
Eventually, the wind filled from the west, and we let it push us right past the Prime Meridian and into the eastern half of the world. Soon, Dover and the rest of England were behind us, and we set out thru the oil rigs and wind farms of the North Sea on an overnight sail to Amsterdam.
One of the great advantages of traveling by boat is the ability to tie up your entire home in the center of many of the great cities of the world. We took full advantage this summer with extended stays in the heart of Amsterdam, Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Copenhagen. Each stop seemed miraculous. How was it even possible for us to wake up in our own bunks within walking distance of all the famed attractions of these foreign places? What a thrill to look out the window of a famous restaurant in Amsterdam and see our boat there glowing in the sun. How cool it was to shop in the bountiful food halls in these places and then walk home with our European groceries. We were both tourists and residents at the same time.
A train trip took us from Amsterdam to The Hague one afternoon for dinner at a friend’s house. A home-cooked meal is something vagabond sailors like us don’t come across all that often, and is that much sweeter when we luck upon one.
Our northbound route in the Netherlands took us onto the diked Zuiderzee and then inland via the canals of Friesland along the “Standing Mast Route.” We spent three days navigating the locks, lift bridges, and canals of this system, floating past small towns and miles of rural Dutch countryside and bike paths along the way.
The route was mostly free, but occasionally there was a modest toll at one of the bridges. When this was the case, the bridge tender would swing a wooden clog out to us on the end of a fishing pole as we motored past the bridge. Our tricky job was to drop a Euro coin into the clog and quickly swing it back. We were too busy with clogs, coins, throttle, and steering to take any photos of that party trick.
Eventually the Dutch canals deposited us back into the North Sea. Another overnight sail brought us past all the Riddle of The Sands country of Germany and into the mouth of the Elbe River. From there we picked up the Kiel Canal for the final push into the Baltic Sea.
The island of Æro in the Baltic was where we first stepped foot ashore in Denmark. This beautiful place is famous for hosting international weddings. Unique laws here make it a particularly easy place for people of different nationalities to get married. Because of this, the island is always filled with joyous wedding parties.
An odd thing happened to us here: a credit card purchase in a cheese shop somehow didn’t process properly. A new Æronian friend (thank you John!) helped the distraught shopkeeper track us down with an email a day after our departure. Despite a devoted effort, we failed to solve the payment problem by email and phone. (Perhaps Æro is better at international weddings than international credit card transactions?) Our only solution was to return to the shop with card in hand and try to pay again, something we happily did on our return toward England many weeks later.
On our second visit, it was warm enough to swim off the boat in the anchorage. A memorable afternoon drying off on the foredeck with beer, naps, reading, more cheese, and more beer followed. We love Æro. It was just one of many Danish ports that impressed us along our way to and from Sweden.
Swedish Waters
One third of all the world’s islands can be found in the combined waters of Sweden and Finland. Sailing routes thru the maze of islands along these coasts are nearly infinite. Anchorages are so abundant that you could sleep in a new one every night of your entire life. With the islands providing protection from the offshore waves, smooth, lake-like sailing can be found for hundreds of miles along the coast of Sweden. A true sailing paradise.
The rivers of Sweden, Finland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Germany fill the Baltic Sea faster than evaporation can lower it. As a result, there is a slow, steady drain current from the Baltic out past Denmark and into the North Sea. Because of this, tides are negligible and the water salinity is low. The farther north you get, the fresher the water becomes. We’re told that in Finland, you can drink the seawater.
Swedish tradition calls for sailing crews to drop a stern anchor and then tie the bow of their boat to the dock or a rock. The negligible tides make this a viable plan, and the strategy eliminates the need for a dinghy nicely. We never did screw up the courage to give it a try and instead just anchored out as we’re accustomed to doing. Plenty of anchorages to choose from! Sadly, this gave us a stodgy, uncool English look. Something we happily accepted as an alternative to recklessly smashing bow-first into rocks. Sorry, Sven. Sorry, Martin. We’re just not doing that.
Many Swedish islands are uninhabited. Others are home to villages, especially closer to the big cities. Sandhamn, outside of Stockholm, was memorable stop filled with summer homes for the Swedish elite.
“Night”
Night grew steadily shorter as we inched our way north, and the earth closed in on her solstice. Our “night” sails hardly qualified as such during any part of this Scandinavian summer. After a late sunset, the glow to the west would give way to a glow to the north, where the sun was always up above the Arctic. Then, before we knew it, the glow from the east would join in and overtake. A lot of glowing and not a lot of darkness. So cool. A Red Sox game on the radio in the wee hours usually kept us entertained.
Stockholm
Stockholm is the grand lady of the north and the most stately city we visited this summer. Urbanity at its best and most beautiful. It was surprising, in a way, to stumble upon this oasis of culture and grandeur amongst the thousands of uninhabited woodsy islands that hide her from the sea. We tied up in the heart of the city between the Abba Museum and the Museum of Swedish Drinking Culture. So much to learn! We also inspected the astonishing Vasa wreck museum to check on restoration progress since that hull was last seen by Chris back in 1983.
Stockholm was our turning point and the northernmost point of our summer sailing. The arctic circle was less than 500 miles away. Russia, less than 350. The Ragged Islands of The Bahamas were over 5000 miles back in our wake. As it worked out we were in Stockholm for the June 21 summer solstice “Midsommer” national holiday. Nifty timing to be at our northernmost latitude on the longest day of the year.
The Gota Kanal
From Stockholm, we pointed our bow away from the Baltic Sea and inland towards the center of Sweden. The amazing Göta Canal system cuts a 210 mile path all the way across the country, allowing a boat like ours to make the entire trip with our mast up. In the process, 301 feet of elevation was gained and lost thanks to the 64 locks we transited. We also crossed OVER two highways on aqueducts and sailed across Lake Vänern, Europe’s largest lake outside of Russia.
Sometimes the locks came at us in a single step. Other times they came in flights:
The waterway is saddled with the telling nickname, “The Divorce Ditch.” The locks can indeed be challenging and can test a marriage. We’re happy to report that we navigated them all and are still married, probably owing to the fact that we had Justin’s help along the way. When going thru locks, having two people handling lines ashore makes things much easier.
We made a friend along the way. Pieter from Gothenburg became an integral part of our general convoy. He traversed many a lock with us and was a valuable guide, translator, and friend. In winter, he skates atop the same canals we sailed this summer.
Pieter’s wife and young daughter met us toward the end of our canal transit, and a few days later, they showed us their hometown of Gothenburg and gave us countless tips and pointers about Swedish living. The new friends we made along the way are what we’ll remember the most fondly from this summer.
America’s standing in the world has fallen in recent years. Fortunately, the people we met in Europe seemed to understand the difference between the people of a country and the government of that country. Our fears about being made to feel unwelcome were unfounded.
One of the great joys of sailing in Northern Europe are the the boats you see along the way. To generalize, the Dutch boats are fat, the Danish boats are skinny, and the Swedish boats are a little of both. The Finns build some of the finest sailboats in the world but have sadly found themselves priced out of their own boats. Meanwhile the Norwegians are buzzing around on motorboats burning their Norwegian oil. The design and craftsmanship are top notch across the region and the boats are gorgeous. (Except for the over-powered Norwegian gin palaces.)
Our boat got quite a few stares everywhere we went. I’d like to think it was because of her sexy lines and Bristol condition, but I think people were just struggling to place her. She definitely stood out and had people scratching their heads trying to figure out what she was all about. Which, of course, led to some fun conversations and new friendships.
In the USA, powerboats outnumber sailboats five to one. In Scandinavia, it’s the other way around, even when you include the smokers from Norway. A refreshing turn of the tables. (As an aside, we continue to include The Netherlands in our Scandinavian generalizations. We do this because, to us, it felt like the Dutch belong in the Scandi club. We are aware that textbooks state otherwise.)
Dutch – Danish – Swedish
North of Gothenburg, the western coast of Sweden rests up against the Skagerrak Sea. It’s a saltier and more windswept place than is Sweden’s Baltic Sea coastline on the other side of the country. You can feel the weight of winter and see the results of the wind. Trees are fewer. The fish and seabirds more prevalent, the air heavier.
The rolling tundra’s drop into the sea delivers a mesmerizing Arctic landscape. Sweden’s finest boatbuilders are all along this coast. Sailors the world-round rave about this place. “The West Is The Best,” they say in Gothenburg. It could be true.
Have we mentioned the oysters? Everywhere the oysters! Delicious!!
When sailing above Gothenburg, we worked our way to within 50 miles of Norway. Back on Sweden’s other coast, we sailed to within 50 miles of Finland. Sadly, the clock was ticking on our season, and we didn’t fit in a visit to either of these countries.
Copenhagen
Naturally, the algorithm knew we were coming to Copenhagen before we actually got there. Such is life in the surveillance state. For the weeks we sailed in Sweden our feeds were filled with images of Copenhagen. All sunny skies and impossibly attractive people sitting canal-side in impossibly beautiful montages. These cheeky reels even suggested we might want to just move there….tempting these days, isn’t it?
Well, to be there in person did not disappoint. We had glorious weather and hot tips on what to do and see from the college age daughters of two dear friends, and so we set about walking, metro-ing, eating, and drinking our way through this fantastic city.
Highlights included a trip to the Louisiana Museum, which is a train ride out of town, but so worth the trip. Sitting waterside, the museum winds its way through beautiful gardens filled with sculpture and there are views inside and out, the art, the nature, the water. It has probably one of the best museum shops ever and a lovely restaurant for a sip and a bite. We happened to be there for the Robert Longo show – an astonishing thing to see in person.
We spent another day just wandering from one outdoor eating and drinking spot to another, with a stop in the middle for Chris to swim in the canal amongst the young and beautiful people of the City.
And of course, if you love design this is the place for you. We spent time at the Design Museum and might have even made a stop at the Georg Jensen store…..from end to end it was a glorious visit.
We kept expecting bad weather to slow our progress; 30-knot headwinds, towering waves in the North Sea, pesky little mermaids in Denmark. None of that came to pass. Instead, we enjoyed consistently smooth and easy sailing. Motoring thru abundant calm spells was the worst we had to complain about.
Finally, when we were southbound, passing thru Cuxhaven, Germany the weather turned bleak. Cuxhaven is on the shores of the notoriously boisterous North Sea, a place where waiting for optimum weather is always a smart move. It turned out that waiting wasn’t such a hardship here. Cuxhaven is a sweet little sailing hub and home to the best paella north of Spain (thank you Jens!) When in port, we also took advantage of the direct rail service to Hamburg for a day trip to yet another world-class city. This was the summer of European cities for us, and we were getting good at being tourists.
Back home in England
We made it back to the Solent just in time for Race Week at the Isle of Wight. Polished sailors with tall rigs are pouring in and gearing up. See above.
Here at Eagle Seven Racing, a hunger for victory is taking hold. Will snappy spinnaker sets and crafty Cunningham adjustments be enough to keep Scallywag and her kind back in our wake? We’ll see…
Onwards
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The phrase “livin’ the dream” is bandied about often, but always ironically. You guys are the only people I know who can make the claim truthfully!
Great pics and narrative. Keep these storybook adventures coming so we can all live the dream (albeit vicariously)!
Jack – Thank you! Life isn’t always easy out here, but the good outweighs the bad by a longshot and we’re eager to keep sailing. You can count on us to keep writing about it too. – C & A
Thanks so much for continuing to send these fun and informative missives. Wonderful!
We learned of your adventures through your Mom, Jo, who lived down the hall from us in our Continuing Care Facility in Lenox, MA. We think of her every time we receive your report.
All the best.
Buck – Thanks for that note. It’s great to know that we have readers in Lenox. All our best to everyone there. – Chris and Alex