Kalessin of orwell 2011 baltic 1

Kalessin of

Orwell

To the Baltic

with Ben

Our inspiration

Why the Baltic?

• A new sailing territory to explore

• Beautiful scenery, historic towns

• Sheltered, non-tidal waters

• Wonderful facilities

• Not too crowded

• Good weather in summer

• Not very far away

This is the Baltic...

...and this is Ben

arriving in the Baltic via the Kiel Canal

This is Kalessin of Orwell © Yachting Monthly

About Kalessin

• Westerly Storm 33 – 170 built

• Built 1988, bought by us 2004

• Length 33ft/10.1m

• Beam 11ft 7in/3.5m

• Draft 5ft 6in/1.68m (fin keel)

• Engine 18hp Volvo

• Fast, spacious, elegant, solid

Kalessin’s layout

L-shaped galley

Big cockpit

locker

(with holding

tank beneath)

Spacious

heads

Aft cabin

(Ben's room) Forepeak cabin

Sam & Camilla

Conventional

saloon layout

A

quick

reminder

About us • Sam, 71 – partly retired since 2007

• Camilla, 56 – works as a contractor in internal comms

• Benedict (Ben), 18 – had just finished A-levels

• Guy, 21 – working in Greece for Sailing Holidays

• Sam & Camilla RYA coastal skipper qualified

• Owned dinghies & trailer-sailers 1986 onwards

• Flotillas and charters

• Magewind 2002, sailed E Coast & Netherlands

• Kalessin 2004, sailed E Coast, France, Netherlands, and in 2006-8 round the outside & back up the middle

Ben & Sam Camilla Guy

Our plan

• Get across North Sea in May 2011 & leave the boat in the Netherlands

• Return to the UK for Ben’s A-levels

• Sam & Camilla returned to head to the Kiel Canal

• Ben joined us to sail into the Baltic

• East along the coast of Germany, north to Copenhagen and west to overwinter in Augustenborg

• Meet up with other HPYC members... sometime

• Sweden in 2012

preparation

You can't buy Marmite in Denmark

Preparation – equipment

old & new

• Liferaft, dinghy & inflatable kayak

• 2 identical autopilots

• Delta, Fortress & CQR anchors

• New feathering Darglow Featherstream prop

• 4 batteries (engine, 2x domestic, fridge)

• 1 fixed and two flexible solar panels

• New CD/radio with iPod attachment

• Lavac & holding tank

• Lots of warps (+ two more from Enkhuizen)

• New foresail

• Spinnaker & cruising chute

Preparation – navigation

• New combined chart plotter/radar/AIS (Garmin 750S)

• Imray coastal paper charts up to the Kiel canal

• Dutch chart packs & Standing Mast Route atlas

• Electronic charts: UK, Netherlands, Germany; Nordics (including Spitzbergen & Iceland )

• 4 packs of German Baltic charts including CD and harbour manuals

• iPhone +Navionics charts for UK & Netherlands (£15), all of Europe (£6) and Denmark (£30!)

• Pilot books: 2 x Netherlands, Brian Navin’s Germany & Denmark, The Baltic Sea

• Navtex

• Membership of CA – Baltic section

Keeping in

touch

• The blog: April 2006 – January 2012. Now posting by email & readable on a mobile

• 2 laptops on board

• Wi-fi when available

• 2 iPhones

• Vodafone Data Traveller on 1 phone - £10/month for 25MB a day (in July used £155-worth)

• ....and two Kindles

To the Netherlands To the Netherlands

Without Ben

Map of North Sea crossing & standing mast route

Up the Noordzeekanaal from Ijmuiden to Amsterdam

Amsterdam from the Westerkerk

Leaving the boat in Enkhuizen – handy for the station

BRIDGE

BRIAN NAVIN

Beautiful downtown Leeuwarden

A typical day on the standing mast route

GALLERY

Unexpectedly parked in central Groningen

GALLERY

Farewell to the Netherlands – the bumpy Ems

Map of Frisian islands & NOK

Into Germany with Ben, thanks to

Ryanair

Cuxhaven marina

Our first Hanseatic city - Stade

Shopping & eating

• Germany was the cheapest of the countries we visited for both shopping & eating out

• Stock up on German booze before crossing the border to Denmark

• Food & drink prices in Denmark – similar toUK

• Supermarkets are much like supermarkets anywhere (Spar, Lidl, Rewe etc)

• We hear Poland & Baltic states can be more tricky

• Camping Gaz – easy in Germany, ok in Denmark, challenging elsewhere

Bremen, second Hanseatic city, and hello to Ben

Waiting area

Small vessel lock

Harbour

Elbe

Brunsbüttel lock with its horrible floating pontoon

Nord-Ostsee-Kanal and the harbour at Brunsbüttel

The ships in the Kiel canal are really quite small

Traffic lights

Traffic light system

Holtenau: Our first view of the Baltic

Into the Baltic