Monday July 2nd: After the dubious delights of yesterday’s crossing it was such a pleasure to wake up to the fragrant air of a picture perfect summer’s day in Sweden.
The coffee and muesli tasted especially good to us both after the exertions of the day before, and we slipped our linesd around 8am for an easy motor to Vaxholm, the historic fortress which is considered either the gateway to Stockholm or to the archipelago, depending on which way you are headed. First 90 minutes was gorgeous – good air and flat water meant we could have sailed but we were still fried from our crossing so we kept the motor on and the sails furled, even after we entered the main passenger ferry channel with the wind on our quarter at about 8 kts. Broad reaching under jib alone would have been perfect for the conditions but the channel was quite tight in places and there was a lot of traffic coming from the other direction, including ferries, and neither of us wanted to be jibing continually to avoid them. So after an uneventful 20nm we pulled into the main harbor at Vaxholm around noon. Tied up in gusty winds with help from a couple of harbor assistants and quickly got chatting to a pleasant Irish couple (William and Karen) on Melodrama, a Dehler 38 who recognized Arcturus and knew Andy and Mia from the Arc 1500. J and I were happy to go our separate ways for a few hours, for me that meant hitting the systembolaget for wine and the Co-Op supermarket for provisions. J spent his time over at the fortress scoring some more drone footage. After a quick meal I ambled across the harbor to a local bar to watch Belgium play Japan. I must say it felt SO good to be back in civilization….
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