{"id":382,"date":"2016-08-20T22:15:55","date_gmt":"2016-08-20T22:15:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/?p=382"},"modified":"2016-09-05T22:39:50","modified_gmt":"2016-09-05T22:39:50","slug":"382","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/?p=382","title":{"rendered":"Home for the winter…."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"onWinter storage<\/strong>. The Swedes have a word for it and that word is Vinterf\u00f6rvaring<\/em>. In this part of the world boats have to be lifted out of the water, the engine and water systems must be winterized and the vessel should be covered or, depending on your concern about the effects of the long, cold Scandinavian winter, they can be moved into storage barns, some heated, some not.<\/p>\n

The issue of where to store Arcturus for the winter had been on my mind ever since I took possession of her at the beginning of June. But with so many other challenges to distract me, I decided to delay giving the matter any attention until much closer to my departure date. In hindsight, this was a mistake.<\/p>\n

There was one particularly helpful Swedish chap, Gunnar Sundqvist, who moored next to me at Wasahamnen during one of my repeated visits. He was very curious about the boat and when I told him I\u2019d be headed up to Norrtalje for the winter he strongly recommend I use Ros\u00e4ttra Batvarv (boatyard) about 20km north of the town. He gave me their phone number and even told me I could use his name for a reference. Trouble was, by the time I had left the boat at Wasahamnen one final time on July 26th and driven to our friend\u2019s country house near Rimbo for a few days R&R on terra firma, those folks had left for their summer vacation. No answer on the phone and no answer to emails. I even drove up there. The boatyard is about half an hour\u2019s drive outside Norrtalje at the end of a windy and deserted road framed by a thick Swedish pine forest. The place was deserted. It had plenty of sheds with perhaps half a dozen boats already in situ<\/em> for the winter. But it had a creepy, post apocalyptic feel to it. Peering through the office I saw papers on the floor and dust on the desk. It looked like it hadn\u2019t been used for a while. I half expected to see Rick Grimes and a herd of walkers emerge from the trees\u2026.<\/p>\n

\"Short
Short back and sides please, Mr. Crane<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I drove back to Rimbo to research my options and ask my Swedish host for his advice. The Grepen Marine Batvarv in Oregrund recommended by Mia would have been my first choice, but it was a long 2-3 day sail from Stockholm and my son had come down with a nasty case of strep throat, delaying my departure and forcing me to find somewhere a little closer. Which is how I found Ramsmora Boat Yard on the southern side of the island of Ljuster\u00f6, about half a day\u2019s sail from Stockholm. They were more expensive than Grepen Marine (almost twice as much, in the end), but they were efficient, they had room for me, and best of all, they weren\u2019t away on vacation\u2026<\/p>\n

Which is why Tuesday, August 4th found me bidding a final farewell to the wonderful gasthamn<\/em> at Wasahamnen and motoring east then north east down the busy main channel that links Stockholm with the archipelago and the Baltic. At Granholmen, (about 8nm away) I turned north and passed the historic fortress of Vaxholm, then threaded the needle between several small islands until I cleared Scarpo. This is the route of the large ferries heading to both Riga and St. Petersburg so it requires plenty of attention and given some of the narrow passes involved, I kept the engine on and the sails down.<\/p>\n

Approaching Grinda about 5nm later, I carefully negotiated a tight pass between two menacing-looking rocks with perhaps ten feet of clearance either side. That done, I found myself at the southern end of the island of Ljuster\u00f6, looking for an inlet which heads north towards the town of Storstr\u00f6m. Three miles up this inlet on the port side, nestled between the requisite Swedish forest and a smattering of country houses is Ramsmora Batvarv, a very well equipped facility with five piers, a manual crane, a boat lift, and a well-equipped club house, for want of a better word, with kitchen, showers and even a small cr\u00e8che for the kids.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n