Baltic Cruise ....

[Refueler]

Looks like I shall be sorting out return to my Annual Baltic Cruise trips late summer this year.

I usually leave it to the late summer to get advantage of usually lower winds and better seas. Its also still warm days but nights are cooler as Superanne is too small to have air conditioning ! If weather is really good - as often the case - sleeping al a cockpit is the best.

Its a bit of a trip across Baltic via Gotland (18hrs approx each of the two legs) ... but its magic ...



Farosund (Gotland) is like stepping back a few years ... quiet and peaceful. Short 3 - 4 hour stop to top up fuel - have something to eat ashore ...





In the Swedish Archipelago - once of the finest cruising grounds ever - no tides ... most places are free to tie up to trees etc ... water warm brackish .... brilliant.





Some stops have a bit of night life as well .. dancing / singing ... BBQ's ...





I spent childhood and a large part of my adulthood cruising South Coast of England - based out of the Solent, but experiencing the Baltic was an eye opener. My plans are to keep Superanne for river / short trip stuff but to find a larger more comfortable boat ... my ideal would have been the Moody Eclipse 43 - but they are hard to find one in good condition and sensible price.

I am always open for people who would want to enjoy relaxed sailing over here ... I'm one of the most easy going people on a boat ... and have no problem letting others decide where to go / do ... its all in the enjoyment and fun.

 

[johnalison]

I was suspicious about what was in the packet on your meal table, but on closer inspection it appears to be Sangria, for which you may be forgiven.

I too have a long association with the south Coast and West Country, as a visitor only, but came to relish our trips to the Baltic, although we confined ourselves to the Southern Baltic apart from a couple of cruises up to Bohuslan. There are perhaps a dozen or two places to visit in the West Country, but in the Baltic there will often be a similar number within a morning's sail.

There are several things that draw me there, such as the historic cities


small harbours that have never seen a British boat:

impromptu food and drink

and interminable sunsets that make photography easy:

Stralsund, Freest, Stralsund, and Gudhjem

 

[Refueler]

I may have posted pics of drinking - but I'm not daft enough to get drunk in charge !

One cruise - we went from Swedish Archipelago to the Finnish - but instead of going over the top from Mariehamn ... we went via the south - which is shallow and strewn with hidden rocks etc. When we arrived at first harbour ... they were surprised we came that way ... as even locals treat it with caution.

Its a marvellous cruising area and seems to get better the more north you get.

 

[johnalison]

Further north does get better on Sweden's west coast too but as we got older the distances involved seemed less appealing. That is the point of the Baltic; there is something for everyone, more or less.

 

[Refueler]

I'm West Latvia HLR for Cruising Assoc ... and I am always amazed at the age and ability of many of the CA boats I get to visit. I know its not till older that time and money is on side to do it ...

But its good to see so many enjoying the seas.