Sailing from Gotenburg

[Whiskey Bravo]

For those of you who answered my pleas for Baltic sailing advice, many thanks and it's been saved for next year.

However, for a number of reasons too mundane to go into, we've ended up chartering a Hanse 350 from Gotenburg on Sweden's west coast. Any recommendations for places to visit most welcome, also any opinons about the yacht.

Many thanks.

 

[johnalison]

On the whole, the best scenery is to the north of Gothenburg, pronounced something like yerteburra. When you get your charts you will see that the way north can, if you wish, be almost all in sheltered water through the archipelago, which can be a great help if it blows hard from the west, as happened to us.

I would recommend that you vary your destinations between large towns, small harbours, and wild anchorages among the islands. From Gothenburg, you can go via Store Dyron perhaps to Marstrand, best out of season, where there is a castle and always plenty to see. From there you could go to Karingon, pronounced Sheringa, where there is a famous fish restaurant "Petersen's Kro" or Gullholmen. This is the area of Yacht building, with HR at Ellos and Naiad at Henan, which is quite a nice shopping centre.

From there, you will probably want to see Smogen, though Store Korno on the way is nice. Going further, I will just mention a few, Fyallbacka, Grebbestad, and the Koster Islands & Stromstad. Grebbestad gives access to their rock-carvings, which are a World Heritage Site.

The whole area is covered by one chart pack, but there are also guide books in Engish, and a free harbour guide. You may want to get a book on anchorages. these are mostly bought from book shops, though there is a chandlers' in Gothenburg at Lilla Bommen. Remember that there is a law that says that you can walk everywhere except where it is specifically forbidden. You are bound to get great sailing.

 

[BabaYaga]

It much depends on what kind of landscape/seascape you prefer and also on how much time you have.
From Gothenburg and northwards up to the Norwegian border and beyond the coastline is archipelagic, with thousands of unhabited islands and skerries. Lots of underwater rocks.
This area attracts many boaters and it can be crowded, especially in July. Marstrand should not be missed and to mention just a handful other places well worth visiting: Gullholmen, Fiskebäckskil, Fjällbacka, Koster Islands.
South from Gothenburg the Swedish coastline is open, lowlying and less interesting. However, the Danish side of the Kattegatt offers some nice sailing destinations like Skagen, Saeby, the Limfjord and islands Laesoe and Anholt. You will see a lot of small fishing harbours and long sandy beaches on this side.
If you have a little more time a trip over the Skagerrak to the Norgvegian south east coast is again something different. Higher and steeper mountains, more overgrown. Places like Risoer and Lyngoer are very nice destinations.

 

[richardsn9]

Check if the boat comes with an aerial photo guide - I think it is called something like Tre Veckor in Bohuslan (apologies for the hopeless Swedish!) This has very good photos of the nature harbours where you can nose in and tie up to rings in the rock, or put in your own metal pegs.
These are a fantastic way to get a feel for this area. Also take lots of mosquito repellant and check to see if the hatches have insect shields. If not take a couple of metres of net curtain mesh with you!

Don't let this put you off - it is a fantastic area to cruise.

 

[johnalison]

I've been up this coast a couple of times, but we had no insect problems either time, so I suspect it depends on the weather.

We had the book you refer to and found it very helpful the rather few times we visited these "naturhamn". Tying up to a rock is an art in itself, especially when other boats are involved. The Swedish practice in busy harbours or moorings is to ignore the fact that all the places are taken and push the bows into any slight gap and power your way in while pushing the craft either side away. With a chartered boat this should be a piece of cake.

Sailing among rocks can be a bit alarming at first, due to the sheer numbers, but a little planning can make things easier. My practice was to examine the chart before setting off and identify those rocks within half a mile or so of my intended track that were less than 2m. All the other rocks were therefore either visible or non-dangerous. Usually there would be only two or three rocks in a 30 mile trip that I had to worry about and I would put a pencil line round them.

 

[Woodlouse]

Most of the archipelago on the west coast is barren and rocky I seem to remember. Insects were quite a problem too but only at dusk and night. Most boats seemed to have bimini's that had zip up sides and as soon as it started to get dark everyone retreated into these little tents. I'd recommend taking a mossie net just in case.

If you want to go a little further the east coast of Norway has some fantastic cruising and very few things to eat you. It's about 100 miles or so from Goteborg.

You first stop however should be a quick trip to Skagen in Denmark which isn't very far at all. You can then get your duty free and not have to worry about the extortionate swedish prices for booze.