Cruisingchute2019

After our friends left us in Greifswald, we turned south west heading back to Poland, on our way we tied up to a post at Wolgast, on the Peenestrom, waiting for the bridge to open.

Whilst there we saw a River Cruise Ship heading toward the bridge from the south side, we were very surprised to see it was not concerned that the bridge was closed and in fact was heading for a section of bridge that would never open. Then we saw that the ship’s bridge (control cabin), passenger sun shade, and two aerial masts were being lowered so that ship could motor under the bridge. The first picture shows all sections lowered, the second and third pictures see the bridge cabin raised and the aerials being raised so normal working could resume.

On the south side of the bridge were shipbuilding yards; these military vessels were destined for Saudi Arabia.

Then this beautiful Schooner passed us later that evening.

These ships passed us in the Kanal Piastowski, which leads from Baltic Sea, passing Swinoujscie, to the Wielki Zalew or Stettiner Haff. This stretch of water is shared by Poland and Germany, hence two names. The second ship is very low in the water and caused Colin great concern!

Finally, the little harbour of Lubczyna, near the Polish city of Szczecin, has used a wrecked ship as part of their marina quay, they filled the boat with soil and planted grass and trees.

This is a first for us, we know that Cormorants and Shags like to perch on posts and rocks, but this is the first time we have seen them perching on a tree. We had no idea webbed feet would allow for gripping branches.

These White Storks were not bothered by the tractor driving up and down the field, hardly moving when it came close, they were only interested in foraging in the cut grass. They are big birds and can have a wingspan of just over two metres

Our friends, had travelled from Australia to Britain to visit friends and family and found time to come sailing with us for a few days. We met in Stralsund, before setting off on our little trip, Colin and I had not been to any of the places we planned to visit so it was all very exciting.

In Lauterbach, there was a funfair set up on the quay, a live band also played into the evening, don’t be fooled by Anne’s cup of tea! Brian had brought a ‘courtesy flag’, it was much the same size as Australia!

Then on to Freest and Peenemunde. Freest is a fishing harbour with a yacht club marina cut into the reeds, we were very unsure about entering but after re-checking the pilot-book we gingerly made our way into the marina.

Peenemunde in a beautiful area, however in the past Hitler’s regime built a power station, the power station’s purpose was to produce liquid oxygen for rocket fuel not electricity! It was the test sites for both the V1 (the Flying bomb) and V2 rockets, but they were developed separately with some competition between the projects. The area is now a museum informing of how, after the end of WW2, the rocket scientists were divided between the allies and then helped to develop space rockets etc that eventually went to the moon and back.

On to Wolgast, further down the Peenestrom. The post in the Square denotes all of the trades of the town.

Saving the day – on our way to Wieck we saw a man trying to push his motorboat off a sandbank. We offered assistance turning into the shallows, the man then walked towards us, he then had to swim the last 50 metres to catch a rope from us. It was very tiring for him as the rope was heavy and being dragged by current. He was very thankful and we were pleased to have been able to help.

Wieck is a nice town with an old wooden hand driven lifting bridge, we found a model of the bridge too. The fourth picture is a flood boom, we saw evidence that there had been flooding of over a metre.

Greifswald was our last stop before we had to say goodbye to Anne and Brian, it is also the site of the second largest Yacht manufacturing facility in the world. They build the Hanse, Moody, Dehler sailing Yachts plus the Sealine and Fjord motor boats.

Back in Germany we anchored again in Theissow, at the south of Rugen, where the sky turned thunderous.

After spending a couple of nights at anchor in Theissow it was time to move on to Seedorf. We had a nice sail but after passing the structure in the picture below our sailing instruments ‘threw a wobbly’, we had to do a quick turn to port to avoid going aground. We are sure passing the old ‘ship demagnetisation offshore platform’ (from DDR times) should have had no effect our instruments, but it is a bit of a coincidence that it happened. By the time we arrived in Seedorf according to the Plotter we had sailed across the land!

Arrival at Seedorf was a treat, with reeds 2 metres high on both sides of the channel, boatsmen had cut the reeds away to make little private jetties.

The swan family parents were very protective of their young, to the extent the Father chased children from the water and us, in our boat, down the river to protect his little family – the noise was incredible.

At anchor again in Glewitzer Wiek (Rugen), young paddle boarder having some fun around 8.30pm then a spectacular sunset when they returned half an hour later. The lovely sunset was followed by a early misty morning.

We visited a Coastal Defence Museum on the Hel Pennisula, there were hundreds of military exhibitions, and although we found them very interesting, we thought the kitchen/cooks exhibit was really good, possibly because we hadn’t seen one before. An old army kitchen was being used to prepare food, so we stopped for some Pea and Sausage soup, I feel sure the soldiers would have been happy if they were fed what we had.

Approaching Ustka we could see plumes of smoke rising from the coast, we then realised that an Air Show was happening. The Harbour Master told us the harbour was closed until the show finished, so we drifted in calm waters and warm sunshine for an hour or so, and probably had the best view of the show.

Light winds brought out the cruising chute again, we saw this yacht in the distance and over the course of two hours we caught, passed and pulled away form him. Only for him to catch up with us again as we waited to enter Ustka harbour.

A dredger was working at the entrance to Ustka harbour, leaving a narrow passage, when we left next morning.

We celebrated our wedding anniversary on 17 July and amongst our good wishes we received a lovely photo of Matthew, now 4 months old, and a gift of flowers and Polish Amber from our new friends Wolfgang and Martina.

In Kolobrzeg, waiting for favourable winds to take us back to Germany, we found this monument by the beach.

Immediately after leaving Gdynia Harbour heading to Hel, 10 miles across Gdansk Bay, we noticed our log, which records speed and distance, was not recording. Colin withdrew the log impeller from the hull to find three sides we covered in crustaceans, once he had scraped them off everything was in working order again.

We had a little detour to Babie Doly Torpedownia which lies 6 miles north of Gdynia and half a mile from shore, the structure was used for torpedo testing between 1942 and 1945.

We circumnavigated at close range before heading to Hel (I love saying that), the fourth picture shows its size because a motor boat is passing by.

We thought we were being buzzed, but remembered that there is Polish Airforce base on shore at Babie Doly.

You might struggle to see the flags – we did, Polish fishermen use drift nets, which as the word indicates drift in the sea, the net is tied between two floating posts and are only 1 metre below the water line, so you have to be on the look-out at all times.

When we arrived in Hel the wind had increased considerably, the waves in the harbour were making the yachts on the inner quay bounce about.

In this video I’m talking about the weather and waves in the harbour, I hope you can hear, when I tested it for the blog there was no sound. What I am trying to explain is that it is very usual to have waves building up like this from inside a harbour. The heavy rain help to calm the waves but if you watch the blue yacht you’ll see the movement.

and finally, the fires of Hel at sunset, although the saying ‘Red sky at night, Shepherds delight’ was not true, as it did not bring us a nice next day.

For me, as an ordinary worker and trade union member, one of the highlights of our trip to Poland was to visit to the Solidarity (pronounced Solidarnosh in Polish) museum and its monument in Gdansk.

The new museum and monument are at the site of the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk where it all began. This was the first non-Government, workers trade union anywhere in any Communist country in the world and is credited to help bring the end of Communism in Europe.

One of its main founders (although by far not the only one) is Lech Walesa who worked at the shipyard as an electrician and went on to lead the union. He would later become the Poland’s President. He won lots of awards including in 1983 the Nobel Peace prize but was frightened to leave the country to collect it is case they wouldn’t let him back in again, his wife collected it on his behalf. He is still alive, I hope enjoying the fruits of his labour in retirement.

The troubles in the shipyards began not in the eighties but in 1970 where, in Gdynia, 40 shipyard workers on their way to work were shot dead.

It was not until 1980, with the country struggling, when a female shipyard crane operator was sacked that the strikes started again and the union was formed. It grew from an industrial strike to a political one very quickly and a list of 21 demands were written on wooden boards and displayed at gate number two. The original boards are now inside protective Glass cases and have been added the the UNESCO Memory of the World Register

A link to Wikipedia and the 21 demands is below and should be looked at because some of the demands are for very basic things which you and I take for granted. Like food in the shops and better health service (now where have you heard that before) one of them even states “Bring the country out of its crisis situation”! (Now in Brexit Britain or an independent Scotland don’t you think that’s just what we need?) Pensions and even maternity leave. So this was huge.

A link to the 21 Solidarity demands

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/21_demands_of_MKS

Solidarity grew very quickly to a countrywide membership of nearly 10 million in the first year and the shipyard strikers won their case and from that the “Gdansk agreement” was signed.

It was not plain sailing however and late in 1981 the government backed by Moscow imposed Martial Law which lasted for around 2 years but the oppression lasted for nearer 7. There were 5000 Solidarity members arrested in the middle of the night. Solidarity was banned and went underground, still with over 70,000 members producing 500 newspapers before with worsening social condition and the country in a mess, the strikes restarted in the mines in the late 80s.

There was huge world wide support for the strikes and Solidarity including our own Dictator Margaret Thatcher, how different when the strikes are in someone else’s country. Thatcher used the army to bolster the police and antagonise the miners who were struggling to make ends meet. While that is not yet proven, I am convinced that in time, with the freedom of information, it will come out that what she did to our miners was criminal. Look how long it took for the Hillsborough disaster to rightly hold the Police to account.

I have never been on strike, but I was an apprentice in the seventies during the 3 day week. I think what went on during that time was too much, but what Thatcher did took it to far the other way. There is a need for unions just to keep unscrupulous employers in line and they need more power than they have at the moment. Run correctly, unions can be a force for good, just look at Poland.

Poland is a large country but with only a population of around 38 million and is a very different place now than before the strikes, a free country. One day soon, I hope Scotland will also be a free country.

Some views from to roof of the European Solidarity Centre (Museum)

We were unaware that the Baltic Sea Festival was on during the time we wanted to visit Gdansk, the Marina had been fully booked in advance so we booked an apartment in the old city and caught the train from Gdynia. We had three days exploring, eating, drinking and people watching.

This is outside the train station, pity about the KFC sign.

There are three gates, one behind the other, leading into this part of the old city. The Brama Gate, is the 16th century gate to the old town, is now an Information Centre, the second gate was the medieval court, prison and torture chamber but now houses the Amber Museum; the Golden Gate is next, this gate was built in 1614 to replace the Brama Gate, this has figures symbolising the qualities of the ideal citizen. Below you can see all three buildings/gates in a row.

Inside the Golden Gate were pictures of the devastation caused during WW2, but a few steps further brings you to the beautifully restored buildings and on either side of the river renovation and new builds continues.

These musicians were absolutely brilliant, but we couldn’t see what the other chap was up to!

We spent several hours at the Solidarity Centre, but this needs its own entry to the blog.

The Little Mill on one side of the road, on the other side of the road the Great Mill is being renovated into an apartment building.

A Romanesque Cellar was uncovered in 2005 and opened to the public in 2014. The cellar was the dining room and kitchen of the 13th century Dominican Monastery which had previously been on the site. The Cellar sits between St Nicholas church and the Indoor Market. I gathered from information boards that the wall of bones results from finding skeletons when digging new graves, the old bones were gathered and placed in one area, be it in cemetery plots, church annex and in this case the monastery cellar.

We stumbled on the Baltic Sea Festival celebrations, the music was aimed at Sea Shanties and there were obviously lots of boats. The evening of day three brought heavy rain, an Irish Band were singing but the rain was so heavy that the electricity fused, but as the saying goes – the show must go on, and it did with the audience cowering in the tents not hearing a word they were singing.

The lifting Bridge opens on the hour for half an hour

Dinner on our last night was in Tawerna Mestin, a traditional Kashubian (northern Polish) restaurant, which we had searched for. We met an English couple coming out who said they did not like the look of the place, we liked it and feel sorry that the couple didn’t stay to enjoy the wonderful food.

We stopped in Łeba, pronounced Weba, on our way to Gdynia, where we spent some time exploring and catching up on household chores. The bikes came out for a little trip into town. It was not one of my favourites, I’m not sure if that is because I just didn’t like the town or because I fell off my bike when I cycled over a drain cover.

All types of seafaring trips are available in Łeba from angling, galleon trips and jet boat rides.

It was an 04.20 start in calm seas and variable winds so we had a mixture of sailing conditions from full sail to cruising chute in light winds. The cruising chute was up for over 6 hours.

The approach to Gdynia Marina gives the impression you are heading toooooo close to the beach for comfort (the beach was packed, by the way, with people still in the sea after 9pm) but a quick turn to starboard bring you into the channel.

There is a large naval museum, split between the ships in the harbour and exhibitions on land.

Dar Pomorza, built in1909, was a sail training ship in Germany, France and Poland, Poland having acquired it in 1930. Dar Pomorza won the Cutty Sark Trophy in 1980, but was decommissioned in 1982.

Orp Blyskawica was a Destroyer built in Cowes by John Samuel White’s shipyard 1935 to 1937.

It’s 114 metres in length and only 11.3 metres width this allowed the ship to sail at 40 knots which is still very fast in todays world. Since 1976, Orp Blyskawica has been moored in Gdynia as a museum ship. (You can see how slim the ship and its bow is from the picture above, Colin says he’s ” not that big” 😂😂)

I’m sure it’s just the orientation of the Museum that aligns the guns over the bay to Russia!

We watched some children learning sailing skills. On the first day they were towed out in the Optimists dinghies without masts and sails, to get used to the swell and the water. The next day they were learning sailing techniques in the marina, but a few days later they were off on their own, it was brilliant to see them progress so quickly.

It was so nice to see firefighters stopping to repair a child’s balance bike.

On leaving Darlowo entrance there was signs of the sail to come, although the wind was with us and the journey time was as expected, it was a very uncomfortable 4 hours! The sea was hitting us on the back quarter giving Ceejay a rolling motion.

Entering Ustka we passed another ‘Galleon’, we can’t believe how many there are.

The pedestrian swing bridge closes on the hour for 20 minutes, it then remains open for 40 minutes to allow free movement of vessels. We were disappointed, that after a horrible sail, there was no room in the harbour for us and we had to tie up in the river against the quay; so not a peaceful night because of the sea swell coming up the river mixed with constant movement of fishing boats.

The town itself is nice though, part traditional and part resort with sandy beaches on both sides of the river.

We had dinner at Ustka Restaurant, our meals were very tasty, as we left we thanked the owner, he informed us that we were one of his first customers: the restaurant only having opened 4 hours earlier. The owner also told us, and showed us the calluses to prove, that he had chiselled the picture on the main wall – my apologies to the family having their dinner!