Cruisingchute2019

Darłowo, pronounced Darwovo, was our second stop on our Polish coastal tour. The sail from Kolobrzeg was, if the boat was to sail in a straight line, 33 miles, unfortunately the wind was not westerly as forecast (now there’s a surprise) and the northerly wind blew us off course, so 54 miles later and three hours longer than planned we arrived. It was a nice enough day though so Colin got the rod out to catch our dinner, 2 got away but he caught the 3rd Garfish; a long fish with green pigment in its bones and scales – although long, one was not really enough for a good dinner for 2 hungry sailors!

Darłowo marina is along the river, behind the pedestrian bridge which retracts along rails onto the road behind, to allow vessels to pass. This part of the town is a holiday resort with many cafes and souvenir/trinket shops, we enjoyed wandering around.

The old town is 2 miles along the river and has some interesting museums and little shops and cafes. In the town square was being prepared for a concert and, as it was so hot, a water spray gantry/goal post had been set up.

St Mary’s church, just off the square, was a peaceful place, it also lovely and cool on such a hot day. The sarcophagus in the centre belongs to King Eric of Scandinavia, he was deposed in 1439 and fled to Pomerania where he became a pirate, plundering Scandinavian ships.

A long sail demands an early start, 5am sunrise over Rugen.

at 5.40 we buzzed a yacht anchored in 6 metres of water more than a mile off shore

the cruising chute was raised again, for the sailors we were making 5 knots in 7 knots of wind.

Just outside the entrance to Kolobrzeg we thought we were about to be boarded again, but the boat with the big gun turned out to be a party boat!

and inside the harbour there were more party boats.

The harbour entrance has substantial sea defences

On the ferry between Altefahr and Stralsund, off to buy paper charts for Poland.

The sun is out! Only in Germany would you take your dog for a paddle!

The signets have fledged, there was a little family in Stralsund.

Heading for the Bascule Bridge at Stralsund, it open at 0820 and there are 18 yachts waiting.

and our Blog’s namesake – the Cruising Chute is up for the first time this season.

I have to say the hassle getting it out of its locker has been the delay, but now that its out …..

Thiessow our last anchorage in Germany until mid July when we’ll be back for a very

important catch-up with Anne and Brian

We are heading to Poland tomorrow, hence the purchase of charts of the Polish coast. Claire’s friend, Joanna, has given us audio of the necessary words required for survival in Poland including Hello, Good Bye, and the all important 2 beers please. Our first stop is 75 miles from Thiessow, on the southern tip of Rugen, Germany to Kolobrzeg, Poland. There is, of course, a plan B in case the forecast is wrong!

We decided to travel light to go home to see family and friends, but this was going too far. We had had a lovely few days in Berlin on the way home but it wasn’t until we were on the bus from Edinburgh to Dundee that I thought about looking for the house keys (which also have the car key attached) – um! no keys were found. Luckily our son, Craig, and our neighbour were able to help with house keys. We decided, initially, not to hire a car but instead to use Colin’s scooter, so I rode pillion for 3 days before we gave in – thank you Avis.

One of the reason we came home was to see our little grandson, but the poor little sole, at 11 weeks, had contracted chickenpox. Most of the time he was happy to see us though. It was really nice that Aunty Claire was able to visit when we were at home.

Matthew’s new outfit from Aunty Claire.

A lovely day spent with family at Blair Atholl,

these pictures were taken in Hercules’ Garden

Mum and Dad, Craig and Claire, happy for Aunty Claire to spend as much time

as possible with Matthew

Matthew’s mummy is very funny and he is so happy his chicken pox have gone.

Arrival in Berlin via the Hauptbanholf was daunting, this train station is huge, probably on a par with a medium sized town, but we found our way out and hit the streets – we only had 2 days to see as much as possible.

Behind the very impressive Brandenburg Gate was an Ecological Street Fair, there were many stalls advertising and selling ecological foods and services. Also on this day cyclists were out in force to protest for better care from drivers, we saw thousands of cyclists supporting the cause. There were a couple of cyclists towing trailers with massive speakers pumping out music.

Checkpoint Charlie, is something you have to see on your first visit to Berlin, now a tourist destination. Across the road is The Wall Panorama, what looks like a silo is actually a very informative information centre about the wall, including a life sized digital panorama photograph of life around the wall, our photograph only shows a third of the actual work.

The Trabant Museum

Then we found, what we think is the biggest Bierkeller we have ever seen, complete with an oompah band. A great night.

Berlin’s Tiergarden is an oasis in the city centre

Stralsund is typical of northern German cities, construction of the ‘important’ buildings (church and town hall) commenced in 1270, the city having been founded in1234.

Wednesday is Regatta night in Stralsund, we counted 54 yachts taking part. The Search and Rescue boat was launched ‘just in case’ – there were certainly a lot of close calls!

The ship’s cat needs to be walked too!

We’ve spoken about the narrow shipping channels, and how it is so important to stay within them, the first picture shows clearly the shallow water just outside the channel, the second shows a sandbank which is normally covered by 12 or so inches of water, but not today, it about 12″ above the water.

The baltic sea doesn’t have tides as such, but there are some strong currents which are exacerbated by the wind, this was the case in 1872 and 1874 when storms brought flooding to the the area

We heard the rustle of sails come to our boat and were surprised when we looked out to see this little girl helming/tacking up the channel, her father was working the sails. The little girl, who must only have been around 8 or 9 years old, had to stand on her tiptoes to see over the sprayhood. You need to understand, it was quite windy at around 15 knots and it was very short tacks around 3-5 minutes before taking again. On one side of the channel was reads, the other side was moored boats. Her father was not giving her instructions as he had his hands full with the headsail, she was doing a fantastic job, all credit to her.

I mentioned the Zingst Art Festival in my last post, these are some of the exhibitions we came across. Some of the big pictures were on garage doors.

Zingst and Darss is mostly national park and entry to parts of the area is very strictly monitored. The Boddans (inland lakes) in the whole area are very shallow, so careful pilotage along narrow channels is imperative, it is worrying when you meet the ferry which makes no allowances for smaller boats!

We noticed the water inside the was quite green, having very little flow; at one inlet we saw around 15 large dead fish giving the impression that the water is stagnant, so even if the water/air was warm it would not entice us to swim.

After our long and difficult sail from Rostock, Barhoft was our first stop. The harbour was quiet, as have all we stayed in so far, I think lulling us into a false sense of security as, if Denmark is anything to go by last year, it will be very busy in late June and July. The swallows here were very friendly but I wouldn’t like to be on the wrong side of the seagull’s beak.

Then on to Barth for a few days, as we entered the harbour we heard the shouts of ein, zwei, drei and so on, from the cox to his ten rowers as they powered through the calm waters. We walked the path of the town wall, only 3 gates and a few metres of wall remain, an interesting town with lovely cobbled streets.

We had read that a prisoner of war camp (Stalag Luft 1) memorial was close by, so set off on the bikes in search of it. The third photograph explains in English.

In Barth we had a visit from the Bundespolizei to check we were in the country legally – they were very serious when asking us questions. They declined Colin’s invitation to come onboard because of their heavy boots! Then they went off in search of other foreigners.

Another quite harbour in Zingst, with a modern ‘Paddle Streamer’ in the distance.

A photographic and art festival is running in Zingst between 25 May – 30 June 2019, with permanent exhibitions and workshops running daily. Pictures are exhibited throughout the town, even on residential garage doors. One exhibition on the beach refers to plastics etc on the beaches and seas. We found mirrored statues in the forest on our cycle ride to Prerow (against the wind), the ride back to Zingst was easy though.

Our plan had been to sail further along the channel to Prerow, but after re-checking the charts and locals telling us that they had touched the bottom with their boat which has a shallower draft than ours. These are the road and rail bridges we would have had to pass to continue through the reeds to Prerow. Picture 4 shows a dredger keeping the channel at a fairly accurate depth.

From Warnemunde it was just a 6 mile trip down the Warnow to Rostock, we decided to berth at the sailing club marina close to the centre of town. Rostock is an interesting town, which although took considerable war damage there are many old buildings remaining. As well as small parts of the city walls, 3 of the 22 original city gates remain. The only thing was disturbed/annoyed was the indiscriminate graffiti on very old and new buildings alike.

There is a strong cafe culture, to the extent that this cafe/bar is perched on the quay and consists of old shipping containers, decking and pallets.

Saturday was a beautiful day which brought the ‘young ones’ to the river in the evening. With them they brought small barbeques complete with bags of coals, food to cook and crates of beer. There was no problem, no one appeared to drink too much and everyone was having fun.

We visited Marian Kirche as we had been told to look out for an atronomical clock dating from 1472. The bottom calendar, which is now valid until 2150, having had the 4th table fitted in 2017, the previous one lasted from 1885-2017. The medieval clock is the only one of its kind still in working conditon with its original clockworks.

Also in the church was a magnificent organ and a tiny one too!

This is St Nicholas Church, the main part has now been converted into an Art Exhibition Centre, the roof space has been converted into apartments, complete with balconies for retired clergy – we thought this was an excellent use of a disused building.

We tried to see the Stasi Museum, (looks like the apartment buildings surrounding it) unfortunately it is closed for refurbishment. This establishment was where prisoners were held pre-trial, 4900 people, mostly political prisoners were held interrogated in Rostock before sentencing. Visitors would normally be able to wander into cells and get the true sense of the conditions prisoners had to endure, the storyboards tell the histoy of the Stasi and its activities and methods.

Two sides of Germany the new weather station information and the old (rock wet = it’s raining, stone dry = it’s not raining).

We enjoyed watching these 8 to 10 year olds sailing their Optimists in between the berthed yachts in quite strong winds for such little people.

A couple of very law-abiding fishermen with their anchor ball up, regulations state that, when a boat has laid their anchor a black ball should be raised so that other boaters are aware of the situation, but this is the first time we have seen such a small boat raising one.