Practical_Boat_Owner_-_November_2015_

Useful resources

Q DFDS Seaways provide

the last remaining North Sea

crossings (http://freight.

dfdsseaways.com/DFDS_

ferries/North_Sea_ferries).

Since our crossing, the

Tilbury-Göteburg route seems

to have been discontinued,

but the Immingham-Göteborg

route remains.

Q Swedish leisure charts

(www.sjofartsverket.se/en).

The Swedish Maritime Agency

(Sjofartsverket) provides folios

of charts (Båtsportkort) for small

craft, which are the best-value

printed charts for this part of

the Baltic.

Q Arholma – Landsort and

Gotland by Lars Hässler and

Lars Granath, published by

Nautiska Forlaget, 2007. This

excellent pilot book shows

natural harbours, as well

as guest harbours in the

archipelago. It has supremely

detailed chartlets of the natural

harbours, indicating hazards

and exact spots to tie up. The

English version is out of print,

but is sometimes offered

second-hand: however, the

Swedish language one would

still be very useful (perhaps

used with a dictionary), as the

charts work in any language!

Q The Cruising Association

(www.theca.org.uk). It’s worth

considering joining the CA,

as they have a lot of useful

information available to

members. The cruising

guides are very useful, and

I also attended their annual

Baltic seminar before travelling,

which provided me with a lot

of background information.

Their Baltic forum was a useful

place to ask questions and

seek advice.

Q Navionics tablet app.

The detail in these charts is

excellent, and it was very useful

to be able to zoom right in

when navigating between

islands with each group. I

found that my tablet battery

coped well with being in use

all day, although I tended to

switch the screen off if I did

not need it. Two important

hints would be to make sure

you have downloaded all the

chart area that you need when

you have access to Wi-Fi, and

also to make sure that your

tablet continues the GPS track

when the tablet is in standby

(screen off).

Lönnskär
The northernmost island we
visited, this is quite high and
very steep-sided. It is covered
with thick pine forest, where
delicious blueberries can be
found. There is a very sheltered
natural harbour, and it is pleasant
to walk up to the top of the steep
rocks and look down on the
moored boats.

Norrpada
This small island group is made
from high smooth rounded rocks.
Taller than most islands, there are
more trees too. It’s well worth
walking to the summit for the
wonderful views.

Rödlöga and
Rödlöga Skärgård
These two neighbouring
island groups are made of
a characteristic pink rock, from
which their name is derived.
The main island of Rödlöga has
an excellent shop (including
petrol, gas and a water tap) and

a busy sheltered harbour. The

secluded natural harbour at

Anskäret in the Rödlöga

skärgård is also worth a visit.

Svartlöga

Svartlöga’s name comes from

its dark appearance from the

sea. It’s low-lying, and much of

it is covered in forest. There is

a quay for the passenger ferry

at the eastern end, as well as a

smaller jetty suitable for craft of

shallow draught. The pretty main

village with its red and white

houses and beautiful harbour

(with ice cream hut!) is on the

south side. This island is not

often visited by cruising yachts,

due to the large number of

rocks to negotiate. The island

is busy in the summer with

people coming and going by

ferry, but there are few

year-round residents.

Svenska Högarna

This is the last group of islands

in the archipelago before the

open sea begins, and much

more exposed than most of the

other islands we visited. The

natural anchorage is particularly

sheltered, though. There is

little vegetation on the island,

but it is well worth visiting for

its landmark 19th century iron

lighthouse. Climbing the 18m

to the top will be rewarded with

wonderful views across the

archipelago. Despite the limited

vegetation, there is also much

wildlife to be seen here.

Wild mooring and
natural anchorages
Conditions in the Baltic are
very different to the UK and,
consequently, mooring is also
very different. These islands were
carved by glaciers, which melted
to leave large areas of smooth rock
and few anchorages with good
holding. The Swedes rarely
anchor, it seems, so if you wanted
to drop the pin rather than moor,
those anchorages there are always
seem to be available.
Most islands in the archipelago
are fringed with steep-sided flat
rocks which, coupled with lack
of tides, means that it is usually
possible to moor almost touching
the rock. Most islands have natural
harbours where it is possible to
bring a yacht within inches of the
rock, and the distribution of these
is such that there is always good
shelter available, whatever the
wind direction.
The method of mooring is to
drop a stern anchor, motor toward
the rock, secure the bow with lines
ashore and then pull the lines tight
by taking in the anchor warp. Many
natural harbours have rings or
spikes provided, which makes
mooring very easy. In locations
without permanent fittings, I always
found rocks or trees to which I
could secure. The use of mallets
to drive in mooring spikes is
discouraged, as this breaks up the
rock. Baltic yachts are designed to

Using rocks to tie off at

Södra Lönnskär

be boarded via the bow, which can

even overhang the rock. Aurora

has a bowsprit, which sometimes

served the same purpose.

I found it an advantage to have a

good selection of long warps, and

often had to double up warps in

order to reach a suitable point to

tie off. Larger yachts usually carry

a stern anchor on a tape reel but

Aurora does not have room for

this, so I moved the bow anchor

to the stern each time we used

a natural harbour.

Trailer-sailer to the Baltic

The rain cover was deployed

at Rödlöga Skärgård

A tell-tale line of seabirds

marking low-lying rocks.

INSET A sea eagle