Shelburne Farms: The Farm Barn (Vermont, USA)
44°23.743’ N 073°16.490’ W
Lake Champlain Maritime Museum (Vermont, USA)
44.2017°N 073.3585°W
Otter Creek Basin, Vergennes Municipal Dock (Vermont, USA)
44.1673°N 073.2540°W
Stockholm 59.33242°N, 18.07707°E - I purchased the plane tickets in a hurry, those WOW air sales are very short lived, and didn’t realize that in March attractions in Stockholm are still under the winter schedule or are simply closed for the season. It was a real disappointment when we realized we wouldn’t be able to explore all those islands we were hoping to see.
We, in Montreal, were stuck under half a meter of snow but Sweden was already showing off green grass, flowering daffodils and blooming hyacinths. How could it possibly be winter? It seemed odd, but somehow cars were still driving around with studded winter tires. There would be no boat tours of the archipelago for us!
However, we were not going to let something as mundane as a bit of winter get in the way of spending time on the water so… we found a winter cruise!
That’s how we ended up boarding a small vessel with an upper deck lined with park chairs and reindeer hides. Boy was I excited to get going comfortably seated on warm insulating fur with the sun shining on my face! For a little over an hour we got to sail around the two main bays and made it as far as Fjäderholmarna island before turning around straight into the wind and coming back to the dock in Östermalm. That western leg made me miss my foul weather gear so very much – it was still winter in Sweden and I was wearing a light rain coat on a boat going upwind. So much for smart choices and limited baggage allowance.
On that leg back, Michel eventually emerged from the lower deck where he had been keeping warm – we now know who the smart one is – and pointed to an aluminum sailboat moored in a marina. Could it be? I got the camera out, zoomed in and… it was. There was an Ovni 445 in Stockholm! First time we had seen one in the flesh (aluminum actually)… and it was even sexier than on video.
We somehow walked by that exact marina the next day and Michel got a glimpse of the vessel’s name and contacted the owners through their blog. After a few years back in the daily grind I had almost forgotten how friendly cruisers are and before knowing it, we were invited onboard.
We were greeted by Valérie, François and their friendly cat Pirate who shared their story and told us all about the 445 and cruising Scandinavia. As if that wasn’t enough, we found out that there was not one Ovni 445 in Stockholm but two; and it was just over on the next dock. What a day! I won’t repeat what we’ve learned, it’ll be best if you simply go straight to their blog and read it for yourself. Need I say we left the marina with even more ideas and extra motivation to figure out how to make this possible?
Anyone thinking at this point that we’re a little weird, please understand that aluminum sailboats with lifting keels are a very rare sight in our part of the world (apart from Léane of course!). Alubat, the builder, doesn’t bother to show up at the Annapolis or Toronto boat show, we’re not their target market; so all we have is digital content. Workmanship, comfort and nifty details can’t be conveyed in a picture. Hence the excitement of having access to the actual boat.
Here’s the blog: http://les-voyages-de-cybele.blogspot.ca/
Ladies, Valérie suggested interesting Facebook groups, please have a look:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/WomenWhoSail (Worldwide)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/femmesenbateau (Worldwide in French)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/848787498589221 (Northern Europe)
We, in Montreal, were stuck under half a meter of snow but Sweden was already showing off green grass, flowering daffodils and blooming hyacinths. How could it possibly be winter? It seemed odd, but somehow cars were still driving around with studded winter tires. There would be no boat tours of the archipelago for us!
However, we were not going to let something as mundane as a bit of winter get in the way of spending time on the water so… we found a winter cruise!
That’s how we ended up boarding a small vessel with an upper deck lined with park chairs and reindeer hides. Boy was I excited to get going comfortably seated on warm insulating fur with the sun shining on my face! For a little over an hour we got to sail around the two main bays and made it as far as Fjäderholmarna island before turning around straight into the wind and coming back to the dock in Östermalm. That western leg made me miss my foul weather gear so very much – it was still winter in Sweden and I was wearing a light rain coat on a boat going upwind. So much for smart choices and limited baggage allowance.
On that leg back, Michel eventually emerged from the lower deck where he had been keeping warm – we now know who the smart one is – and pointed to an aluminum sailboat moored in a marina. Could it be? I got the camera out, zoomed in and… it was. There was an Ovni 445 in Stockholm! First time we had seen one in the flesh (aluminum actually)… and it was even sexier than on video.
We somehow walked by that exact marina the next day and Michel got a glimpse of the vessel’s name and contacted the owners through their blog. After a few years back in the daily grind I had almost forgotten how friendly cruisers are and before knowing it, we were invited onboard.
We were greeted by Valérie, François and their friendly cat Pirate who shared their story and told us all about the 445 and cruising Scandinavia. As if that wasn’t enough, we found out that there was not one Ovni 445 in Stockholm but two; and it was just over on the next dock. What a day! I won’t repeat what we’ve learned, it’ll be best if you simply go straight to their blog and read it for yourself. Need I say we left the marina with even more ideas and extra motivation to figure out how to make this possible?
Anyone thinking at this point that we’re a little weird, please understand that aluminum sailboats with lifting keels are a very rare sight in our part of the world (apart from Léane of course!). Alubat, the builder, doesn’t bother to show up at the Annapolis or Toronto boat show, we’re not their target market; so all we have is digital content. Workmanship, comfort and nifty details can’t be conveyed in a picture. Hence the excitement of having access to the actual boat.
Here’s the blog: http://les-voyages-de-cybele.blogspot.ca/
Ladies, Valérie suggested interesting Facebook groups, please have a look:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/WomenWhoSail (Worldwide)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/femmesenbateau (Worldwide in French)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/848787498589221 (Northern Europe)
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| M/S Angantyr |
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| Upper deck. The reindeer hides do shed quite a bit, but they are perfect to keep warm. |
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| Södermalm |
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| Beckholmen: Shipyard with the coolest crane paint ever! |
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| Fjäderholmarna |
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| Can that be? Yep, that's an Ovni 445 in the hearth of Stockholm! |
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| and a second one! |
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Stockholm 59.32399°N 18.06279°E - Sweden first came up about 15 years ago when I looked up the University of Göteborg for specialized engineering courses. As always, things took another direction and the Swedish plan got shelved.
It was Season 7 of the Distant Shores series that brought Scandinavia back on the map for us. This northern cruising ground checks every box in the list: not crowded, extremely safe, remote enough with the right balance between wilderness and cultural attractions. Summer sailing offers endless hours of daylight and the major cities are built right on the water, which means marinas are literally downtown! When you factor in the fact that after a single winter in the Bahamas my skin made it clear that there is such a thing as too much sun, Scandinavia had to be added to the “where to next” list. How we were going to get there was discussed at length, with no final conclusion as of yet.
Leaving M to fend off 50 cm of fresh snow, we took a few days off from work and flew to Stockholm to visit the land of IKEA and Volvo. We didn’t sail in as we had hoped, but you’ve got to give it to flying: it’s so much faster!
Stockholm and its archipelago are the perfect place to visit if you miss the water like we usually do this time of year. It’s built on 14 different islands and the archipelago surrounding it contains more than 30 000 islands, islets and rocks. Starting in April, dozens of ferries and tour boats will be transporting passengers to and from its major islands. However, at this time of year, the departures are very limited as ice comes and goes in the harbour. The waters of the Baltic Sea are brackish so they do freeze. Lake Mälaren, just west of the city, also flows into the Baltic bringing an impressive amount of fresh water to the mix.
As proper tourists, we stayed in Gamla Stan. To our defense, the perspective of staying on a 1920’s yacht converted into a hotel was too good to pass. So we made the Lady Hutton our home for a few days. The strong westerly winds produced waves that made the boat rock; all we needed for a good night’s sleep.
Here are a few pictures. Stay tuned for more in the subsequent posts where I’ll tell you all about a winter cruise of the area, what great museums the Swedes have and an unexpected encounter with Cybele17 and her lovely owners!
It was Season 7 of the Distant Shores series that brought Scandinavia back on the map for us. This northern cruising ground checks every box in the list: not crowded, extremely safe, remote enough with the right balance between wilderness and cultural attractions. Summer sailing offers endless hours of daylight and the major cities are built right on the water, which means marinas are literally downtown! When you factor in the fact that after a single winter in the Bahamas my skin made it clear that there is such a thing as too much sun, Scandinavia had to be added to the “where to next” list. How we were going to get there was discussed at length, with no final conclusion as of yet.
Leaving M to fend off 50 cm of fresh snow, we took a few days off from work and flew to Stockholm to visit the land of IKEA and Volvo. We didn’t sail in as we had hoped, but you’ve got to give it to flying: it’s so much faster!
Stockholm and its archipelago are the perfect place to visit if you miss the water like we usually do this time of year. It’s built on 14 different islands and the archipelago surrounding it contains more than 30 000 islands, islets and rocks. Starting in April, dozens of ferries and tour boats will be transporting passengers to and from its major islands. However, at this time of year, the departures are very limited as ice comes and goes in the harbour. The waters of the Baltic Sea are brackish so they do freeze. Lake Mälaren, just west of the city, also flows into the Baltic bringing an impressive amount of fresh water to the mix.
As proper tourists, we stayed in Gamla Stan. To our defense, the perspective of staying on a 1920’s yacht converted into a hotel was too good to pass. So we made the Lady Hutton our home for a few days. The strong westerly winds produced waves that made the boat rock; all we needed for a good night’s sleep.
Here are a few pictures. Stay tuned for more in the subsequent posts where I’ll tell you all about a winter cruise of the area, what great museums the Swedes have and an unexpected encounter with Cybele17 and her lovely owners!
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| Riddarhuset on Gamla Stan |
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| Sotckholm Stadus (City Hall), home of the Nobel Prize banquet |
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| Fishing in downtown Stockholm; no licence required. |
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| Vantage point on Djugården island |
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| Spending winter in the water at Djugården island |
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| Got to love those lanterns! They're all over town and make the place feel so cosy at night. |
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| Nordiska Museet in the background |
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| Enjoying the view |
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| Sculpture park at the Moderna Museet |
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| Sjö & Land restaurant, used to be a storage barge for gas cylinders in the 1920s |
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| Liveaboards in Östermalm |
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| Just wow! That takes the crochet blanket to a whole new level. |
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| Storkyrkan Cathedral in Gamla Stan |
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| Kastellholmen island in the background |
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| The Lady Hutton, now the Mälardronttningen (Queen of Lake Mälaren) Hote,l is permanently moored at Riddarholmen |
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| View from Södermalm |
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| One of the many canals where people can swim in the summer |
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Stortorget in Gamla Stan
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Bonjour and welcome
We're Caroline and Michel.
Water Music is back in the North, looking forward to the next leg of her voyages.
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