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Longbow of Argyll - Baltic Rally 4: Bornholm to Gotland



We left Bornholm early in the morning after a helpful tow off a windward-facing dock from the lead boat, Working on a Dream. We headed straight into a 20kt breeze with reefed main and staysail, and made fast but bouncy progress northwards to the Swedish mainland coast. We anchored overnight in calm waters just off Karlskrone for 5 hours to give the weary and slightly battered-feeling crew some rest.

At 4am we upped anchor and headed east towards Oland under motor power. We spent another rough day bashing our way east and then north in confused seas. The wind swung round and dropped throughout the day, but time constraints for ferry departures out of Visby meant that we motor sailed. We made good time, even hitting 10.2 knots surfing down some of the waves. We arrived in Visby harbour at around midnight, just in time to avoid the arrival of the high speed ferry. We were one of the first in, and as a consequence tied up alongside the jetty. As the night wore on more boats arrived and rafted outside us.

Highlights of the journey include a visit from a tiny bird, tentatively identified as a meadow pipit, spending a few minutes flitting around the boat and even resting on Holly's finger for a minute or two. The moonrise was spectacular too - an orange orb slowly rising above the mist over Gotland.

This is probably a good place to note our admiration for the Rally "yellow shirts" - Joel and Cecilie. Despite facing the same challenging sailing as the rest of us, they had no rest when they arrived just after us. Rather, they immediately spent the rest of the night helping everyone else get in and tied up, then spent the morning planning the social events in town. All with a smile, and looking remarkably fresh!

Posted by Clare

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