At Harnosand south, several boats had appeared in the gasthamn without masts. It seems that the season has only just started for most of the Swedes! They were all being launched and would then put their masts up in the coming days. One of them had his mast up and let us know that the next morning, the bridges were opening at 9.30am, so we set off around 9.20 to wait for the first bridge. Once through the first bridge we waited while the bridge keepers moved their way to the next bridge and waited in a pool between the two. It was just like being back in the Netherlands again! Once through the second bridge we moored for an hour or so in the northern gasthamn to shop.
We left just after 11.30 with the plan of having lunch in Berghamn and then heading on to Häggvik for the night. We managed to start sailing but the wind soon dropped and so we had to motor for around half an hour to get through the narrow sound north of Harnosand. After about 40 minutes a light breeze came up again and so we tacked through the gap by Storholmen. Airborne were just behind us and while we had to short tack through, they managed to get through on one tack. In the meantime the wind lifted us about 100 degrees and came up to about 17 knots, so we did a huge arc, while, following us, they came in a straight line, but we still stayed ahead. We then managed to sail most of the rest of the way with a short motor when the wind dropped.
As we approached Häggvik we took the sails down and came slowly through the narrow gaps into the gasthamn. There are two narrow sections and then you finally come round the island to a beautifully sheltered guest harbour. In total we did 29.5 miles. To see our track, follow the link below:
(Source)
