To the Rally at Rungsted

Annabel and I arrived in late May to paint, varnish and polish. The weather was almost too kind to us - the temperature reached over 40^oC which made it almost impossible to get the varnish off the brush before it had hardened!

By the time the first of my crews arrived, the weather had turned wet and windy, with much of the same promised for the rest of that first week. We managed a good sail on Augustenborg fjord to check that everything was working, and then had several false starts, eventually discovering that we needed to replace part of the engine’s water cooling system which had corroded.

We finally got started on 20th June, heading for Faaborg on Fyn, which is one of our favourite places.

We had a limited amount of time for the first part of our trip, as we had to be in Rungsted for the Cruising Association Centenary Rally. Having wasted time with the weather, and sorting out the engine problem, we didn’t have a lot of time to waste.

June 20th - wind WSW force 6 - we decided to motor up to the head of the fjord as the wind was beginning to veer towards the north. Once there we let out about a third of the genoa which was enough to push us along at 5 - 6 knots with the wind on the quarter. By the time we arrived at Faaborg it was blowing up to 30 knots, but it was sheltered enough in the harbour for us to find a box to moor in without too much difficulty.

We actually stayed in Faaborg for a couple of days, as I wasn’t feeling that well Nick and Annie decided we needed a big push the following day, to give us some chance of getting to Rungsted on time. So the idea was to go in to the northern part of the Smålands Farvandet to give us a head start. In the end we went via Svendborg. Then we went north towards the top end of Langeland, round the top, and then through the channel north of Omø. From there we headed south-eastwards, going through the bridge at Vordingborg at 20:00, and mooring up at 21:00! We covered 82 miles, which put us on course! The weather was strange - we had torrential rain, and sun, and also thunderstorms going on around us, but not actually on us. We were grateful to find that the bridge still opened at that time of the evening, as otherwise we would have had to backtrack to go under the newer road bridge.

Road Bridge opening for us approaching Vordingborg

Although we had had a long day getting to Vordingborg, we decided to push on to Rodvig the following day. Although the wind started off as moderate, it increased during the day. We had to work our way through the narrow channels the south-east coast of Sjaelland and to the east of Njord. The channels are narrow and twisty-- we touched the bottom whilst inside the channel, and found some fishing pots in the channel too. By the time that we were out of the channel and heading towards Rodvig, and the sea was very rough and the wind Force 7 to 8 -- we recorded one gust of 41 knots. Luckily it wasn’t too far to Rodvig but it was rough and rolly. When we got to the harbour, the Marina, which was downwind, looked decidedly unwelcoming and so we went into the fishing harbour. We managed to find a box despite the fact that there was plenty of evidence of boats sheltering from the wind with yachts moored against fishing boats.

The next day we made our way to Dragør -- it was still blowing 25 to 30 knots, and raining occasionally. however, we had a good sail and reached Dragør at about four o’clock. Having completed a large part of the journey, we rewarded ourselves with a day off the next day. We moored on the end of the hammerhead we a perfect view of the extraordinary Øresund Bridge. Opened on 1st July 2000, it links Denmark to Sweden.

The Øresund Bridge - our view from the mooring at Dragør

Instead of making directly for Rungsted, we decided to make any small detour to Ven. the wins were very variable and we had to motorsail most of the way. We anchored just south of Backviken on the south-east coast in 2 to 3 m of water. The weather was kind to us for a change and we were even able to do some sunbathing! Annie got out her bikini for the first and only time of the trip!

Backviken harbour, Ven

We were not in any hurry to get to Rungsted and so left at 10 o’clock to meandered gently around the island, having a look at the other harbours. There was very little wind until we were almost at Rungsted. then that the rain came down and the wind climbed to 25 knots! We killed around outside the harbour until the wind dropped and then found ourselves a mooring on the visitor’s quay outside the Royal Danish Yacht Club. Although the Cruising Association Centenary Rally wasn’t for another few days, Nick and Annie had run out of time and were due to fly back to England the following day.

Moored in Rungsted before the Crusing Association Centenary Rally

The main job I had the next day was to go and find a supermarket and load up with food and drink - the shop is about a 30 minute walk (or 10 minute cycle) - not too bad apart from it being uphill all the way!

CA boats began to drift in over the next few days and the visitors’ quay began to take on a rather crowded feel. But it is a great opportunity to meet with like-minded people - although we are all cruising in the Baltic, we don’t often see each other. Later on during the summer we probably only saw two or three other British boats despite the fact that a number of us were heading in the same direction.

As well as the chat, the organisers had laid on trips to Copenhagen, Helsingor, and Roskilde.

A compulsory stop for visitors to Copenhagen - The Little Mermaid. Later we visited the Carlsberg Brewery and were able to sample their wares!

The Rally attracted nearly 40 boats and was a tremendous opportunity for us to discuss the area that we were going to cruise after the Rally. As this was only our second season in the Baltic, we were grateful for the help and guidance given to us. There is a vast accumulated knowledge amongst members, which makes membership of the Cruising Association so worthwhile.

©2007 - 2011 Jonathan & Annabel Hoseason