Ellos - UK Leg 3: Grenaa - Kiel (Germany) via Storabaelt 23/9/23 143NM

Saturday morning was as miserable as promised. After a late breakfast, we provisioned the boat and set out of the harbour over the very shallow sand bar (2.6m! Eek, don't try this in a strong Easterly!) As we motored away from Grenaa, the wind swung from SE to NW and built to 13/14kts. Up went the sails and Atom took off. We shot South at between 7.5 and 9kts, all day under full sails, save for a dog leg around the shipping lanes where were were forced back on ourselves for around 6 miles. At around 1800 we picked up the lights flashing on the bridge and as each hour passed the channel narrowed and the volume of shipping built. It was like driving slowly on the hard shoulder of the M1 being passed by a stream of lorries. But it was beautiful sailing...

We made very good time and got to Storabaelt at around 2300. A quick VHF call to Great Belt Control and we were given permission to continue under the bridge, under sail if we wished, on the proviso that we kept out of the main shipping channel! There were so many ships around and the wind dropped off to under 10kts so caution prevailed and on went the iron sail around 1000m from the bridge. Now as previously mentioned, Atom's air draft is 23m and the "Osterenden" of Storabaelt is 65m (The West end is 18m so we were forced into the main channel) so this ought to be plenty. It doesn't feel like that at all! As we approached the bridge Atom was going through the water at 7kts, but we were only doing around 5.5kts over the ground and what wind there was left was blowing straight at the stream. You know the maths is right, but when you open the throtlle and pile into the standing wave under the bridge, directly under the green channel marker and no more than 50m from the bridge tower, your heart misses a beat. We need not have worried! We shot through the waves while aiming our huge flashlight on the bridge and popped out like a cork from a bottle.

Time for bed! The next 7 hours were a long slow motor, avoiding ships, with no wind, down the east side of Langeland. Dawn broke with Kiel in sight and a few hours later, having picked our way through the Kiel traffic system, we pulled into Sporthafen Kiel. Now the Germans and Danes like box berths...essentially a couple of piles at the back, a rope off the bow and a leap ashore. A more solid, reverse version of Mediterranean mooring. We had called ahead to the marina and they had assured us that we could moor alongside. When we arrived we were directed towards a berth that seemed to be home to every seagull in Kiel. We tied up and brought all sorts of substances onto our new teak decks in the process! Our call to the harbourmaster rang off the hook (unsurprisingly because he knew we wanted to move) so we declared UDI and picked up a lovely berth a bit further in, which had space for two 20m yachts alongside. Half way through breakfast and the angry sound of thrusters belonging to an enormous catermaran coming back to their berth disturbed our meal. But these were lovely people and after a bit of help with their lines they offered us their berth for the night and all was well. We scrubbed the boat, did the laundry and then found an Italian restaurant for an early supper which set us up for the next day's departure for the Kiel Canal.