Motor-sailing or close encounters of the Baltic kind

29th June 2009, 12:30 ships time (BST)

The sea has been calm all night. The Baltic has no tide as such. A lot of rainwater flushes in to it from all the surrounding rivers and the only way out is via the North Sea which is also trying to come in. A balance of sorts is achieved. There has been little wind.
We progressed from Kiel with the German coast on our starboard (right) side and a Danish island on our port. We had two brief encounters of the Danish waters kind. It was a cold, starry night in the middle. The Sun set behind a cloud and appeared again, above the clouds which still covered the horizon, at 04.43 (precisely: the watch always bet on who guesses the time of sunrise). It was a short night. In the late evening we had the company of the John Laing and the Mir; the latter being a 3 masted sail training ship of the Russion navy. The middle watch saw the Lord Nelson. All of whom will be together at Gdynia.
The early morning watch began cold and misty. We had another close encounter, this time with a ferry. Close being around half a mile. Gradually the mist began to clear and patches of blue sky appeared. By 11am it was actually getting warm. We had been sailing due east, then north east, finally clearing a headland and a breeze appeared, together with a few smiles as the mainsail was un-reefed and raised to its full height, then the jib (the front-most sail) was unfurled and we were not just motoring but motor-sailing. It was now 11:30. Perhaps before long we can actually sail?

The watches changed at 12 noon. The deal is that one person from each watch work together to make a meal. Lunch was tuna/ham/cheese sandwiches. Time to catch up on the travelogue, tidy up the boat a bit, and check the tuning on the fiddle and guitar.`