Departure: Utkäften, Marstrand, May 1, 9 AM Arrival: Smögen, May 1, 6 PM Nautical miles: 42
After our smooth crossing to Sweden and the feeling of accomplishment one might get by crossing a border, we spent quite some time at our favourite anchorage – just south of Marstrand (Utkäften) – considering we changed anchor position three times it was probably too long. But we wanted to make sure we keep the voluntary quarantine and we also enjoyed it very much.
Due to Covid-19 we had to present a negative test result, but to who? Since we had done our testing in Denmark we kind of forgot to take any further action – partly due to the fact that available information online indicated that inquiries about Covid-19 would not be handled on a personal level. However the next day, we decided to call the police to be sure, who forwarded us to the another police department and then to the coast guard, who initially wanted to refer us back to the first number we called, but then friendly and pragmatically decided to just welcome us to Sweden via the phone and to trust our papers/tests were in order. Sweden seemingly has quite a different approach (than for example Denmark) to its management of the pandemic – it appears to be quite trust-based, relying on your own good judgement and some obvious measures/restrictions.
Back to Utkäften, which is a pretty awesome place to visit if you ever find yourself sailing the Swedish west coast. Kind of wild and remote, yet still so close to bigger towns and civilisation. That also showed when we finally left Saturday morning, as four other boats had already made their way to the bay.
Our sail North was pretty relaxed with some SSW’ly gentle breezes pushing us passed the numerous islands and shallows via the picturesque passages. Sailing season has kicked in and we saw several Swedish sailing boats – mostly bigger and faster than us. Although Dory Man is not a slow boat, we really just cruise. Locked inside the cockpit tent, we often forget to adjust the sails and probably losing quite some speed (we are also not very experienced, especially not with the fine tuning). But we only notice it when overtaken by similar sized boats, then Kai gets all upset and forces the crew to adjust sails, boom the genoa and even hoist the spinnaker. We have a love/hate relationship with the spinnaker as we are a bit scared of it. It’s therefore a very old and cheap one, so if we screw up it should just explode into stardust making no further harm. Anyway most of the time the difference is remarkable and we sometimes even celebrate little victories of our imaginary races. When we lose (which is most often) we’ll just blame it on the light wind and our heavy load condition.
Departure: Smögen, May 2 , 2 PM Arrival: Trinisla, May 2, 6 PM Nautical miles: 17
On our way to Smögen we did loose all the races, but still really enjoyed the sail and after a short stay in Smögen (and a run for Pernille) we were on our way towards Fjällbacka to fill up on provisions. On the way we did a stop at Trinisla, basically a big and pretty rock, but as heavier weather was approaching we only stayed at Trinisla for two days before heading to Fjällbacka for some shelter. With weather bellow 5 degrees, strong winds and rain we very much appreciated the harbour and the extra heating from our little electric radiator that we keep carrying around and can’t wait to donate to the poor Norwegians (if you don’t get the joke see this epic video).
Departure: Trinisla, May 4 , 9.30 AM Arrival: Fjällbacka, May 4, 10.30 AM Nautical miles: 4
Fjällbacka was entirely empty (especially in comparison to our last visit in summer 2018) and nothing was open, except for the local fish shop and supermarket. Even the harbour and the payment automat was out of order and the harbour office didn’t return any of our calls, so we left in a bit of guilt not having payed for our stay, but also slightly happy having saved some pocket money for the next harbour stay and maybe a dinner or lunch out?
Departure: Fjällbacka, May 7 , 11 AM Arrival: Sannäsfjord, May 7, 3 PM Nautical miles: 20
From Fjällbacka we sailed north and into the spectacular Sannäsfjord, anchoring in a smaller inlet called Alevviken – with larger vegetation and steep clifs, it’s a preview of Norway. Unfortunately restrictions to enter Norway are not lifting any time soon, so we might consider some other options. If you are Norwegian reading this, please note that we desperately want to visit your country, so please do something for us 🙏(like do you happen to have Erna’s phone number?).
A Green Heading 
Lovely story and pictures.🤗😍
We cross our fingers that you can sail to Norway very soon🤞🤞🤞
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Thank you so much, we really hope so 🙏
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