2017 – Farewell Kiel Fjord: Ingo and Leif joined me for the SCYLD’s last trip on Kiel Fjord. We sailed SCYLD to the next available slipway to the Olympia Centre in Schilksee at 4-5 bft. The Schlei Fjord are to become SCYLD’s new home waters.
Light breeze sailing with Klaus and Björn.
2016 – sail away: A perfect day in September 2016: I was expecting two crew members at 3pm. Having arrived an hour too early, I decided to take SCYLD for a spin single-handedly before their arrival. Without the additional weight of a crew and with about 200 litres of rain-water in the bilge (which I was too lazy to bail out), the boat heeled over quite a bit at 3 bft, which changed the angle of the camera (hoisted with the top-sail-halyard) so much, that the horizon was occasionally captured. At 1:25-1:40 in the above video clip you can see the “joys” of a single-handed gybing manoeuvre: the tiller-hook* got caught in the main-sheet-traveller and the starboard fore-sheet ran out of the deadeye** (*impromptu device to fix the tiller temporarily, while I take in the sails or undo a woolding / **fore-sheets regularly get entangled, so I don’t use stopper knots as it’s faster to sort out the sheets rather than the woolding of oars, hook and fender-ropes). Got some ideas to optimise SCYLD for single-handed sailing though…additional fittings are on the way.
Gunwale overhaul: Stripping the entire gunwale, coaming and rubbing strakes of the green and red paint proved to be quite labour-intensive. But it was totally worth the effort. Two layers of new paint have been already applied. Naturally, I reverted to truly authentic substances for a traditional boat: pine tar, linseed oil and turpentine.
Spring breeze
2015 – perfect tranquillity: Sailing alone on a November day in 2015 at 2-3 bft into the sunset.
Sirens of the obsidian sea: No crew was found today, so I ventured out in solitude…allured by sirens from the depths of the obsidian sea. The liminal traveller steers clear of the maelstroms of enchantment and decides to defer his calling.
A fish-sandwich trip to Laboe: On a pleasant Sunday in September we set sail to explore Kiel Fjord’s opposite shore and its culinary specialties: Fish sandwiches! On our home journey we were caught in the “doldrums” and did a bit of rowing exercise.
