Away, away. I left Björkskär very early this morning. The little episode yesterday was enough and the situation this morning looked bleak. I was moored against a rock, facing south – perfect for the forecast but totally wrong for the actual wind. It was only a light breeze from the north but what worried me more was the almost constant thunder in the distance. Also the shifting wind was not a good sign.
So, away, away and I was off before 8 am. The air was extremely humid, I have never experienced such a stuffy atmosphere before. The sailing was OK but what worried me more and more was the thunder which had been going for at least 3 hours. Additionally the wind died down and there was a swell coming from the south west – a swell in the archipelago!
So, down with the sails and good old faithful to the rescue. After about an hour of motoring we came closer to the front. It looked impressive. That was it. We skimmed the outskirts or whatever but we never saw a flash, heard another thunder (the engine was louder I guess) or felt a raindrop. Two hours later I actually raised the sails again and sailed on to Gällnö.
Here an attempt of a picture of the front approaching.
Victoria just told me that the thunder storm yesterday was particularly bad in Stockholm. Even one of the big fuckers (cruising ships) was torn loose.
“Particularly bad” is positively British understatement – the underground was flooded, as were several large stores, and there were 45,000 bolts of lightning in a single day (no wonder the thunder was almost constangt!). I’m very glad you were prudent enough to get the hell out of Björkskär before it struck!
I am very glad I missed the worst of it – I was very nervous watching the front getting closer. Especially since I was in a rather rock-strewn area at the time.
But all is well on Akka and I am off for a morning swim now.