There was excitement and a lot preparation going on on Akka yesterday. The forecast talked about extremely heavy rain, there was a severe weather warning for the Stockholm area, the GRIB Files (downloadable meteorological data) showed winds of 7 Bft and gusts reaching 8 Bft and the view of local boats heading home for Stockholm pointed all in one direction. It’s going to blow hard!
So we got ready for the show and moved from Hemfladen (a large bay on Gällnö) to Getudden (a small bay on Gällnö). This bay is well sheltered from the east winds and I found a snug place against very high rocks – an ideal spot.
Apart from the depth! As I dropped my anchor I noticed that I only had a depth of 3 meters and was still a good 30 meters from my intended spot. So, very slowly I inched forward and watched the depth-sounder intently.
Akka draws 1.8 meters and I know that the bottom is reached when the echo displays 1.5 (The transducers is located about 30 cm below the waterline). To my great astonishment I did not hear the sound of hitting rocks, the crunch of sand or notice the silent stop of mud. It must be seaweed that reflects the echo and we reached the shore safely.
Elegance is always on the mind of the skipper when he ties up his boat. Climbing the aforementioned high rocks is a challenge in this respect but totally impossible when the rocks are wet. So, in preparation of the heavy rain, I brought out 4 lines to tie Akka up and flitted about like a true Austrian mountaineer. Akka was now as safe as possible.
Having spent the morning on deck enjoying the sun and a good book, I moved myself into my bunk and continued the enjoyment and awaited things to come. But apart from some rain nothing happened. OK, there was a bit of wind but it was more of a breeze than the forecast of heavy wind. The rain continued throughout the night (as far as I can tell) and provided very little change to the summer we are having up here in the Baltics.
I awoke to a wonderful view of a solitary boat riding to anchor in our misty little safe bay – Gällnö does it again!
I’m very glad it was an anti-climax – so much better than it all being worse than everyone anticipated! Bexy and Flo have seen the weather forecasts and are all set for it to be cold and wet when they come.