Leg 5 – Kiel to Zeebrugge / Bruges

We spent 3 nights in Laboe nearby Kiel. And something a bit unusual so far, we had nothing really to fix on the boat! We took the time we had to relax after what felt like a long journey from Bornholm and read a bit about how it works to enter in the Kiel Canal, and we refreshed our theoretical knowledge of navigation in tides and currents.

Unfortunately we didn’t spend much time to visit Kiel itself, we headed torwards the Kiel Canal from Laboe already on Saturday (July 5). We were only a few sailboats in the lock at the entrance of the canal so it went quick and smooth. The passage through the lock on the other side of the Kiel Canal was a bit more complicated.

It takes about 10 hours to cross the Kiel Canal itself. Since we had no rush, we made a night stop in Rendsburg that is located somewhere in the middle of the Canal.

We arrived in Brunsbüttel on Sunday (July 6). The harbour in Brunsbüttel is adjacent to the traffic of the lock but good for one night’s stop. A nice surprise was that we arrived right at the celebration of the 130th anniversary of the canal, with a party and a tug boat ballet. Yes, you read it right – the tug boats circled around splashing water and making waves to the music, so much fun.

We prepared ourselves to go through the lock on Monday (July 7) when high tide came in Brunsbüttel. The idea was to motor towards Cuxhaven with the current in the Elbe river in our favor while the tide was going from high to low. Since we have limited experience in sailing with tides and high currents we got a lot of tips and information from the crew of S/Y CAP J, a Belgian couple who were also on their way to Cuxhaven.

At the entrance of the lock in Brunsbüttel, we came across S/Y Alba who are also members of the Swedish ocean sailing club (Oceanseglingsklubben). Finally we meet some friends from the club!

Entering the lock of Brunsbüttel was a bit funny: we passed the lock together with a big shipping boat. It entered first and went on the right side. Then all the smaller craft entered and docked on the left side. The shipping boat had the propeller still running (to stabilize the boat against the right side?) creating a lot of turbulence that first sucked our boat towards the their rudder and then suddenly pushed our boat towards the other side. In the end, once you know it, it is not a big issue. For us Swedish archipelago sailors, it feels like we will learn a lot of things about how it is to sail in other waters than the Baltic area.

Out of Brunsbüttel lock we made our way in the Elbe river. Currents in the Elbe river can easily reach 2.5 knots (and probably more) so we definitely needed to have these 2.5 knots with us and not against us. Unfortunately although we had the current with us, we had the wind on the nose and relatively strong up to 8 – 10 m/s. We had read in our sailing books that strong winds in the opposite direction of strong currents can create very choppy seas. The first part of the way towards Cuxhaven was ok, with basically no waves but at 2/3 of the way from Brunsbüttel to Cuxhaven, the sea became really choppy. In some waves the boat seemed to nearly be completely stopping. It became very uncomfortable so we were happy when we arrived at destination.

The arrival in the harbor was also a bit sketchy. The entrance of the harbor connects directly to the Elbe River. Coming from the river we only had to do a 90 degree turn to the left and enter in the harbor… easy? We took extra height to compensate for wind drift and forgot that the current with opposite direction was what we should compensate for, so we started drifting to the windward side. It did not help that we reduced speed to avoid rushing into the dinghy sailors inside the harbor. We were caught a bit by surprise and felt a little bit stupid that we hadn’t considered the current. We made our way through putting some more engine power… this is how you learn!

We stayed in Cuxhaven 3 days waiting for the strong westerly/north-westerly winds to turn and decrease and Maria took part of that time to do some crochet works! Now the coffee french press has a protection for rough seas!

And in Cuxhaven, we finally saw seals for the first time since we left our home harbour in Kalvholmen. Quite funny to be able to approach them that close as it seems they are used to humans.

Sitting onboard Lovisa with our new friends of CAP J and Alba, in front of a glass of Champagne, we decided to seek for a departure on Thursday (July 10). The weather forecast for Thursday was giving light winds during the night from Wednesday to Thursday, then peaking up during the morning and blowing north-northwesterly. Exactly what we needed! The light winds would calm down the sea so we could avoid those uncomfortable waves while getting out of the Elbe river and the north-northwesterly winds would allow us to sail towards the west once out of the river… if we could still remember how to sail because since the arrival in Laboe a week earlier, we had been going only on engine.

And the forecast was accurate! We had high speed and no waves while getting out the Elbe river thanks to the current in our favor and the weak winds! After some hours on engine and being overtaken by S/Y CAP J and S/Y Alba, the wind picked up again so we could hoist the sails and make our way towards west. We left Cuxhaven with the idea to sail all the way non stop to Zeebrugge in Belgium but we made a plan considering all the possible harbours on the way to allow for flexibility. Important things to know is the timing of the tide, wether the harbor is accessible at all times or only at high tide, and if there are any recommendations in the Reeds Almanac (like weird current phenomena in some specific conditions). Off the coast of Germany, we ended up in the middle of a cluster of fishing boys (these are thrown by fishermen any now and then so they are not marked on any chart, you usually have to look around and avoid them when you see them) so we were for a short while thinking about avoiding night sailing but we didn’t see any more and decided to continue anyway, hoping for the best. In the worst case, we could have a fishing net or a fishing line tangled somewhere around the keel, the rudder or the propeller … and some fresh fish for dinner… and for sure some other problems.

We had a great sailing day on Thursday and a first night at high speed that began with a wonderful sunset! For this first night, we took rests in 3 hour shifts (one at the watch and the other one sleeping). We think it worked quite well.

Friday was also a fantastic sailing day under the sun with lighter winds and flat sea so we could also relax. We felt very lucky to get this weather in an area where it can blow a lot with rough seas.

The second sailing night was a bit more complicated as we had to make our way between the many wind farms. Early morning, we motorized passed Rotterdam which is the largest harbor in Europe and very busy. Luckily our new Belgian friends had told us to contact the harbor control on VHF in advance to get clearance to pass the inlet. We did this and got clearance, but then a large ferry was still on collision course with us. Fortunately it was day light so we could easily spot this. Maria called again and the harbor control spoke to the ship which altered their course. Wow! Small Lovisa against Goliat. It was fantastic with the VHF communications and how it all worked out and we are so impressed with the harbor control that can keep track of all that traffic. Even once we had passed the inlet, they announced that the large ships headed for Lovisa would pass behind and we should just keep our course and speed. After the passage we set sails again and eventually had a lovely gennaker sail until the wind increased to 7-8 m/s which was a bit much, so we douced the gennaker then.

The inlet towards Zeebrugge was choppy (wind against tide again) but at least we had the waves from behind this time. We reached the harbor late afternoon on Saturday (July 12) a few minutes before CAP J also entered. This is their home harbor. So nice to see them again! And what a great pleasure to spend a nice evening with them onboard CAP J.

And yet, a new flag is up on starboard side! Actually, on the way we also had the Dutch flag up while passing Holland but this country will be for another time to visit.