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Longbow of Argyll - Baltic Rally 2: Kiel to Bornholm



The first complement of Longbow's ever-changing crew arrived to join Ted (the Admirable Skipper) and Jane (the Skippers Admiral). First to arrive was Holly (aka The High Fairy), then Peter (chief Winchman) and Francoise (Artist in Residence), and finally Clare (self-nominated Tactician). We were warmly welcomed on board, given the safety briefing and sent to bed (with lots of supper).

On Sunday we went shopping, went swimming, ate lots and learned lots about how the boat worked. In the afternoon there was a briefing about the rally followed by a crew dinner where we tried desperately to learn which faces belonged to which boats.

Due to a forecast of strong easterlies due in 24 hours (and we were heading east), many boats left after dinner. We decided to catch a few z's and leave at 4am instead.

The ~180 miles to Ronne, Bornholm, brought a mixed bag of sun, rain, cloud and fog, with winds steadily shifting from westerlies to easterlies. We sailed past a couple of massive wind farms and saw a lot of huge tankers.

A crew poll of favourite moments include seeing a seal, amazing sunrise and sunset appreciation moments, Peter's fantastic joke about the motto of the French navy (translate 'to the water, it's the time' into French and say it in a bad French accent!).

We arrived 27 hours later at 7am, now alongside a jetty in Sydhavnen.

Running cake tally: 2 new: one home-made gluten-free moist coffe-flavoured yumminess, and one massive almondy Danish pastry slab bought from the supermarket in Schilksee. If the continuation of the cake yumminess is as good as the start then the cake appreciation society members will be Very Happy!

Posted by Clare


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