Change of plans - A Wet Welcome to the Baltic and a delay

The night time voyage was very smooth to begin with. Too smooth in fact with no wind. Well, we settled the duty roster and started again to motor on in shifts. Fuss, who was promoted First Officer upon the departure of Dynamo took on Consultant and Chief Engineer joined forces with Lawyer. A change of shifts happened nicely just as we passed under the fairly recent famous structure, the bridge from Sweden to Denmark, over the Flintrannan, so everybody got to see this monster of a construction and its huge, well lit pylons as they are at night.

By the morning the wind picked up. The Baltic was trying to match the North Sea with regard to wind speed. First 20 kts, then 25 and increasing. On top of that lashing rain was in our faces and the wind was dead agains us. We were struggling to keep Slender Delta on course and after a couple of hours of very little progress, increasing crashing into the waves and decresing speed, Fuss was suggesting plan B be put in place.

So we headed for the Swedish South Coast and found a nice little marina called Gisloevs Laege. The place was neat and tidy with nobody in sight. We moored in and went on a reconnaissance walk. Found nobody around but showers etc. facilities available and open. There was also a pizza restaurant nearby, that was promising to open at 1100. We had a long nice pizza session, headed back for the boat and decided to carry on, weather permitting.

I got an excellent weather report from a Naval Officer colleague in Helsinki - the home port of the best pirates in the Baltic and it looked like we would be sailing into the night with good speed. The wind had turned into our favour over a long pizza session. Just needed to refuel and we'd be away.

Well, again we were unlucky but fortunate: the gear shif lever, that Consultant had in the heavy sea going accidentally rammed his body into, failed to operate. We decided it was time to call in the pro, whose number we got from the fuel guy who was only a phone call away. The Pro came, saw but did not conquer. He said we'd need a new part and it was too late today. We did not argue with him - without the engine we would really struggle to meet our deadline. The Pro said he'd get the part from Malmo and be back first thing in the morning. Lucky we had got into the harbour before the problem demonstrated itself.

So here we are, stranded in Southern Sweden, missing our loved ones in the miserable grey, rainy weather, with a broken gear shift lever. We need all the ingenuity of the multi-talented crew to pull us through. Consultant is already working on various options and Lawyer is considering their legal implications, that means they have found a carton of red wine. Fuss is cooking something special and somehow I think we will survive. Flaming Sambucas, survive we will! We owe it to all our loved ones, fans and supporters.