Leg 13 Copenhagen (Kastrup Marina) to Rendsburg
26 August to 2 September

Skipper Tom Kearney
Crew: Tom Tooley, Jackie Dyett, Derek Dyett, Stephen Plant

The crew travelled out by various routes. Jackie and Derek Dyett and myself used the overnight DFDS ferry from Harwich to Esbjerg and then the train from there to Copenhagen. We had some problems finding the bus stop for the bus to Kastrup due to using an old map. The route had been changed and after an hour of walking we found the bus stop back outside the station. Tom Tooley and Stephen Plant flew from Stansted to Copenhagen’s Kastrup Airport and getting to the boat first were there to meet us at Kastrup Church and pilot us to the marina.

Friday morning was spent doing the shopping and undertaking a full engine service. With both these jobs out of the way lunch was taken on board before leaving the marina. By the time we left the day, which had started bright and clear had become gloomy and we slipped from the marina and started south in the Öresund under grey skies. It soon started to rain and we were heading into a SW wind of about Force 4. We gave in and started the engine and battered directly into the wind, which soon after was reaching Force 7.

When we reached Rodvig a tiny Harbour we were made very welcome. The harbourmaster’s wife and child were out on the breakwater directing us which way to go and got very excited as we turned into the ‘wrong’ basin; but we were only going there to prepare warps and fenders in sheltered water and all was well. The harbourmaster himself was waiting on board a retired fishing boat to take our lines and we got a little shelter from what was still a Force 6.

Leaving Rodvig on Saturday it was possible to sail for the first couple of hours until entering the narrow and twisting channels between the Danish islands. Eventually when we were able to make a turn of 180° a wide channel was reached and we could set the Genoa and sail under the Færneskov Bridge. It was then an easy run under sail to our destination at Stubbekobing.

On Sunday our target was Gedser Odde, a peninsular that forms the southernmost part of the Danish archipelago. Once around that we would be able to sail for the last five miles or so. We reached the offlying buoy and turned downwind….. just as it died, so we were motoring again. The day had started out so well with a nice sail, but the wind had conspired against us yet again and we had to motor into the marina in Gedser.

Gedser turned out to be a nice place. Quiet and placid with good amenities. We did not go to the town or ferry port a short distance away, but the marina and its surroundings were quite attractive. In the evening we went to a pleasant restaurant. We asked for beer and were served Carlsberg “Classic”. This was new to us. After drinking ordinary Carlsberg for a few days we longed for something with more body to it and this was just the stuff. It was a pity we would be leaving Denmark the following day.

We left Gedser and motored out through its channel. Much of our course was parallel to the main shipping channel through this part of the Baltic and eventually we had to find a gap in the traffic and cross it. Making some distance to the south we were finally able to turn and run directly towards our next objective the Fehmarnsund between the German mainland the island of that name.

At 1500 we were looking into the Fehmarnsund and the huge bridge connecting the island to the mainland was visible ahead. Also visible ahead was a violent thunderstorm. We had shaken the reefs out of the main during the day and a couple of reefs went back in now in case we were hit by a squall. Great bolts of lightning flashed over a large part of the sky ahead. In such circumstances one is always aware of being floating around out in the open with our own personal lighting conductor over our heads. I was moved to remark that it would be nice to just heave-to under the bridge until it went away. We were fortunate however in that the main body of the storm passed NW of us, but we did have about 10 minutes of torrential rain from a very dark sky with squalls at Force 6.
After passing under the Fehmarnsund Bridge the light improved and the wind moderated. Pegasus headed south into the approaches to Heiligenhafen reaching the marina there and making fast in box at the civilised hour of 1730.

The next day’s run looked reasonable on a map. Just a straight run across to the Kieler Förde. Consulting a chart however shows a different story. The German authorities maintain a large firing range offshore and it is necessary to sail out into this arm of the Baltic and skirt around it.

Sailing was easy enough at first as we headed generally NW until we had nearly reached another shipping lane. That forced a tack back that took us directly towards the firing range. Our position was being monitored very closely and with about a quarter of a mile to go to the edge of the range we tacked again. Settling on to our new course we noted another warship about 2 miles away to the WNW. He was approaching and passing down our port side about a quarter of a mile away, turned across our stern and stopped. He seemed to be watching us and after about five minutes got under way again and resumed his former course. It seems a fair bet our previous course had been noted and he had been on his way to warn us off before realising we knew where we were and had things under control.

Time passed and the firing range eventually trended away to the south. We could sail again and got the Main hoisted and the Genoa set for the last time. We tacked our way into the Kieler Forde until the proximity of the channels defeated us once again and we had to motor for the last few miles.

When we arrived at the British Army’s British Kiel Yacht Club, where we received a very pleasant welcome. This is an excellent stopover used by many sailors going to and from the Baltic. The staff are very friendly and where else can you get six shots of rum, a gin and tonic and a beer for the Euro equivalent of £5.57. Yes, honest! Duty free you see.

Our last day on board was bound to be motoring right from the planning stage of the trip. We would be negotiating the northern half of the Kiel Canal to the town of Rendsburg. This canal is more properly known as the Nord-Oostzee Kanal and was built in the late 1800’s to permit the Kaiser’s battle fleet access to the North Sea without going through the Danish islands. No longer used for that purpose it is now heavily used by commercial shipping. Having passed through one of the locks at Holtenau we just had to chug down the starboard side keeping out of the way of the shipping until we reached Rendsburg.

All the crew travelled home together. A series of trains took us back across the border into Denmark and then on to Esbjerg where the overnight DFDS ferry was waiting. We sailed back into Harwich at 1130 the next morning after a very civilised return.

We had covered 250 miles during our seven days on board, much too much of them under engine. That was unfortunate, but we head headwinds every day and on what was after all a delivery trip the necessity of making the distance becomes paramount. We had a pleasant enough time however. The company was excellent and it was a worthy trip for what will be my last in Pegasus before she is sold.  

Tom Kearney