So it's getting time to hit the dirt with our boats and we decided to give
it one last crack this weekend. The skipper from our Around Gotland boat a
Facil 355 XO started calling around a couple of weeks ago and everyone was
really up to the idea of a last Archiplelago Raid in november. So much so
actually, that everybody wanted to take an extra day off and leave early
friday morning.

So we did. The weather was horrible throughout the weekend. With a constant
drizzling rain but no real showers. However the wind was a steady 20-25
knots throughout the trip and we had some awesome sailing slaloming between
the Islands and rocks. We thought we were going to be alone at this time of
year but we actually saw three other sailboats.

The temperature was about 7 degrees Celsius, both in the air and the water.
We dressed warm and had absolutely no problems staying warm with our three
layer systems from Musto. The only mistake I did was to not bring my skiing
gloves or something. I just had two pair of summer sailing gloves and there
was no way to keep my hands warm once they got wet. I ended up wearing no
gloves and keeping my hands warm in my pockets between handling the sheets.
When at the helm I could keep my gloves dry and had no problems.

The first night we stayed on Ostholmen which has a Sauna on the east side.
Unfortunately the winds were SE so we had to park on the opposite side of
the Island and walk across in the dark. This was no problem going there, but
on our way back our only flashlight broke so we had to go about 500 m in
pitch blackness No stars no moon just a heavy drizzle. That is dark. This
was the most hazardous part of our trip let me tell you. The next night we
stayed on Björkskär with about the same setup of winds and Sauna. However
this time we made sure our flashlights would not give in on us.

The Sauna was of course fired with wood which we had brought of our own.
This kind of Sauna you sit in for 3-4 hours no problem. The temperature is
just nice and cozy and when you want a sweat you just throw some water on
the hot rocks on top of the fireplace. The steam soon subsides and you can
have another hit from your favorite drink. About once an hour we went
outside and cooled off in the water. Actually with almost a gale blowing
right in our face we were cooled down long before we even reached the water.
Well we were all vikings so in we went. It hurts to take a dip in 7 degree
water. It wasn't very deep so we had to lay down and kind of roll over to
get a thourough saturation Nobody felt like wading the 20 feet required
to get some swimming in.

All in all we had three days of wonderful sailing. Of course going to
weather the whole time, but we aren't no gentlemen so we didn't mind.
Good food, good sailing good friends. That's were it's all at.
May you all have a wonderful on- or off- season depending on whether you're
sitting upright or standing on your heads right now

Here are some links I found with a bunch of summer pictures of Björkskär.
http://www.aphotograph.net/sailing_s...s/ppage24.html
Just imagine the same place pitch black nobody else and several degrees
colder.

--
Perre

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