06/07/09 You (probably) can’t have it both ways: Kalmar to Byxelkrok (Öland) to Visby (Gotland)

By now you may have realized that the skipper (Madeleine) likes remote places – and so we planned to get some flavour of two beautiful, but very different islands off the Swedish East coast.
Summer had disappeared when we left Kalmar, some rain was more than made good by a days worth of beam reaching at 18 – 22 (26) knots. We averaged 7.5 knots over ground for 7 hours, more than we ever managed before!

Öland is a flat long and narrow island which seems to be a popular holiday destination with typical small red wooden houses and large numbers of caravans and campers.

The next morning brought back the summer and lighter winds, but luckily strong enough to save money and diesel fuel. Gently cruising with a light wind multi purpose gennaker, we arrived sun drenched after 47 NM at Visby on Gotland. However, the last 3-4 hours of our sail we were followed by a thundery cloud. The photos illustrating the optimist’s and the pessimist’s point of view. it really depends which way you look: If you looked back you saw (and heard the rumble) of the thunderstorm, if you looked ahead you only saw a bright blue sky and distant shore. We arrived at our mooring just with just about 5 drops of rain.

Breathtaking scenery with high (ish) cliffs, long gone castles and spectacular chalk stone erosions (raukars). Visby, also a member of the Hanseatic League is a beautifully restored, cobbled city and part of Unesco World Heritage.