Steel works at Oxelosund
Log 47 miles. Sally, Simon and Carol (Darwin)
We flew out on Sunday afternoon and spent Monday sorting out a few snags that had arisen. The solenoid on the windlass had stuck but was quickly sorted out by stripping and lubricating. On the first night we had some excitement when two of the saloon lights went on fire. Fortunately we spotted it very quickly and no serious damage was done. But why did they spontaneously combust? The mystery was solved the next morning when we discovered that some 12 volt replacement bulbs had been fixed in the 24 volt circuit – they were certainly bright! On a similar note the next morning the forward heads started to flood the boat but this was quickly sorted by putting the old valve back in as the new replacement that had been fitted was by a different manufacturer!
These and other minor snags were quickly sorted and on Tuesday morning we left the harbour on a gloriously sunny day with a light north westerly wind. We motored past the steel works and the curious island that has been completely trashed by nesting cormorants. After that we turned more easterly and made steady progress under sail. About 5 miles from our short cut through the Landsort Peninsula we were struck by a powerful little squall that set us pounding along at 10 knots.
Stora Ramklov is a few miles east of Landsort offering good shelter from northerlies. As we were anchoring the wind went round to the south so, after a cup of tea, we pressed on for Rano where we knew we could get shelter from all wind directions. We had a lovely evening sail in a light, cold easterly and entered the anchorage just as the wind died altogether.