Yellow warning
20 June 2026. A yellow thunderstorm warning had been in every forecast since evening. Even in the morning, I wasn’t sure about leaving. Gusts to 35 knots after seven; not one yacht on AIS.
Half an hour later, two boats appeared along the skerries. Proof of nothing, but another route option. I plotted inner passages, rocks sheltering most of the way from open seas and strong wind, though not the thunderstorm itself.
We slipped the buoy, unfurled the genoa and left without engine.
Slow counts too
For hours, I fought for every tenth of a knot. Below five, trim, alter course, sometimes engine. Then I realised I was maintaining a number on a screen rather than making a passage.
Lowered my threshold to four. Sometimes 3.5, but in the right direction, shelters ahead, enough time. Arrival time stopped mattering. We were sailing.
Five hours nearly silent, no engine or autopilot. Tiller in hand among stone islands. Once, wind to twenty, but the next sheltered passage was right there.
More turns, constant chartwork, no long distraction: the price. In return, five hours of skerries we’d otherwise see only on the plotter.
Towards Koster
Last hour, wind gone, motored to Koster, recommended by several people, including the Grenaa gentleman who lent his pilot book.
Alongside a short finger pontoon. After buoys, rock rings and granite negotiations, ordinary berthing felt futuristic.
Koster lies in Kosterhavet marine national park. Starfish and crabs visible by shore, paths over rocks along the water.
A threat ashore
Nastya stepped towards an information board and felt a prick at her ankle. Macro photography showed a tick. Aboard, we removed it and disinfected the bite. Two more ticks on her trousers, something suspicious on my T-shirt.
I asked ChatGPT about Swedish practice, then checked local recommendations. Surprisingly brief: remove promptly, wash, watch skin and health for several weeks. Preventive antibiotics after an ordinary bite aren’t recommended here.
A little early redness needn’t mean anything. Seek medical help for expanding redness one or several weeks later, particularly over five centimetres, or fever, headache or pronounced illness.
Vaccination protects against TBE, not Lyme disease, and needs doing beforehand, rather than after a bite. I found nothing on myself. Little comfort; keep watching.
Thunderstorm warning and shelter planning in the morning, tick-bite monitoring at night. The sea was more predictable than land this time.
