First summer excursion

Juelsminde → Lyø → Ærøskøbing, Ærø → Skarø → Svendborg → Vejrø → Klintholm, Møn → Langeliniehavnen, København → Gilleleje → Juelsminde

Juelsminde → Lyø, 110720

• The first leg of our 2020 summer excursion is a dream at 10-14 metres per second (m/s). For now the crew counts my parents, Skipper and Mrs Captain, my boyfriend, Sanoop, and me, and in a few days, when we reach Svendborg, my brother will join. Moving down through Lillebælt between Jutland and Funen, we raise a glass of fernet branca to my grandad, Peder De Gæ Nok, at one of his favourite part of the Danish waters, Fænøsund. This is where we strew his ashes after his death and cremation 12 years ago.
• It’s Sanoop’s maiden sailboat trip. He has been advised/ordered by my dad to sit still in a corner of the cockpit and observe and ask all of the questions he wants to ask. Over the next few weeks, it warms my heart to observe his growing confidence with sailing, and how my dad in a timely and considerate manner piles on tasks, information, and explanations. At the end of this first day, feeling that it flew by, he’s as surprised as everyone else to learn that the stretch actually took 11 hours, and he didn’t get seasick … and only feels a tiny bit uneasy when the boat heels to what feels like an almost vertical position. So far, so good.
• I love every element of this lifestyle. Find it absolutely magical. Physical work and utter relaxation. Finding my favourite spot at the very front of the deck. Wind, water, views. Knowing the people I love the most are right behind me. Sensing the change of light, the rhythmic sounds of the waves, and blissful stillness at point-blank range. The calm and calming structure of the following 14 days. Morning swims and morning coffee. Sailing. Anchoring up just off small islands. Mooring up in charming marinas, some small and idyllic, others big and industrial. Walking up and down the jetties and checking out the other boats, exchanging nods and smiles with the other sailors, smelling what everyone’s having for breakfast or dinner, overhearing stories at the communal marina showers. Living in close, cosy quarters. Exploring cities and nature in the places we get to, and then moving on. 

Lyø (anchoring up)

• After a cloudy, windy day, it clears up and calms down when we arrive at this small idyllic island, just in time for a glorious 9pm sunset, which we enjoy with beers and music on the platform at the back of the cockpit followed by a delicious dinner cooked by my mum in her new nifty pantry. Shortly after, we’re lulled to sleep by no other noises than the ones produced by the sea and seagulls. We rise with the sun, jump in the water to swim laps around the boat, do yoga on the deck, have breakfast and coffee while setting the course for our onward journey, and then take off after a lovely first stop. 15 years ago, I was here with my mum, dad, brother, dog, uncle, aunt, grandma, and grandad, our 3 family boats tied up together. Now I’m here with the love of my life. What a life. 

Lyø → Ærøskøbing, 120720

• Second leg offers very little wind, but ample sun as we make our way further south, into the beautiful South Funen Archipelago. 

Ærøskøbing 

• Our favourite holiday spot in Denmark, from which we’ve got so many memories from countless visits, the first of which was when I was 5 years of age, and we came here in our old boat. I remember my dad sitting on a bench on the marina playground and peeling potatoes into a pot, my brother and I playing with the other sailor kids. Walking out through the long grass between the marina and the beach to jump in the clear water. Cosy, long, warm summer nights in the quaint old town, where we’d go for dinner and strolls after long days of playing in the sun, my brother and I soaking up all of the impressions and giant ice creams in our finest summer attire. The colourful houses and cobbled streets of Ærøskøbing are delicately kept to retain the character of the olden days, with the oldest ones dating back to 1645. Far from feeling like a museum, though, the town is vibrating with life and modern passion … hip coffee shops and boutique hotels, lively farm shops and markets, cool galleries, and gourmet restaurants. We stay here a few days to enjoy it all.

Ærøskøbing → Skarø, 150720

• Motor trip as there’s close to no wind. Passing lots of lush, green islands. 

Skarø

• Anchoring up for @skaroeis. The boat safely secured and my mum staying back to ensure it doesn’t float off, the rest of us launch our dinghy into the water, speed into the tiny marina (too tiny for De Gæ Nok to fit in), and walk along the only road on the island to find and stock up on as many of the renowned ice creams as the boat’s freezer and our bellies can hold. Last time we had this delicious natural treat — made using local berries and fruits and birch sap and sugar kelp for pure intense flavours — was onboard Singapore Airlines. As we enter the lovely rustic dessert shop run by a passionate couple, we meet 2 other people who’ve lived in Singapore and had the heavenly ice cream and sorbets on the plane over. Small world experience on a very tiny, very idyllic island with lots of goats, friendly people, lush beach meadows, and a long narrow sandbar beach. We enjoy all of this, as well as the peace and calm and glorious sunset and sunrise experienced while floating on the softly rolling waves in the cove off the tiny island’s tiny marina. In the evening, we dance around the cockpit singing along to old Danish hits (Nærmest Lykkelig on repeat), and in the morning we jump in the refreshing waves.

Skarø → Svendborg, 160720

• Sailing through Svendborg Sound, we pass by my cousin and her family in their boat, and later on, a few cows sunning on a beach. Fun!

Svendborg

• From the the morning bread cart on the quay, to the quirky street art, to the lovely forest side beaches, to getting a local friend’s insider intro to the quaint industrial harbour town, Svendborg is dreamy. We have bbq party in our cockpit with family members passing by.

Svendborg → Vejrø, 180720

• South of Tåsinge, North of Langeland, south of Zealand. 

Vejrø

• What idyllic fun it was to moor up at this ecologically sustainable island paradise, Vejrø
• Learning to SUP!

Vejrø → Klintholm Havn, 200720

• Gliding into the Baltic Sea — 7 hours from Vejrø to Klintholm, and more than 700 shades of weather  … life sailing onboard De Gæ Nok continues to be ♥️

Møn

• Møn, from your wide white beaches and cliffs, to your cosy marinas with gourmet treats and artisan bars, to your crafty boutiques, to your rolling fields and abundance of wild flowers, to your friendly people, our summer dream was very well sustained on your windswept shores

Klintholm Havn → Langeliniehavnen, 230720

• Seeing the cliffs from the waterside as we embark on the penultimate leg of the trip, which takes us to Langeliniehavnen in Copenhagen … wow!

Copenhagen 

• Feels surreal to moor up in the Langeliniehavnen, where I usually go running when in town.
• We say goodbye to my brother, who drives back to Jutland to get ready for work.
• The rest of us enjoy a few days of sunshiny harmony in Copenhagen … dinner and wine at Barlie, inviting friends onto the boat for coffee, meandering through Nyboder and Nyhavn, street food at Refshaleøen, beer at Mikkeller, coffee from Banchina, admiring the many houseboats on Holmen, wine at an al fresco cafe on Kongens Nytorv, cava with a port view at another al fresco joint, smiling at all of the boats passing through the harbour, digesting our own trip with a final dinner and Dark ‘n’ Stormy on the boat for now, playing 500 and reading into the night.
• This 2-week trip has made me realise that I love sailing more so than ever. There’s the fresh air, the smell of salt water, the excitement of sharing a fun experience and going somewhere idyllic with loved ones. I did enjoy our annual family summer trips as a kid, but grew increasingly scared and overwhelmed when sailing dinghies as an insecure teenager, a period of time when I also developed a pretty passive relationship to family sailing. I liked being on the water with my parents and brother … as long as everyone would leave me in peace on the deck, reading books or staring dreamily across the ocean … but I wasn’t passionate about the sport itself. I haven’t really sailed since moving to Copenhagen for university at 18. Not because I haven’t been wanting to; I just never pursued it, and it wasn’t ever immediately available. Now, I notice the shift in the dynamic — it’s no longer 2 adults and 2 kids; we’re 5 adults now, and everyone is equally eager to participate in all of the practical things involved in sailing, just as we all are thrilled to experience this refreshing respite from long days of pouring over laptops at home. I now feel, for the first time ever, that I can actually be a useful crew member. My dad has the general overview, and I happily jump on or below deck to sort stuff out at his frequent commands, feeling strong, flexible, and more confident than ever. Sailing is soothing, exciting, and gratifying: you do a thing, and there’s an immediate result, whether it’s the technical things, such as trimming the sails to gain speed, or the more practical things, such as filling fresh water before sailing out. It’s the calm, wholesome structure and order we’ve all been craving. There’s something to fix constantly, but none of it feel tiring or stressful. A lot of it is very straightforward, and day-by-day we’ll get a bit quicker at tying the knots, distributing the tasks, and trusting each other.
• My parents will sail back to Juelsminde via Gilleleje in North Zealand, while Sanoop and I will stay in Copenhagen to work from here for a week before heading back to London — excited for the next time we get to go sailing 🙂