It’s not easy! Sailing away! There’s always something to consider, repair, improve and equip. So it is with us.
After we have moved on board, there is still a lot of work to be done. A huge amount of equipment and things from the mill still need to be stowed away. One or two improvement projects are quickly started. As usual, everything takes longer than planned, so our departure from Cuxhaven feels a long way off.
Then there is the annoying necessity of registering us at our new place of residence with Axel’s parents in Bremen. Actually a simple administrative process. In reality, however, it’s virtually impossible in Bremen. I spend hours on the computer every day trying to get an appointment online. You can’t do it without an appointment, but appointments are not offered per se. But you are welcome to check back between 7 and 9 in the morning, maybe an appointment will become available at some point! Of course I’ll do that too. To be on the safe side, I also check back at other times of the day. After looking for appointments as a precautionary measure even before we moved, I only actually manage to get an appointment on July 15. But then directly on the same afternoon. It’s just as well that we had already renewed our passports and ID cards in Langwedel. The process took 5 minutes without registering. According to the website, the next available appointment in Bremen is not until November!
And then there are the numerous farewells. Please don’t let that sound negative! We are happy for everyone who comes on board and wants to spend a few nice minutes, hours or even days with us. Somehow, many people seem to find it harder to say goodbye than they thought. Although it doesn’t really feel like a farewell to us. Compared to our last start with Hello World, where it was already clear at the beginning that we wouldn’t be around for a few years, this time we are still within reach for many months or even years. We are staying in Europe and therefore feel close by. A visit on board is certainly not feasible at the end of the day. But in many places you can actually visit us for a long weekend! And we will also be in Germany from time to time. Nevertheless: the time with family, friends and acquaintances is super nice and we are already looking forward to the next opportunities for a cozy get-together!
Last act: we drop Axel’s car off at BMW and enjoy one last lunch at the Chili Club in Bremen with Andrea and Pit. Afterwards, Pit drives us back to Cuxhaven and we do the final finishing touches. Finished!
Let’s go
On July 18, we finally set sail and cast off from Cuxhaven after more than 3 months! In fact, the start is only four days later than originally planned and we are a little proud of ourselves that we managed the mega-move from the mill to the ship in such a short time. For Lucky, the cat on board, this is the first time he has been away from land in his new, still unfamiliar home. And we are also a little nervous, as this is the first time we are traveling with „La Ola“ without professional support. It’s just as well that Axel’s sister Anja has hired us! So we have a little support on board for the first „real“ casting off and mooring maneuvers.
Cuxhaven – Helgoland 35,7 nm
The wind and tide are good and we pass the bascule bridge out of the city marina at 12 noon and turn to port at the harbor exit onto the Elbe. However, good wind means that it is so light that we don’t even think about setting sail. Compared to westerlies 5-7, which have unfortunately been very frequent in recent weeks, we find light winds more suitable for us to start with. We sail along the Elbe on the port side of the fairway and then finally set course for Helgoland. The wind remains light and we motor comfortably along, but unfortunately we discover that our autopilot is not working. The plotter doesn’t recognize the rudder transmitter and so, for better or worse, we have to steer manually. No problem with three people on board and a short route. But still very annoying, of course. Axel ponders and ponders and finally comes to the conclusion that the problem is related to the installation of our new AIS. If you switch the AIS off, the autopilot works again. If you switch it on again, the rudder transmitter is no longer recognized. As we consider both functions to be very important, we will probably have to work on them over the next few days and try to find out how the error can be rectified.
Lucky the cat doesn’t find sailing, or rather motoring, funny at all. He’s curled up on his bunk in his cat house and you get the impression he’s a bit seasick. So I prefer to move him from his raised position on the mattress down to the cabin floor. It seems to be better this way, but every creak and crackle makes him cringe noticeably.
We reach Helgoland at around 6 p.m. and find a nice spot on the east quay as the fourth boat in the packet. We quickly go to the harbour master and pay the harbour dues for the next six days and can treat ourselves to an arrival beer in the cockpit. Incidentally, the harbor dues are pleasantly low. I pay just 78 euros for six days plus a tourist tax of 16.50 euros per person. A bargain! In Brighton, we paid more for a day in the marina than here for almost a week. Maybe we should stay longer!
The next day we have to get up early because one of the boats on the inside wants to go out. So we get up just before seven, cast off briefly and then come back to a nice spot right by the jetty. I go straight to the island bakery and meet Bert and Marlene from Heimkehr. We’ve known each other virtually for a while and are pleased that we can finally chat in person. Back on board, the crew are still asleep and I can look after Lucky a little. He is obviously even more frightened by the early morning maneuver and the many people traipsing across the deck don’t make it any better. Hopefully he’ll get used to it at some point!
After the rest of the crew is finally awake, we have a delicious breakfast and then go ashore for the first time. We first walk to the tourist information office and manage to get tickets for a bunker tour in the afternoon without any problems. Then it’s off to Manfred Engel’s store, where we stock up on water and beer and take a small test selection of wine with us. Back on board, we get plenty of rest until we can go on our bunker tour in the afternoon. Anja and I have already done the tour, but Axel is new to the impressive guided tour of the Helgoland air raid shelter. Back on board, we fire up the barbecue and enjoy a delicious dinner on board a little later. As the weather is simply beautiful and summery, we take a seat in the front cockpit for a glass of wine afterwards. Neighbors passing by are quickly invited to join us and so a little later Bert, Wolfgang and Dorothee sit with us over a glass and we can conclude the tasting of the wines we bought in the morning with an overall positive result.
Surprisingly, the next morning brings more beautiful summer sunshine. And also another morning of mooring. So I get up early again today and use the time for a nice shower. Our water tanks are still pretty full, but as it’s very difficult to fill up with water on Heligoland and we don’t want to use our water maker just yet, it’s okay to take a warm shower ashore. After breakfast, Anja and I go shopping. While Anja buys a new dress, shoes and sailing shorts, I buy a sun hat with a wide brim. We spend the rest of the day in the shade of the cockpit and only venture ashore again in the evening. First we go for a Knieper meal in the „Bunte Kuh“, then we walk to Lange Anna and work off the calories we’ve just eaten. Back on board, we end the evening in the cockpit and are fascinated by the number of wind farm supply ships coming into the harbor for the evening and by the glowing red moon, which already looks pretty full.
Sunday starts a little cloudier. Just the right weather for a trip to the Dühne. Anja and I make our way to the small ferry „Witte Kliff“ and explore the small neighboring island. We walk along the beach past seals and gray seals. The sun is blazing down from the sky more than expected and announced, so we have to stop for a cool refreshing drink at the small island airport. We return on wooden boardwalks through the dune landscape and take the ferry back to the main island. On board, Bert and Marlene from „Heimkehr“ surprise us with a small farewell ceremony. The two are active with Trans Ocean e.V. – TO for short – and, in addition to a pencil and sticker, they also gave us a fishing net for the „Catch of the Day“ campaign. The aim is not to catch a fish every day, but to fish two bottles of plastic out of the sea every day. Of course, more bottles and other plastic objects are also welcome. A great idea!!! At the end there is a poem from Bert and as a TO member I am very touched by this special attention. Unfortunately, Anja leaves us again in the afternoon and takes the ferry back to Cuxhaven and Bremen. Now we are alone on board and have to see how we manage the next maneuvers without support. Fortunately, we still have a few days to prepare ourselves mentally. In the evening we go ashore again for dinner. Unfortunately, we are too late for fried fish at the Blaue Bude and there is only one outside seat left at the Bunte Kuh. We take it despite the light drizzle and enjoy our meal once again. The evening on board is quiet and Lucky the cat finally has a chance to cuddle with me in the saloon. He seems to have slowly gotten used to the unfamiliar noises and even ignores the sailors walking alongside the ship with bravura.
The start of the new week begins with work! Not on the boat, but on the PC. I have an office day today and spend the day in front of the screen. After all, I don’t want my clients to miss out. No problem at all thanks to the internet connection via Starlink. And spending the lunch break in the cockpit isn’t so bad either! We also stock up on beef fillet and rump steak. The whole pieces of meat are cut up, portioned, vacuum-sealed and frozen. Two nice pieces are left over and thrown on the barbecue in the evening.
After a trip to the island bakery in the morning and a nice breakfast in the cockpit, office work is also on the agenda the next day. No problem, because there’s no good wind for us to sail on at the moment anyway. And Heligoland is really beautiful and the mooring fees are cheap. We’re getting to know most of the places and there are just a few things left to tick off our Heligoland bucket list. Playing golf, for example! However, as there is no golf course on Heligoland, we stick to a game of mini-golf. We play it after work in glorious sunny weather and a stiff breeze. Mini golf seems to suit us better than „real“ golf, because Axel plays a hole-in-one and I even get two!!! This has to be celebrated and so we go to Germany’s most dangerous fish stall „2 Blaue Buden“ for dinner – fried fish with potato salad and fish & chips. However, to avoid the aggressive and rapacious seagulls, we prefer to eat on board rather than on the promenade. With the sun still shining, we then have a chat with the neighbors from „Be Happy“, but have to move back into the more sheltered aft cockpit as the clouds gather and the cold sets in (what a summer!). The harbour master gives us an event tip for Thursday and then our TO club mates from the „Fanta“ come by. Matthias, Nadine, Sophie, Louisa and Leonie are on vacation on their Ovni and we spend a very nice evening together.
The next day we head over to the Dühne again. This time I manage to persuade Axel to come along and play the second mini golf course with me. The course is beautifully situated in the dune landscape and it’s not very busy. This time Axel wins by a wafer-thin margin and I actually play two hole-in-ones again today! This time Axel invites me to lunch at the beach restaurant and afterwards we walk past the comfortably dozing gray seals and harbor seals back to the small dune ferry. Back on the main island, we quickly go to the Edeka market to buy some food for dinner before returning on board. Unfortunately, our stay in the cockpit is interrupted today by a friendly gentleman who is clearing weeds from the joints of the pier with an engine brush cutter. A sisyphean job that involves a lot of noise. So I prefer to make myself comfortable below deck and do some more work. In the afternoon, we go back to the harbour master and extend our stay until Saturday. Back on board, we put the deck wash pump into operation, whereby the use of WD40 is absolutely necessary. Then the deck is cleaned of the dirt from the pier cleaning operation. At the end, I have a glass of champagne in the front cockpit on my 4 – in words FOUR – hole-in-ones. Later, Matthias and Louisa from Fanta drop by to help us fix a small problem. When laying the new cables for the solar panels, two cables had to be laid across the hull. Our electrician Kjell had already managed to secure them with cable ties so that they couldn’t slip into the steering cables, but the long ends of the cable ties were still dangerously close to the steering cables and there was a risk that they would get jammed at some point. So Anja and I had already crawled into the engine compartment in the last few days to cut off the ends, but unfortunately both of us had failed. I got stuck after just half a meter – too puggy. Anja at least managed to cut off part of it. But there was still about 20 cm left over. Louisa, on the other hand, managed to crawl between the boards and cut off the ends without any problems. Top job! As a reward, we had lots of sweets, which Louisa hopefully didn’t eat all at once. We then spent the evening relaxing in the cockpit and writing on our blog.
The next day doesn’t get off to the best start. I actually want to go to the island bakery to get some bread rolls, but it’s closed. I’m probably just too late. So I carry on to the town hall and get some bread rolls for breakfast. It’s a nice walk with a view of the sea and no crowds of tourists. Unfortunately, it’s also quite far and so the breakfast egg is only lukewarm when I finally get back on board. After the tedious office work, Axel and I go shopping in the lowlands. Axel returns on board with new polo shirts and the sweets cupboard can be properly replenished. In the afternoon we work again (me) or relax in the cockpit (Axel). Meanwhile, the weather doesn’t change for the better. The wind turns to the southwest and picks up considerably. An unpleasant combination in Heligoland harbor. There is a lot of swell and the boats jerk uncomfortably in the lines. It doesn’t get any better with all the other boats moored alongside, which push us onto the jetty due to the onshore wind. It’s just as well that we have enough fenders on board. In the evening, we head to the town hall square. A stage has been set up there overnight and there will be various concerts over the next three days. It starts with „The Stokes“ and Irish folk. We make ourselves comfortable with a beer on one of the beer tent benches and have a nice chat with the harbour master Pierre and his colleague Christian. The music and atmosphere are great until the onset of rain drives us back onto the boat. The night becomes restless, the lines creak, the fenders squeak and it jerks and rattles all night long. In addition, Lucky meows loudly at night and can only be calmed down again after a few scratching sessions and treats. Meanwhile, the rain pours down on deck and continues throughout the next morning. So it’s back to office work instead of beach life. In between, there is always a harbor cinema to marvel at. The little pack behind us wants to break up, but the first to cast off rams directly into the boat behind him and some others seem to have never heard of steaming into the spring, but try to cast off against the wind with other daring maneuvers. Fortunately, the weather turns sunny again at lunchtime and we go to Edeks and Manfred Engel to stock up on provisions for the next few days. Harbourmaster Pierre comes on board in the afternoon and we take a nice photo of him for Captain Bluebear’s friends gallery. At 5 p.m., we arrive punctually at the „Bunte Kuh“ and treat ourselves to one last Knieper. We will definitely miss it! Owner Jasmin tells us that she always spends a few months with her husband in the Dominican Republic in winter. Hopefully we’ll meet them there again in a few years‘ time. After a short stopover on board, we head back to the town hall square this evening to listen to some rock music by Elephant & Paul Botter. As we want to get out early tomorrow, we stay late and are in our bunks early.
We’ll continue tomorrow and report back!
