A Race Against the Storm

During a stop in another seaside town, which looks just like the last, on our way to Gdansk, we meet a group of three on a similar adventure to ours, the crew of the ketch Ina.

We set off on a light breeze from land which takes us along the coast of Hel peninsula on a close haul. Around the tip of the 20 mile sand bar we sight a compact but hefty storm on the horizon. With only 10 miles to go and a 7 knot average, thanks to the approaching Storm, we hope we can make it to the relative safety of Sopot pier before it reaches us.

As the sky darkens and the wind picks up our hopes of outrunning the storm dwindle and we prepare for a rough ride. However, during the slightly hasty maneuver of taking down the foresail one of the sheets lands in the water while I try to get the engine running to have a better chance reducing the sails. The inevitable happens and the propeller gets caught up with the sheet, but we still manage to get the foresail down with some effort. We decide to continue and weather the storm until we can anchor near the harbour entrance and untangle the sheet and propeller. Luckily there is no permanent damage and the warm Baltic seawater makes a dive under the ship quite fun.

The Storm sent us quite a way off course and now we are much closer to Gdansk already and decide to skip Sopot and head straight there.