Denmark homeward bound

10/6 Maybe it sounds strange, but Henri had attained his end already. The voyage to and trough Sweden was fulfilled. But he had to bring the Orm back to the Netherlands. The crossing to Denmark must be done. This part of the Baltic, one must never under estimate. To be prepared for everything Henri wanted his supply of gas full and to be refilled on the last spot. The last possibility was in Tängen. This however was a military zone, where no foreigners were allowed. The radar reflector was taken in, the Dutch flag was taken away and the cap of the Sjöferket, the Swedish district-water-board, was put on. From a distance no one could see that this was not a Swedish ship sailing. In the early morning, with poor visibility, the Orm sailed undisturbed to Tängen to refuel the tank. It started blowing and there was a lot of swell. To be on the safe site Henri put on his survival suit and started with the long crossing in the direction just south of Frederikshavn. The destination for this day was Vestero on the island Laeso and was reached early in the afternoon. This island is a busy visited nature-reservate and most certain nice to visit. Henri had a real dinner that evening "steak a la Laeso" instead of the usual warmed up cans with "ready food".

11/6 This was a quiet day on a nice island.
It was told around that a strange ship has entered the harbour and soon the local press was on the spot to take an interview.

12/6 Half-cloudy, moderate wind from the NW, so nice weather to sail. The Orm set course first to Hals because Henri was hoping to buy a cup of coffee, but everything was closed. Leaving Hals again and the trip was continued. At 12.00 the Dutch ship Albatros was boarded. The skipper and his wife friendly offered Henri a lunch. After talking together for one hour the Orm separated from the Albatros and both ships sailed their own course again. The destination for today, Ôster-Hurup was fast reached. The Orm was just moored and there came an other ship in to the harbour : the Stampe, the ship with the burning navigation lights in Kungälv. This was a happy re-union and a lot of talking between the two crews.

13/6 The weather forecast was bad, strong wind from NO. According to the weather forecast it was the best to sail early in the morning. So wake up at 03.30, wind force 5 Bft, trying to get out of the harbour, but it was impossible. To come in deep waters one must first try to get out of the harbour. By the sandbanks in front of the coast there were a huge breakers, transverse on the course to be headed. The Orm can have breakers on the bow and stern but not in the side. The wind was increasing and at noon it was already wind force 7 Bft. Nothing could be done about it, the tent was put on again and to kill the time Henri did have a look in Ôster-Hurup. But as this is a very small village, Henri was quickly back to his ship. The harbourmaster was very friendly and put on his window every two hours a new peace of paper with the latest weather forecast.

14/6 Again early up to try to get out of the harbour. But it was impossible, the waves are too high and the propeller of the engine came out of the water. The temperature was also falling and Henri has to put on his thermo-clothes again. 15/6 Still the storm. Henri stayed in his warm sleeping bag and did not try to get out of the harbour. Cold and rain were asking for a sheltered place. Lucky the Stampe was in the harbour and Henri spent a lot of time with Inge and Johan.

16/6 The storm was down. Together with the Stampe the Orm left the harbour, they should sail to Greena today. In the neighbourhood of Ronnerup the engine of the Stampe was not running good. The agreement was made that the Orm should sail slowly to Greena and the Stampe run into Bunnerup to try to fix the engine. This last item was quickly done, the filter of the diesel oil was dirty and the Stampe could continue the trip to Greena. Early in the afternoon both ships reached Greena and the three crewmembers visited the shark-museum.

17/6 At 05.00 both the Stampe and Orm were leaving the harbour of Greena. The Orm heading for Hou and the Stampe heading for Århus. But both ships were not going to make their destination that day. The wind was ZW 4 Bft and the weather was changing between sunny and raining. On their way both ships were making photographs of each other. Arriving the bay of Ebeltoft the wind was already wind force 7 Bft. On this spot is a shallow bank and the waves came from all directions. The Orm was taking water and the small electric water pomp was put on. Because of the bad weather of the last days Henri did not pay enough attention to clean the Orm. The filter of the water pomp was blocked and could not take all the water out. The water inside the Orm became higher and higher. Because of this there was short-circuit and there was a fire. For Henri it was impossible to keep the bow of the ship in the direction of the changing waves and handling the hand-pomp at the same time. The Orm came half-full with water and there was the danger of capsizing. By good seamanship Johan managed to throw a floating line from the Stampe and this was fastened to the Orm.

Now the Stampe could tug the Orm away of the shallow banks, who where very close by. The Orm could be hold with the bow in the wind and waves and Henri had time to take the water out. This time with a bucket. Slowly the Stampe tugged the Orm into the harbour of Ebeltoft, here the last two places were taken. There was so much wind that more ships did have problems and the Danish coastguard had to get more then one ship from the sandbanks. Full with thankfulness Henri treated Inge and Johan for a dinner. By all the emotions Henri did have a break-down. He was lucky to be visited by Lisbeth Beck-Nilsen, a friend of him from the trip to Oslo in 1985, who could share him up a little bit.

18/6 Still wind force 9 Bft. Henri was still afraid and he had fear to sail again, he just had it. But the Orm must go back to Holland and he wanted to do this as quick as possible, he had to make even more longer days. Everything was wet. Even his clothes in the plastic bags. One and a half meter of the electric wiring was melted and must be renovated. All the connections are wet and must be cleaned up. 19/6 The wind was low down till force 7 Bft. The Stampe had to leave because the holiday for Inge and Johan was over. Henri said goodbye, with tears in his eyes, to his rescue team. The Orm was not yet ready to sail again, a new pump must be bought.

20/6 The wind was slowed down till ZW 5 Bft. Henri was still afraid but he has to go on. Arriving in Hou it start to rain. But lucky for Henri, a Danish wooden kotter offered him a dry sleeping place.

21/6 Still the misery was not over yet. Departing from Hou at 05.00 the wind was ZW 3 Bft. At 07.00 the wind changed to NW 1 and a thick fog was going up. The sea-lane was narrow and twisty, but with buoy’s. The depth of the Orm is not much so Henri decided to sail slowly outside the sea-lane, blowing on his horn every minute and listening to the noise of other ships. Suddenly he heard a ship. He stopped the Orm and tried to take bearings on the noise. Just in front of the Orm, on ram course, came a fisherman-trawler, full speed, with his radar on, but no watchman on the bow. By his quick reaction Henri prevented a collision. The fisherman just sailed on, without slowing his speed, he did not even see the Orm. Henri took away the rudder and put the Orm slowly on a sandbank and throw out the anchor. Here he was safe, no other ship could reach him. He had to wait till 11.00 before the fog was gone and it was safe to continue the trip. Meanwhile Henri had been thinking why it was an almost collision. The trawler must have had local knowledge and sailed with his radar in the sea-lane by the buoys. Because the Orm did have his radar reflector in the top of the mast, the reflection was better than the reflection of the buoy and the skipper must have thought that the Orm was a buoy and headed for it. At twelve o’clock the wind was increased to 4 Bft and the visibility was good. Although it has started to rain but there could be sailed again. At two o’clock the wind was increased till 6 Bft and there was a lot of stream. But the ORM has reached the hospitable harbour of Fredericia in time.

22/6 The weather forecast was bad, so the Orm left Fredericia early in the morning. The wind was NW 5 Bft but from behind, so that was good for sailing. At half past eight in the morning close by Årösund the wind force was already 8 and the Orm searched for shelter in that little harbour. Henri visited the little village and made some talking with the harbourmaster. He seems to be an ex-smithy, so he showed great interest in the old Viking sword Henri carried with him.

23/6 For the first time this trip Henri did not hear the alarm-clock and was standing up at ten o’clock. Quickly the ship was made ready and off he went. Because the weather was better, with wind NW 4 Bft, there could be sailed again. It was cold with rain, but still it became a nice sailing day to Sôderborg. Here must be waited for one hour to open the bridge. That night there was not much sleep. The Danish people were celebrating the mid-summer-party, this goes together with a lot of alcohol and noise.