Sitting down tonight for the first time in a while to update the blog.  I can’t help but to feel some guilt for the long time that has passed since my last post ( “forgive me father, for I have…”), but we’ve been busy.  Exhaustingly busy!  Since my last post we sailed up to Norway and back and then did loads and loads of work on the boat.  

The Norway trip was about 50 miles each way, and we had nice easy sailing with stops at Gluppo and Kalvo-Lindo along the way.  We needed to move the boat from the EU tax union in order to complete its export and the easiest way to do that from Ellos is to sail across the Norwegian border (Norway is not a part of the EU tax union) while Swedish Customs is monitoring you on AIS.  So we rounded an island in Norway, took photos of our plotter for good recordkeeping, and then went back to Sweden. 

We anchored in a nice cove off of South Koster island and spent the next day exploring, before heading back on Sunday.  While most of the trip up was a nice sail in 15 knots of westerly breeze, the trip back was seven hours of motoring in no breeze.  

We got back to Ellos on Sunday afternoon.  On Monday, a huge team from HR arrived at 8am sharp to tackle a long list of repairs and improvements for us.  All day Monday and Tuesday people were coming and going in order to get through everything on our list.  We can’t compliment the folks there enough!  

We left Ellos Tuesday night to motor-sail 6 nm away to Martinsson’s boatyard (more formally called Bröderna Martinsson Varvs AB), where we spent Wednesday and Thursday installing communications equipment.  Wednesday was pouring rain all day, making the task that much harder!  In two days we completed the installation of our SSB, Starlink, Yellowbrick tracker, and LTE antenna and router, running multiple cables throughout the boat.  It is somewhat ironic that we installed both the latest in offshore communications gear (Starlink satellite communications) together with one of the oldest (SSB marine and ham radio). A huge thanks to Jens (who owns the place) and his team of Jordi, Peter and one other. They were truly a pleasure to work with and it was great to get to know them along the way. Martinsson’s was founded in 1946 by Jen’s wife’s grandfather, and has been family-run since then.  They have a big business of winter storage for HR owners, and currently provide service to five or six other HR57s.  

Friday afternoon we headed back to Ellos for what we hope will be our final night.  We found the entire HR team partying hard, as this was the last day before their four week summer shutdown, and the company hosts a party with live music and food.  We opted not to partake, and instead Seth set up our hammock (my father's day gift from last year!) and then went back to our favorite Thai food truck instead.  

Today we officially started our trip south, leaving Ellos for good.  We had a nice 25 nm sail in 15 - 20 knots of breeze from the east.  We set a reefed main and the staysail and were sailing close hauled comfortably at 7 knots most of the way.  Our destination for the night was a nice cove called Soholmen Inston, very close to Marstrand.   We had some difficulty getting the anchor to set, and after three attempts in our preferred spot, we moved to slightly deeper water where we had immediate success. 

We then decided that it was time to splash one of our inflatable kayaks and Seth and I went off for some exploration before dinner.  After dinner it was drone-time, and we had our first flight off of the aft deck.  The landing was a bit scary, as I was able to maneuver the drone to within reach and then I grabbed it, but I couldn’t figure out how to shut it down, and found myself holding it in one hand while frantically pressing buttons on the controller with the other.  All ended well, once I remembered the shut-down command.  

Tomorrow we’ll be celebrating Seth’s birthday dockside in Marstrand, a super cute village nearby.  Marstrand is known as the sailing capital of Sweden’s west coast, and we are excited to see it again.  The last time we were here it was the dead of winter when we were in Sweden to order Saltair.  We had an extra day and decided to check out Marstrand, which was deserted at the time.  It should be a bit more lively now!    And Monday, our friends Timo and Hilari arrive from San Francisco to join us for the first part of our trip south.  We are excited to be hosting our first guests!  

It is raining on and off tonight, with thunder in the distance.  Given that we’re at anchor, I’ll likely be up on and off throughout the night, so it is time to get this one posted and get down for some zzzzz’s.