Sailing in Sweden from Ystad via Öland to Visby – May 2024

🧭 Factsheet

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📍 Our route & stages

Stage 1: Ystad → Simrishamn

With dreamy wind conditions, sunshine and full sails, we zip along towards Simrishamn with our freshly scrubbed underwater hull at an average of five and a half knots, peaking at over seven. We pass Ales Stenar, the stone ship setting near Ystad (Kåseberga). You can spot it well from the water, it’s that big. As we sometimes get around 20 knots in the gusts, we don’t tack around the cape but do a Q-turn instead. Still works, we haven’t forgotten all that much over the long winter.

Simrishamn wasn’t really our cup of tea. Odd shared showers without curtains, and sadly the place still felt completely deserted. But this was also where we saw the Northern Lights over TIAMAT for the first time. And we made a lovely new acquaintance too: we chatted for ages with the couple from Kiel who, with their STINA, were also heading north. We’d keep bumping into each other for a while.

Stage 2: Simrishamn → Hanö

We cover the 30 miles across Hanö Bay in glorious summer weather. For the first time in 2024, completely without woolly base layers. It’s warm, cloudless and, yes, no wind from astern. We try our luck with the cruising chute (gennaker) and at least manage a few miles that way. Right after mooring up, we meet the lovely harbourmaster and get a whirlwind description of the island. Off we go to explore it. Out of the 200 fallow deer living here, we only see about ten.

Stage 3: Hanö → Karlskrona

Hard on the wind under mainsail and both headsails, we head towards Karlskrona. Unfortunately, TIAMAT isn’t really fast in those conditions, especially not in fairly light winds. We only make three and a half knots. Our stopover in Ronneby (Ekenäs) turns into a bit of a nightmare when we run aground on a shallow patch. With plenty of throttle, though, we manage to get free on our own. The next day we carry on to Karlskrona. Unlike the rather not-so-pretty town, the harbour is absolutely perfect. Everything included and spotlessly clean.

Stage 4: Karlskrona →Kalmar

After three days, the wind is finally right for sailing out of Hanö Bay towards Karlskrona. As someone with a weakness for lighthouses, I’m drawn to Utklippan. It’s a beautiful day and with 13 knots of wind from the north-east we sail to the little island. The tiny port of refuge offers no comfort, but it does have charm. You can row over to the other skerry in little dinghies and have a look at the lighthouse. The nesting birds on Utklippan find us a bit annoying, and we try not to disturb them too much.

The next day we want to continue. There’s no wind, a flat calm sea and sunshine. Somehow none of the harbours en route really appeal to us, so we motor 50 miles all the way to Kalmar. We choose the very shallow, narrow harbour directly opposite the castle. Alongside the lovely view, this is also where we meet our future neighbours in our Swedish winter berth for the first time. Helèn and Pertti with their FIONA are moored next to us and we get chatting. They live on board too, so there’s plenty to talk about and lots in common.

Stage 5: Kalmar→Borgholm

With a stopover in an anchorage near Stora Mäsö we continue a few days later to the small, pretty little town of Borgholm on Öland. We really liked it here. We explore the town and Borgholm Castle, though not from the inside because the 12 Euro entrance fee felt a bit too steep for us.

Stage 5: Borgholm →Byxelkrok

We wait in Borgholm for two days for the right wind, then enjoy a glorious sailing day with dream conditions in the Kalmarsund. Sunshine, 5–10 knots of easterly wind, so a nice beam reach for us. That lets us cover the roughly 30 miles to the tip of Öland in six hours. The relatively new marina in Byxelkrok offers plenty of space and has lovely surroundings. In the evening, our former neighbour from Lelystad arrives as well. We spend a few hours chatting with the two of them and finally get to practise our Dutch again.

Stage 6: Byxelkrok → Visby

Here too, we have to wait quite a while again for the right wind. We definitely want to sail the just under 50 miles to Gotland. We take the day off and set off on 29 May. The wind is still weak in the morning but picks up later, and first with the gennaker, then later with genoa and staysail, we manage a good average speed of 5 knots again. With our new Handydock, we berth stress-free in the harbour of Visby. We want to stay here until the end of May.

🗺️ Special experiences & learnings

• We run aground because Tommy accidentally passes the two south cardinal buoys in Ekenäs harbour to the north. He gets another crash course from me on cardinal marks, and from now on we set our Navionics to a north-up display.
• For the first time, we use our fancy step fender to get from the bowsprit onto the pontoon. While mooring up and climbing down, I very nearly ended up in the water.
• We sail with our cruising chute for the first time.
• In the narrow harbour of Kalmar, we provide a bit of dockside entertainment at the stern buoy. A neighbour recommends the Handydock boat hook, which we buy straight away the very next day from the chandlery by the harbour.

⚓ Our favourite place on this trip

• Visby, or rather Gotland

💡 Practical tips for anyone sailing the same route

• In both Simrishamn and Ystad harbours, there are notices showing the times when you are not allowed to pass through the two firing areas.
• If your draught is around 1.50 m, you should visit the little harbour by the castle. The approach alone is spectacular, and the view afterwards is even better.

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