The stowing of all the items of equipment into the boats was more rushed than intended, as the journey to the launch site took rather longer than planned. The crew aboard the yacht, waiting for a crane to step their mast, seemed to watch in awe as all our gear slowly disappeared into our seemingly Tardis-like Wayfarers.

 
 
It was around 8 p.m. by the time we had finished packing all our gear in the boats, and hardly a breath of wind could be felt. We used our 2 HP engines to motor out to the Västra Trälhavsgrund, where we had our first night's camp. We were under way, even if the first leg was very short.
 
  Getting under way for any serious cruise is always a pressurised business, and our final setting off a considerable relief.
Having outboard motors to be able to quickly cover the distance required was a considerable bonus. - click here for larger image
 
The two small islands of Trälhavsgrundet were only some 2 nm from our launch site. We found an ideal secluded sandy beach to pull the boats ashore using rigid 90mm diam. plastic pipes as boat rollers. Åke and Sten slept in the land tent, whilst Martin and Ralph spent the night in the boats.
 
Next day, a fresh, gusty north-easterly wind was blowing. We sailed close hauled eastwards, rounded the Grindö and tacked up to the Träsköfjärden with a reef in the main.
 
 
 
With these boats, it is no problem to find a convenient place to stop for the night - we could sail into small coves, where no other boats can get to. In the evening, we sat on a rock, south of the Träskö-Storö, enjoying the sunset and celebrated the good start of our adventure with a toast of a tot of whisky.
 
 
 
We sailed through the Stockholm archipelago, passed Svartlöga and came to Rödlöga (one of the few islands with a small community and a local shop), and where girls at the café served lovely sandwiches with smoked salmon.
 
 
 
 
We sailed on to Norrpada in the Söderarm archipelago, with the wind against us all the way. Our normal day's schedule followed a usual routine: breakfast at around 7.30, start sailing at 10.00, lunch on a suitable island at 13.00, sailing from 14.00 to 17.00. With a little variation in times, we sailed about six hours, covering around 20 nm each day.
 
 
 
When we had found a good night's anchorage, Åke and I put up the land tent and the Englishmen raised their boom tents. It did not take long after supper until we fell asleep, tired after a day's sailing.
 
These photos are taken from an overnight stopping point in the Norrpada Skärgård group of islands. Both Åke and Sten were initially quite surprised - and also delighted - to find that the Wayfarer could be taken into virtually the same shallow areas that they were used to visiting when paddling their kayaks. They were happy to pitch their tent on any area of flat rock (above).


On Saturday the 27th of June, we stopped early in the afternoon on a little island southwest of the Hamnö, the last of the group of islands before our 30nm open sea crossing to Finland.  The lighthouse of Söderarm was close by, to the northeast of us. We had a magic evening on our little island, no wind at all, all alone, not a sound.
   
 
Next day, we planned to sail over to Åland. We were a little apprehensive before the crossing of the Ålands Hav. How wise was it to do offshore sailing in a dinghy? Ideally, it should not blow more than force 4 to be tolerable. Preferably, the wind would be behind - to balance the boat by sitting out on the rail for a full day in any sort of headwind would be hard.
 
Sunday came without any wind at all. After two hours, a few weak gusts had moved us a few miles beyond the Söderarm lighthouse. We had to use the engines for the next two hours or more.
 
 
Then a light breeze came from northwest. The wind kept blowing, increasing slowly, and by the time we approached Åland, we were sailing on a nice broad reach towards the Malgrundet Lighthouse.
 
 
We wanted to enter Mariehamn on the east side, so we sailed to the bridge over the Nåtöströmmen, and lowered the masts. After raising the masts on the other side of the bridge, we used the motors to quickly reach our planned destination of a large campsite at Mariehamn. The site had a sandy beach, excellent for hauling out the boats.
 
 
 

We made the most of a relaxing 2-day stopover in Mariehamn - being the principal city of Åland (a group of islands, and a semi-independent part of Finland). Apart from an interesting tour around the tall-ship Pommern, we enjoyed 2 evening meals at excellent restaurants, and met up with a local family whom Martin knew - and who kindly assisted in the re-stocking of our whisky supply.
 
We used the two-day stop in Mariehamn to take in more supplies; go on a sightseeing trip around the Pommern; and rest. Some Englishmen visiting Mariehamn saw the Red Ensigns on our boats and looked wide-eyed. They asked if we had sailed all the way from England. No, we hadn't, but they thought it was a good achievement to have sailed from Stockholm to Mariehamn.