2nd September 2017
At Last! With a few days of sunny weather forecast we wanted a day at the beach! So we set sail for Karrebaeksminde, a traditional Danish seaside town on the coast of Zealand. I was hoping for piers, donkey rides, sand castles and ice cream. With the exception of the latter I was to be disappointed! We left Omo at 1005 after the ferry, following it carefully until we reach the first green channel marker when we changed onto a bearing of 150.
Leaving Omo far behind us
The distinctive Helleholm lighthouse on Algerso
We tacked down the Omo Sund to the safe water mark where we headed due East on 090 for 15 nm in to Karrebaeksminde Bay. With the force 4 north westerly wind, Grace sailed well and tracked our course accurately to the mouth of the Karrebaeksminde breakwater.
Lorna sketching the views
Perfectly timed as alway to cause as much chaos as possible, we arrived in the middle of a race and had to avoid about a dozen racing yachts all sailing flat out for the finish line……. I think we came second!
Holding off strong competition!
The entrance to the Soefronten Marina is quite hairy! There is a double breakwater that channels the Nastved Canal into the sea. This creates a strong and rough surge as the canal water crosses the sea water and the wind. This makes entry into the marina a bit tricky – first full power to overcome the strong cross currents then once through the gap and inside the marina breakwater full astern to slow down enough to make a right angled turn into the moorings.
The breakwaters and ships in the canal!
This Marina has the best labelled berths of any marina we have seen on our trip! Berth width, length, free or not and price are all clearly visible from the water. Brilliant! None of the embarrassment of getting wedged between the posts because you picked a berth that was not wide enough or indeed getting stuck 2 m from the pontoons as the berth is too long for your lines!
Grace in the right sized berth!
Water in the canal can get a bit lively due to the strong current
Danish humour! A grasshopper lifting bridge!
Karrebaeksminde is slightly odd. It has a lifting bridge dressed up as a grasshopper, a nice beach and a great bakery, where I became quite well known! So much so in fact that the baker would try to translate into English what each cake and bun was called. This included the intriguingly named ‘Napoleon’s Shits’. I hope she meant ‘Hats’ but I had to buy one anyway!
Napoleon’s Shits, at least they tasted nice!
The canal is full of surprises too, as suddenly you can be eating a meal in one of the many nice bank side restaurants and fish and eel smokehouses that line the river when a large ship will suddenly and almost silently appear! I made a mental note not to leave the Marina when one these things is around……I do hope I remember to follow that sound advice!
A slightly surreal moment; having dinner when suddenly a big ship passes only a few feet from your table, the skipper on the bridge watching you eat!
And what we came for? A day at the beach! The weather was sunny if a bit windy later on. The water was beautifully clear, if somewhat bracing and had none of the jelly fish that fill the water on the other side of the Great Belt! And the sand was lovely and fine…..perfect! And unlike Germany, everyone managed to keep their clothes on! Although you are allowed to be naked on any public beach in Denmark but I have not put it to the test!
A day on the beach
but for the Grace 
Always thought that Napoleon was a man of poor taste, your picture supports this.
A sunny day at the seaside is just the ticket, hope you enjoyed it.
Love Jan & John.
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