The Baltic and Norwegian Seas offer a host of fascinating cruising alternatives to the more commonly frequented ports within the Mediterranean. There’s even the opportunity to add Holland as a port of call enroute: a convenience that should not be overlooked, should a winter refit be planned. It’s a package that offers an imaginative and enjoyable dimension to the seasonal cruising plan.
Few would contest that the Mediterranean is an easily accessible cruising paradise, replete with ancient city ports and cultures, wonderful food, great restaurants and bars and, of course, fine sailing. But that, in essence, is also the problem – it means that the Med becomes very crowded throughout the summer season.
By contrast, Scandinavian waters are vast, diverse and, for the most part, very uncrowded. They provide not only a sense of adventure but give access to the coastal regions of Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Russia, Poland, Kaliningrad, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania: a veritable smorgasbord. During the June – September cruising high season, winds are steady and moderate, temperatures are comfortably warm and daylight, famously, rules for the vast majority of a day.
There are myriad islands scattered around a multitude of archipelagos, hundreds of charming fishing and trading ports, colourful and historic buildings, friendly and hospitable people, deep waters and safe sailing. In terms of diversity, you can sail towards the Arctic Circle for resplendent nature and wildlife and to experience the awesome beauty of the Aurora Borealis; or to St Petersburg for architectural and cultural grandeur. You can cruise the islands of Sweden, Denmark and Finland for every kind of local interest and especially for places of historical interest to seafarers. Perhaps the best known is Mariehamn in the Finnish Aland Islands. This was the home port of the last of the commercial square-riggers, Captain Gustav Erikson’s famous “Flying P” line. Erikson’s four-masted barque Pommern traded under sail until 1939 and now presides as a museum ship over a wonderful collection of historic vessels and boatbuilding sheds there.
The southern shores of the Baltic offer a different kind of diversity: from attractive and secluded harbours surrounded by pine trees and sand dunes on the one hand to large, commercial harbours fronting bustling cities on the other. All offer fascinating cultural insights into countries that are not so frequently visited by tourists, and even less so by sea, yet the sea is in the lifeblood of these ports and cities.
Their maritime narrative extends back through numerous political and trading dynasties to the development of the Hanseatic League 500 – 600 years ago and to the voyages and conquests of the Vikings some 500 years before that. For larger sailing yachts, access to the Baltic will be from the North Sea, around Denmark via Skagerrak and Kattegat. The Kiel Canal, accessible in the west at Brunsbuttel on the Elbe, shortens the route significantly for motor yachts and smaller sailing yachts but has a lowest bridge clearance of 39.6m / 130 ft.
From there onwards, the choice is almost limitless. To get passage planners thinking about the possibilities, “inhuis” has sketched out three introductory cruising options. Two feature well-established Baltic routes while the third, by contrast, is a Norwegian Sea adventure for the more intrepid. Potential stop-over ports and anchorages in many of these areas are numerous; time spent over charts and pilot books, and discussions with to those who have already cruised the region, will be well rewarded.
As a footnote, it will not have escaped readers’ attention that the passage to and from Scandinavian waters through the North Sea would place their yacht within easy reach of the Royal Huisman yard. If a Baltic cruise appeals, or simply a comprehensive private tour of the yard with your guests, why not talk to the yard team about integrating it with a planned refit at Vollenhove?
Three cruising options with a stopover in Holland for a
huisfit at Royal Huisman
