We were sailing "E6" north from Gothenburg this weekend. In my previous post I covered our quick stop at Marstrand. After Marstrand there is the crossing of Marstrandsfjorden, 2 nm with no protection against the waves, it can be pretty rocky but this time we were lucky with the wind direction - and magnitude, there was actually very little wind (that's indeed a bit bad, as it means we had to go by engine). Then comes Skapholmen, there is an art installation there, I forgot to take a photo ... I'll steal this photo found by google search:
I remember once in the summer time, we had a bigger and faster sail boat coming from behind as we approached the sound, plus traffic from ahead. One big motor boat decided to overtake both of us, that was quite crazy. The sailboat behind really didn't want to do anything to slow down, I was very much wondering if it would try to overtake is in the middle of the straight, or if it would crash into us. In the end they released the genoa sheet and let the genoa flap a bit, hence reducing the speed a bit.
Next is Bäckerö fjord, here it's possible to do a shortcut if one can trust the map plotter - we decided to follow the recommended track which does quite a detour around some rocky terrain. I seem to have forgotten to take photos of Bäckerö as well.
Next up is Hjärterösund. After some dredging work in 1888-1892 the channel is now 3.5 metres deep and 8 metres wide (source: Hjerterösund on kanaler.arnholm.nu). 8 metres is not much ... and in addition, this is not a straight channel, one has to zig-zag between the rocks. I've done this one in the darkness once - never again! Here is a map:
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It's not uncommon that the boats forms queues in this straight - even now, outside the summer holiday season. Some boats wants to go faster than others, in the hectic summer months there can be quite some dangerous overtakings in those straights. I decided to go very slowly through one of the most narrow places, there was a much smaller motor boat coming in the other direction that decided to wait for me ... he seemed slightly annoyed. After the straight there is a sharp turn to the starboard, hence we can see the queue from the side here.
position: geo:57.979328,11.529729 (geohack) - 2018-09-01 13:11:11 localtime - full quality
After Hjerterösund comes Bockholmsund, with Skärhamn on the starboard side.
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Here is the harbour entrance to Skärhamn (Skärhamn on Swedish Wikipedia)
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Unfortunately not much visible on those photos (it seems like I need a camera with zoom), but the church is actually smiling!
Skärhamn is a relatively nice place, they do have a good boat equipment shop on the west side of the harbour. We've done shopping there some few times, the supermarket is relatively big, BUT it's also relatively long distance from the harbour, hence I won't recommend doing grocery shopping in Skärhamn!
position: geo:57.990169,11.536231 (geohack) - 2018-09-01 13:23:05 localtime - full quality
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Toftösund (kanaler.arnholm.nu)
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Kyrkesund (Swedish wikipedia)
position: geo:58.013725,11.513726 (geohack) - 2018-09-01 13:47:59 localtime - full quality
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A very small car ferry, it passes the sound. There are almost no bridge crossings along "E6" (with the exceptions of Kungshamn-Smögen and Sotenäsbron), so generally the land on the starboard side has road connections, while the land on the port side either has no road connections, or only by ferry.
position: geo:58.014762,11.513761 (geohack) - 2018-09-01 13:48:54 localtime - full quality
position: geo:58.014984,11.513761 (geohack) - 2018-09-01 13:48:57 localtime - full quality
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This is the Härön landing site for the ferry
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position: geo:58.016975,11.513854 (geohack) - 2018-09-01 13:50:26 localtime - full quality
One observation ... the "standard" vacation time in Norway is during three weeks in July - for one thing, most kindergardens have closed during those three weeks. During those three weeks, there are more Norwegian than Swedish boats along "E6". This time, in the beginning of September, there were almost no other Norwegian boats to be seen until after Kungshamn.
Selected photos available in original quality on IPFS QmVPzbGn4VNtE5UqMRUtf7V1tmSNugunJJn12z5WLuVsf8. All photos taken available in original quality on IPFS QmcfSS7WYPUess57wQ1srmyRSX4jFzqPsWyKd4Crrtzdk9. The CC BY-SA 4.0 license applies on both my photos and the article