Blog 14 Warnemunde, Germany

Kuhlungsborn is a seaside holiday destination with a new yacht harbour built out from the beach and a little distant from the original town. It was unfortunate that we arrive when it was almost full up because of a nearby sailing event and also being the weekend so rafting alongside a large aged yacht it was comfortable enough even if the pair of us looked like Laurel and Hardy, not long afterwards a German yacht full of charming young people rafted to Talisman and we became a sandwich. I think we were overwhelmed by the throngs of holiday makers everywhere and bemused at the regimented tiers of those hooded wicker two seater self contained reclining chairs with drawers underneath ( there is probably a single complex word in German to join all those words together ) which appear on all beaches here - but that they all faced into the sun and so not only had no view of the sea but being in ranks could only see the back of the seat in front - strange. Probably unjustly we moved on the next day - partly because high winds were forecast and it was better to be held up at Warnemunde near Rostock which offered more interest if needed for several days.

Few boats were leaving but with a two thirds Genoa we went out knowing it would be very lumpy until clear of the shallows - it was - and with the wind rising to 34 knots we surfed the waves for two hours down wind to Warnemunde where the river from Rostock enters the sea - a bustling fishing town full of life and entertaining streets. There we crossed paths with fellow HR owners on Shifta ( regular Baltic hands ) who were going West and were able to give advice on what to do next.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single German in possession of two weeks holiday must be in want of a bratwurst mit brot and a bier - never have I seen so much consumed by so many, yet that is the character of this seaside town, lively, unpretentious and out to give everyone a great time. I do confess however that given the choice I would go for a touch more tranquillity.

On that theme, it didn't take a lot of persuading from our Dutch chums who were going on to the Danish Islands where from experience, tranquillity drips from the heavens like a comforting glow - in a biblical sense, and because we had been delayed by bad weather getting to the Baltic it was sensible to leave Rugen and Poland until next year. That evening, we said farewell to our fellow sailors John and Alison on HR34 "Shifta" who had given us so much advice in preparing for the Baltic and so we prepared the Danish courtesy flag for the our next passage.