Glad sailors in the Glad Salmon place... 21 July 2019

In Swedish, a glad salmon is called a gladalax. In March 2019, as we were preparing for the sailing season already scheduled to take place in the gulf go Bothnia and in Åland, we went to the boat fair called "Alt på sjön", held in Stockholm during the first week of March. There, we passed by the Åland stand and ask the guy handling the stand where should we go while sailing in Åland. He told us, in many places, including mine, the Gladalax marina (60.30392, 20.743668). We connected immediately with a post in the blog of François and Valérie on Cybèle 17, indicating how much they appreciated their stopover in his happy salmon place. The connexion was established, and we ended up there with our fiends Johan and Suzanne...

Johan and Kaja on the way to the Gladalax guest harbour.

The Gladalax guest harbour can accommodate 35 boats in the harbour with a depth of 2.5 metres as a minimum. When we met Henrik, the manager of the place at the boat fair in Stockholm in March, he told us to let him know when we will come so that he will keep a place for us. Two days before coming, while in Kustavi waiting for our fiends to join, I sent him a message to announce our arrival. And he kept a place in the harbour for us, while, at the peak of the season, the harbour is full already by lunch time. We were so impressed by the warm welcome of the guest harbour crew welcoming their French guests!

By the way the diner was fantastic, with fresh product from the island cooked to the perfection. A great experience while in Åland. But make sure to arrive very early on in the place to find a spot, unless you have a chance to meet Henrik in advance at the boat fair in Stockholm :-).

Belisama using its asymmetric spinnaker on the boom, as if it was a symmetric backwind spinnaker,
a trick taught to us by Florence and Christophe on Flocon de Mer.

Below is the view of the entrance of the Gladalax Guest harbour, with its panoramic platform used in there past by the coastguard station there.

Gladalax guest harbour and its panoramic platform.

While being the last entering the harbour, we were given the best place in the harbour by Henrik's team, along side at the end of the pier.

Belisama on the guest pier.

A view from there panoramic platform. Avoid climbing the platform is you are subject to height sickness...