Midsummer in Kalmar - 23/24 June 2017

We arrived at the boat at 17:00, right in time for the photo. The webcam overlooking the construction of the Linnée university takes a snapshot every hour by default. Belisama is the first boat on the left, seen sideways. The picture was taken just as we were getting on-board, as you can see by looking carefully at the front of the boat!

Getting onboard on midsummerafton

By that time, we had missed all midsummer celebrations...

The reason for arriving so late was (of course) a late departure from Stockholm, due to a late arrival in Arlanda from Geneva, with all flights over central Europe delayed because of thunderstorms.

A nice sparkling attention was awaiting us on board, as Clémael visited Kalmar during the week. Thanks for the picture of Clémael taken "through" Belisama, and for the attention! The two sisters gathered again!

I found the new anodes in "Capella marin", an amazing small old-type company in Stockholm neighbourhood where you can find anything propeller or anodes! They claim that they are the largest in Europe. The refitting under the hull was quite a job as it was quite windy and Belisama was moving in relation with wind gusts. The olive anode on the back was particularly tricky, with the two parts to keep in place, a bolt and a screw to set, plus the allen key to hold, while keeping a hand for the boat... Well, I lost one screw.

A quick look at the bow thruster anodes using the go pro Camera on a stick shows that they are still fine and can wait until next year to be changed. I realised unfortunately that the WIFI connexion with the screen of the phone does not work under water. Therefore, I had to move around while recording to make sure to capture the thruster on some part of the shooting. This is probably because there is much less electrolysis on the bow thruster as the propeller blades are in carbon/plastic (?) and not in brass. The marks on the inside tube where the anti-fouling has been scratched are due to the mooring line that we got in the bow thruster last summer.

The afternoon was supposed to be devoted to changing the spinnaker trumpet on top of the mast, but the gusty winds changed the plans. With the luxury of having the car around, we explored the east coast of Öland.

Lerkaka, Öland

As well as Solliden, the summer castle of the Swedish royal family.

Incredible trees in the park.

This one is even humanoid if you look carefully to the trunk!

And a real surprise. In the alpine corner of the park, we discovered one statue of Karl Milles that we had not heard about, the two elephants.

Interestingly, this is the only statue in the park without indication of sculptor. Neither any mention of it can be found on the Internet. But it is written on the handout we got with the entry ticket...

The two elephants by Karl Milles, in Solliden park.