Sailing stone ships, 20-22 March

Stone ships are common around the Baltic see. Just in Gotland, you can find three-hundred-and-fifty of them. They were used as graves in the late bronze age. Deceased were cremated and the urn with bones and ashes were deposited around or in the stone ships. 

We took the opportunity of the weekend to sail some of them...

A few churches on Gotland, 20-22 March 2020

During our stopovers along the years on Gotland, we had visited quite a few of the medieval churches in Gotland. We took an early spring weekend in Gotland, as at a time Sweden was not confined, and we went through the country side from wonders to wonders as all churches are covered with frescos from the Middle-Ages...

Ninety-three medieval churches are located on Gotland. As Gotland converted to Christianity during the XIth century, the inhabitants started constructing stave churches, wooden constructions inspired by the Norsemen. None of these stave churches have survived. They were replaced during the XII century by stone churches. During the prosperous Hansa trade times of the XIII century, churches were reconstructed and expanded with some adopting a more gothic style and incorporating stained glasses. No new churches were erected in Gotland after the 1400s'.

Dalhem church

Here is a sample of our discoveries during the weekend...

Epidemic rogue wave, 6 March 2020

As a sailor, I have always thought about rogue waves, those mythical monsters that can wreck your boat for good. As an epidemiologists, I spent my professional life preparing for the rogue pandemic that can wreck a country down for couple of weeks. To prevent being caught at sea in by a rogue wave, there is not much a sailor can do when far from the coast. Yet, for the rogue pandemic, there are two things a sailor can do: 1) anchor for a few weeks in one of your favorite natural harbour, or 2) protect yourself from getting infected...

Sars Cov2, source NIAID Rocky Mountain Laboratories (RML), U.S. NIH / Public domain

While you can find lots of good ideas for the first option on this blog, in this post, I will provide you with instructions for the second option...

All Baltic 12 years sailing, 2008 - 2019

As we are now planning to move to the Adriatic sea, I have been loading all the 12,500 miles we have covered so far in the Baltic sea since 2008 when I got La MaLouine, a Brise de mer 31, which I bought in Sweden. In light blue are the miles covered with the Brise de Mer, and in pink are the miles with Belisama, the OVNI 445 which we bought in 2015.



As we plan to migrate from the Baltic Sea to the Adriatic sea, we feel like documenting what we have achieved in the past 15 years in the Baltic sea.

Now, the plan for the 2020 season is about another 1500 nautical miles through the Baltic States. Time to move southward in any case...

Places beyond, Erik Johansson in Fotografiska - 19 January 2020

I discovered Erik Johansson in 2011 when he presented an installation in Kulturhuset showing a sinkhole in Sergeltorg, in front of Kulturhuset. Until 1 March 2020, Fotografiska organises a large exhibition of Erik Johansson work. Very refreshing, attracting a large crowd, and generating large smiles on the visitor faces. Such as the "Fishy island" realised in 2009, which is really talking to a Baltic sailor!

Fishy Island

See below a few pictures in the exhibition pertaining to the Baltic sea...

How far have we gone in exploring the Baltic? 19 January 2020

After 12 years sailing in the Baltic, the first seven with La MaLouine, un brise de mer 31, and then an OVNI 445 for the past five years, as we are considering moving to the Adriatic sea in the coming year(s), I used the long dull and dark evening of the Swedish winter for entering in Google earth all the routes that we have followed along the 7,OOO nautical miles that we have been sailing in the Baltic with Belisama, since 2015.



And this is how it looks like in the Baltic. The map above includes the intended routes for 2020, which will see us sailing through Latvia and Estonia...

Alexandre de Chaumont sailing to Siam - 1685-1686

While Belisama crew was charging solar panels in Thailand over new year, we ended-up in Lopburi castle, where Alexandre de Chaumont, the ambassador of Louis the XIV, met the King of Siam in 1685. this was the result of a round-the-world trip shown on a map displayed in the palace.


 And indeed, this was quite a trip...