Now a few days went over, the storm seems to have passed (Martina has returned home 😉 and I don’t like to wait any longer. I don’t like, like many sailors here, to sit in the cockpit all day – this waiting for nothing. I don’t have a cosy cockpit, no casual seating and no cold wine, I want to sail on – goodbye Bornholm, today I’m leaving. Towards Kiel. Even though it’s already afternoon. Off we go.
Maybe I should have waited another night (as all sailors do here). Because as soon as I’m really out, there’s a good wind, or I’m sailing into the wind, as the case may be – that would be great for the sailors… But since they’ve been out much longer than I have, avoid sailing at night if possible, and don’t particularly appreciate this swell, they trust the forecast and sleep in the harbour. That’s exactly what I think; maybe fewer waves are quite pleasant now, after two hours in the shaker. And I turn south ahead of time, head for Rügen and retreat to the sheltered waters of this group of islands. Rather spontaneously, I decide to drive to the harbour of Vitte. I moor up, have a few nice conversations (here, too, the ArgoFram naturally attracts attention – and I notice: I haven’t spoken German for a long time), eat something and go to bed.
The experience, however, that makes this crossing so formative: on the way I meet a mighty three-master gliding along. And I decide to follow it, to go around it, to enjoy the view from close up – and I realise: this is exactly the freedom I have somehow always longed for! I can sail this ArgoFram wherever I want, however I want, in almost any wave constellation. The boat has the power, is manoeuvrable, and carries me where I think it’s good. And now I find it good to take the time to chase the three-master, to overtake it, to round it and enjoy the sight of this sublime wave glider. Yes, that’s what I wanted – here we go!