21 July: The High Coast ("Höga Kusten")
We hoisted the gennaker in the morning, shortly after having left Arholma in the northern archipelago of Stockholm. It was to stay up for a record period of time.

The soft and gentle wind from southeast was just as calm and friendly as the sea itself. A swell was non-existent since storms from far away do not travel into the Baltic. With no other strong wind close by, there were just the ripples from the breeze we currently enjoyed. Yet, Regina was pushed northbound in some 5 to 6 knots. What perfect gennaker conditions!

As usual, we said we would take down the gennaker for the night avoiding having to handle this huge sail during dark. At midnight, we were still waiting for the dark to come. It never did. Not until the following day, when the wind had declined further and backed to north-east, it became time to take it down.

Our course was due north. Sailing into the light gave a new meaning to us. At midnight the red sky slowly moved from slightly to port of our bow to somewhat to starboard of it. Soon thereafter it became increasingly lighter with dawn not far away. Reading was possible throughout the night.

Not many vessels seem to sail in these waters, at least that was my impression looking at our radar. Having left Åland to our starboard and Stockholm to port, the traffic soon became very scarce. Not a vessel during the entire night.
Sailing into the light and into the Baltic revealed some other feelings as well. Somehow, I couldn’t help obtaining the impression that we were sailing into a dead end. When you think of going cruising, I had always thought of “sailing outbound”. This year, we seemed to be sailing inbound, namely into the Baltic. No opening at the end, no eternity beyond the horizon. Sooner or later, we would have to turn back. Back to where we came from, back to our land-life again.

I would like to think this was not the reason why we did not sail all the way to the bitter end, into the very last corner of the Baltic. Rather, we wanted to investigate and cruise the “High Coast”, placed between Härnösand and Örnsköldsvik, in other words around 63°N along the Swedish coast.


During the latest ice age, most of northern Europe was covered by ice, but nowhere was it as thick as here, along the High Coast. Approximately 3 km (10 000 feet) of ice covered this part of Sweden and its weight was considerable. It is estimated that the ice depressed the earth’s crust by more than 800 m (2700 feet)! By the time the ice had finally melted away from the High Coast, the land had already rebounded about 500 m. Since this period of time, which dates back some 9600 years, the land has risen an additional 286 m and this is the reason for it being so interesting. Imagine: the coast still rises some 0,8 cm each year! That is 8 cm (3 inches) in no more than 10 years or almost a meter (3 feet) in just over 100 years. Or, from an other perspective: During the week we cruised the High Coast, it rose by another 0.15 mm, perfectly measurable with a slide calliper and clearly visible by eyesight. It was a breathtaking fact, we thought. No other place on earth has had as much land rebound after the Ice Age as the High Coast.

Not long ago, in the autumn of 2000, this extraordinary coast was added onto the “World Heritage List” by UNESCO. Not many natural phenomena have made it so far. The High Coast shares this prestigious appointment together with Grand Canyon and the Great Barrier Reef.

The rising land has affected the landscape in many ways and indirectly even the people who have settled here. Bays have been cut off from the sea to create lakes. Other formations, such as till-covered hills and rubble fields are found, together with sand pits mixed with shells caused by the waves working former shorelines.

The fact that the shoreline is so steep – hence the “High Coast” – makes it especially fascinating. At places, the highest shoreline from ancient times and today’s shoreline are no more than 2 km apart. You can compare this with Hudson Bay in Canada, which has had a similar rising of its land after the Ice Age. However, in Canada the coast is not as steep. Therefore you have to travel as far as 50 km from today’s shoreline to see its pre-historic equivalent. No doubt, the High Coast is out of the ordinary!
Bönhamn (above) and Ulvön (below)
The beauty of the High Coast is hence twofold. First of all, nature has shaped the islands and the bays in a variety of ways. Granite stones shifting in colours from black over grey to pink and deep red mix like a mosaic piece of art. Stony flat land as plane and smooth as a beach alternates with primeval forest growing on steep hills all the way down to the shoreline. Wooded islands rise high up into the sky, there among Sweden’s highest island: Mjältön. Deep fjord-like bays cut into the mainland, many open up like lagoons inside. With the rising land, these are inevitably to become inland lakes when the narrow entrances slowly close their gates to the outside sea. Well inside, the depth impresses to an extent that makes anchoring in the deep water difficult sometimes.
With the rising land, some of these bays are eventually to become inland lakes and cut off from the sea outside.
The natural beauty is only one side of the coin up here in “Norrland”, the northern part of Sweden. The people are just as extraordinary. Scarcely populated, it feels like moving back in time a century. No, not in modernity, nor in pulse or standard of living, but in humanity. It feels as if the people up here still live in the serene good old days, untouched by dishonesty and crime.

Swedes from Norrland are sometimes characterised as silent men of few words. A standard answer to a question is often just a sound, perhaps spelt as “schjyup”. It is produced by reversing the airflow inbound into your mouth, as if sucking air through a straw. This agreeing sound is often all you get as a response to your question or statement. I understand, it is generally a positive answer – a way of saying “yes”, combining communication with taking a breath. Why they don’t talk much? Maybe it is because they are good listeners and thinkers? We didn’t find the Norrlanders being of that few words, anyway.
Maybe I have to add that we were actually not into the deepest of Norrland and only scratched on its surface facing the sea. The even more scarcely inhabited inland and the vast areas stretching far north of the Polar Circle are certainly even more exotic than the relatively rural and lively coastline. In any case, our taster of these people was a very positive experience, meeting helpful, friendly and honest people. OK, they don’t talk as much as people further south might do, nor as often and never unnecessarily. They don’t drivel like others do, that’s all. You know: talking much, but saying little. To put it straight: I think I would probably never be accepted in Norrland.
Anyway, the capital of Stockholm seems distant up here not to talk about Europe with Brussels and EU. What do they understand about nature and outdoor activities in northern Sweden, the Norrlanders might think.

Honesty seems still to be a quality to count on. Harbour fees are predominantly asked to be paid by putting some SEK 80 to SEK 100 (10 EUR) into a letter box with a friendly invitation to use power and water as needed. There is no differentiation in boat size, by the way.
Bönhamn
If you wish to see the churches on the islands, a massive medieval key hangs on a nail outside with instructions how to use it. Inside, these churches dating back to the 17th century are wonderfully decorated and carefully restored and well kept. How romantic to get married in one of these old churches!
Two churches from the 17th century: Trysunda (above) and Ulvön (right)
Inside the church of Ulvön with details (below)
The highlight of our High Coast cruise became when we were invited to the Edlund family with whom we had been in contact before our own Blue Water Year sailing year to the Caribbean. This wonderful family had then just returned from their three-year circumnavigation and had a lot of experience to share. Of course, we had been hungry to learn and get tips. Also Jessica found a pen-friend in their younger daughter Amanda before we left shore getting answers to many of her questions about living on a boat. For Jessica, it had been very useful to get in contact with another girl who had been doing something similar as we were about to do. In other words, we had been exchanging numerous e-mails before and during our Caribbean cruise, but we had never met. Not until now on the High Coast, where they have a summer house.
Regina moored at the Edlund's summer house. This is as close to cruising you can get without sailing, they claim.
The entire Edlund-family loved cruising and it was hence not difficult to understand that it had been very close that they had stayed in New Zealand putting their children to school there to possibly return to the South Pacific for a second season. But their older daughter, Emma, wanted to sail back to return to Sweden after three years to finalize her school “at home”. The family kept its promise and hurried around the globe in three years, which was totally doable, of course, but still too short if you asked the parents.

They had merely returned to their home in northern Sweden, when the very same Emma began to complain about the Swedish climate. Her parents politely reminded Emma that it was actually to follow her own wish that they had sailed back to Sweden. Emma thought a while and then answered: “But, why didn’t you force me to stay in New Zealand, then?!”.

It didn’t take more than merely two years, until Emma found it became time to travel again: she became an exchange student in the USA, leaving their parents and the younger sister Amanda behind in Sweden. Emma had just returned after her American exchange year, when we met them. She was already talking about her next adventure when she has taken her exams in a couple of years. Is this what blue-water kids become when they grow up? Jessica and Jonathan are already questioning why we left the tropics prematurely, I can add.
The Edlund-family has now sold their proud 57 foot steel boat, and exchanged it with a pocket cruiser, a 25 foot Maxi 77, and a beautiful timbered boathouse situated in one of the picturesque lagoon-like bays on the High Coast. Soon their daughters will be able to take command of their little cabin cruiser by themselves to undertake their own expeditions, skippering along the High Coast and beyond.

We moored bow-to their boathouse with a stern anchor in 7m of water enjoying two great days with them. They had recently built a second adjacent hut by the shore-side hosting a wood-fired sauna. Logs of wood spread a romantic heat and sound and soon we all sat in the sauna drinking Norrland-beer cheering and comparing blue water memories. Thereafter the sea-water did not feel as chilly at all any longer and the normal “dip” became a lengthy swim, until temperature encouraged us to gather in the sauna again. We were told that during wintertime, they cut a hole in the ice and cool off in water close to its freezing point. We were glad, we visited during summer.
After sauna dinner was served as close to the sea you can get while still being ashore.
The barbeque was lit and the light summer’s night that never got dark became long and pleasant. So many memories we shared, so many values and still so many dream!

I’m glad we are here to live our dreams and to share them with fellow cruising families.
Midnight. Time to say good-night before it's getting light(er) again!
For more information on the High Coast, look here.
Having left the High Coast on our way south towards Åland