Ready for canal sailing in Travemünde

Travemünde by the river Trove

We read the weather forecast for Monday carefully and decided to sail to Travemünde on Sunday.

Travemünde is located at the mouth of the River Trave and is Germany's largest Baltic Sea port with ferry connections to Sweden, Finland, Russia, Estonia and Lithuania.

The Buddenbrooks family 

It was here that Thomas Man's family, the Buddenbrooks, had their summer residence. The town still seems like a fashionable holiday town with a nice beach, patrician villas, restaurants, jewelry stores, clothing stores and hotels.

We easily found Boebs Werft, an old reputable shipyard with its own harbor.

A boat from Humlebæk

Hardly we had the duck before a fishing boat with Danish national flag and German visitor team sailed into the harbor.

Not only was it Danish. It was also from Humlebæk.

Strange

The boat turned out to belong to Søren. He has been with his boat in Humlebæk for a couple of years without us noticing each other. Now he was on his way home, after sailing for almost 4 months on the canals of Germany, Holland, Belgium and France.

We had good talks, tips on canal sailing, had dinner together and were allowed to borrow his maps and pilot books of the canal areas.

People swarm on board

On Tuesday morning, we said goodbye to Søren, were visited by a journeyman and an apprentice who were to build the refrigerator and while they started the work, we sailed over to the crane, where 3 young men started the rigging.

There were now 5 people besides us on board. Although it all reminded me a bit of the scene “Crowded Cabin” in Marx Brothers movie “a Night at the Opera” there was system in things.

However, the cleaning went a lot easier than repairing the fridge.

The journeyman could not find the fault, scratched his neck, tested wiring, thermostat and relay, called the mobile phone, sent the apprentice away for tools and once in a while stuck his head up in the cockpit to ask about something.

Eventually he managed to locate the fault. The problem was the switch on the main panel. When he had fiddled with it a bit, the Compressor drove again. A new circuit breaker cannot be obtained for another week. It's a bit long to stay here because of that. We are therefore trying to find an electrician further down the route.

The mast is removed 

The 3 young men got rid of the mast and spent a couple of hours packing the rig together.

In the early morning we will visit a mechanic who will give the engine a quick check.

And then we are ready for the channels.