Underway At Last

Uwe accompanies me through the Kiel Canal to Cuxhaven. Before leaving we wanted to take on drinking water. Luckily, shortly after the water starts running I go below and notice big puddles on the carpet. In the hectic pace of the last few weeks I somewhat abandoned one of this winter's projects half finished. The inlet hose is already in place but not connected to the filler neck on deck. As a result the water runs freely from deck into the lockers and on into the cabin.
After a lot of scooping and mopping we take out the wet carpet. Then I finish connecting the hose and we turn the tap back on. This time, everything stays dry.

There's hardly any wind, the sun is shining, despite the cool air that makes it pleasantly warm on board. We let the carpet dry on the sunny deck while motoring towards Kiel.
A few other boats around us try to sail, but their jibs and spinnakers mostly hang limp.

It takes until afternoon before the wind increases slightly and turns north-northeast. This allows us to cover the last two and a half hours to Kiel under sail.

Since we are the only ones in front of the locks, I make a quick call to the lock operator. He promises that it shouldn't take long before we can enter.
Still, we end up circling for an hour and a half. A tug announces itself from a distance and enters into the lock chamber with the rest of the commercial shipping ahead of us. In the end, the lock itself is a breeze. After ten minutes we are back out and on the Kiel Canal.

For another ninety minutes we motor through the canal to our place for the night. A few freighters overtake and behind one bend a giant cruise ship comes towards us. Sometimes it looks like quite a tight fit.

At last we reach Flemhuder See. A couple of pilings are set up for overnight mooring. Two for the stern lines, one for the bow. The lake is very protected and the only interruption of the mirror-smooth surface comes from the occasional freighter passing by.
A brit shares the morring field with us, otherwise we have everything to ourselves.

It is getting late and to avoid having dinner at midnight we only have a quick pasta with LaVialla's Rosmarina. After doing the dishes our bunks are calling.