BRITISH ICE YACHT DIARY Torsaker, Sweden MESSAGE ONE MESSAGE TWO MESSAGE THREE   MESSAGE FOUR MESSAGE FIVE MESSAGE SIX   MESSAGE SEVEN NEW    MESSAGE EIGHT NEW    MESSAGE NINE D i a r y  M e s s a g e  O n e : THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29: Drove down from Mablethorpe in the normal British weather, wet and windy. Arrived in good time at Harwich, enough time to drop into the large Sainsbury's super store that is just next to the entrance to Parkstone Quay. Ferry is the "Dana Anglia" that will arrive 13.30 Danish time Friday. With the Swedish regatta called off at present for the coming weekend the pressure is off us to drive the 920 miles up to Hamerdal near Ostersund. Now we will see how far we can get and drive until we get tired. K11 now has a new "Starship Discovery", a LandRover Discovery II. It has many of the features that "Starship Disco One" had but as standard. What I hope will be more useful in the ice and snow is ABS and traction control. Navigation has had to be automated as fellow British ice team member Howard Trotter my previous Navigation Officer is unavailable (never mind Howard we'll have a drink for you later). At present the GPS can track location on the laptop in real time, but on the way down a conflict seems to have arisen with the mouse, hopefully will be able to sort that tomorrow. Also as I opened the days post at home the latest route 66 professional rolled in. so we can now navigate most of Western Europe down to street level. So watch out you pilots, I might be knocking at your door, now I can find it!! Cannot believe it myself I have been to the buffet and ate my fill, food was excellent and I never did get past the cold buffet to the hot food, mind you the cold buffet did get visited three times! Also attacked the sweet trolley but only managed one large one. Did fancy the cheese but I was fast running out of room and the beer was getting stuck in the throat. (Can't have that can we)! The beer was good stuff as well, the Danes have bought out a bottled beer called Christmas beer, at 5.8% it's a good drink. Seems they have a celebration when they bring it out of the brewery in mid Nov. Anyway with full stomach made my way back to the room and type this up. It's only 10pm UK time and I feel knackered, with no real room for more beer and team training it must be time for some shuteye. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 30: 465 miles covered from 13.30 till 22.00, across Denmark over the storbelt land bridge to Sweden, filled up with diesel and emptied bladder (in reverse order)!! Sound of rushing diesel still has the same effect as water I can tell you, especially when you come out of a nice 22degs discovery out into 2 degs forecourt pumps! One cappuchino later we were off again, disco auto pilot navigator (sorry Howard) was going great guns. GPS was tracking route which proved useful as the radio link between disco 2 and Chris broke down on the way, stopped in Jonkoping for a chat and decided to press on to Mariestad. Made my through Jonkoping on the GPS against the signs until we got the other side. Made numerous text messages on the phone to Mervyn Hurley as the mobile and the internet did not want to play ball. With missing the restaurant and settling for a petrol pump service station hot dog and packet of crisps, washed down by generous helpings of vodka & grapefruit juice (screwdrivers) the gravitational effect of a bed seems inevitable! Chris has curcumed but some bugger has to type the diary up don't they!! Bugger may as well empty the vodka bottle and let the gravity hit me as well. Tomorrow is another day... SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1 Set the alarm for 6am. Chris banged on my door at 6.30 am and we went down to breakfast, by 7.15 were on the road north to Falun. Good time was made on the excellent roads with fast sweeping bends to change the scene. Some snow had fallen making the trees Christmas card country. Chris picked some runners up in Falun then we made our way to Torsaka where we had been three years ago. The place we are staying at is a Hostel, warm clean and tidy, what more can an icesailer ask for! Sadly the youth club across the road is no more, even more sad was that it had an ISDN line on the computers. We will have to see how we get the pictures out yet. Haken met us in Torsaka and he had booked us in the hostel, each room does not have numbers but names. Gareth is in David and Chris is in Erik. We have also found Freda down the passage so will have a look in "her" later!!! After unloading the bedding and clothing into the rooms we made out way down to lake using the GPS on the route 66 professional. It even shows the small metalled roads to the smallest detail. Amazing! We found the lake and the latest ice report is: Lake Malmjarm, aprox 8 km south of Torsaka Wind 6-8 metres per sec. Ice near shoreline 5 inches out further on the black ice it was 4 inches. With no spikes on our shoes it was fool hardy to go out any further. Another icesailer S164 rolled up to look at the lake. With the light fading fast at 3pm we made our way back to the hostel to get our kit ready for tomorrow. Haken had kindly given us a bottle of "Glogg". Which you put in the micro wave and warm up, just what chilled icesailor's need! It's not bad stuff either, certainly cured my cough. Later we might find another use for the microwave, but at present it's occupied doing a second dose of cough medicine. Very nice it is too! We will have to see what a Saturday night in Torsaka has to offer, we have the found the only resteraunt and think that is about it. SATURDAY NIGHT: Called in the supermarket to get our breakfast as we forgot it on the previous shopping trip. Hit the restaurant at 6.30, Chris managed to decode most of the Swedish words, the blonde waitress helped us the unknowns. It was the Torsaker pizza special that was ordered. Good job we went in at that time as there was a wedding in the next room and all the other table filled rapidly. After a sweet of Swedish mountain berries on ice cream the room got a little noisy as the local lads came in for a chat being a few beers ahead. About 9pm Chris called it a day and bed via a screwdriver. I stayed on a little as the place turned itself into a pub and the wedding guest filtered away. Near 11pm I was about to give up and go home when a transformation started. The local lads went leaving a group of six and myself. I was handing my glass in at the bar when one fella remembered me from three years ago, the conversation took off from then. (Chris also rang me to remind me that it still had his breakfast in a brown paper bag!) One of the girls also was a member of the youth club three years ago. She found a guitar and started playing various tunes. Meantime the waitress appeared and took over the guitar and started singing Swedish and English ballads, and damn good she was. So there I was in the only place in town getting to know the real locals having a beer and singing songs. Decided I better had go home at 1.30 as might be up early ready to sail. Also stumbling in at an unknown hour with breakfast in a brown paper wouldn't look good would it? (Chris)? SUNDAY, DECEMBER 2: Woke up 6.30 to hear it piddling down with rain, went back to sleep till 8.30 am it was still raining, but stirrings from the room "Erik" made me get up and we both had breakfast and a leisurely preparation for the ice. The rain finally slowed so at 10, 30 we went to the lake. There was 10mm of water on top of the ice but further out it was only a film of water. We were briefed by the five Swedish skippers that turned up as to the no go areas. Out 500-600 metres was OK and don't go too far to the right wind was very light and rain kept dribbling out of the dull overcast sky. With yachts rigged we attempted to get into our dry suits, both of us were out of practice and both of a made a botch of the first try. Doing it over a full ski suit doesn't help either. 20 minutes later the bladder reminds you of what you should have done in the first place. With so many layers, zips, belts and poppers I gave up and suffered as in the 2 degs you would probably find the foo foo valve not long enough to clear wetting everything anyway! Sailing out on the ice was pleasure with black ice below and a nice smooth surface you could concentrate on the tell tales on the sail. We only followed the course of the local Swedes as you could see what looked like open water just next to the island. I wasn't going near to find out either. One Swede last week went too far to the right and had a swimming lesson, he also did not have his bear claws with him, so he was a lucky fells being dragged out by his mates. A roll of floating safety line is going on the shopping list! We spent around two hours sailing stopping for a chat and a tweak of the rig. Later in the lighter winds stuffed the GPs in my pocket and recorded a maximum speed of 45.7 km hour, average 24 km hr over 5 .8 km that took 14 minutes. The wind finally ran out and we hovered round the pits in the hope it might pick up. As the light faded the mist started to drop so we packed up and went home. Result was that as far as we know we are the only ice sailors to be sailing in Sweden today. With it raining earlier we were not even expected to try to sail. Tomorrow is another day... again? SUNDAY NIGHT UPDATE Just been down to the local for some food, had some nice steak. The problem was the ink on the ribbon was a bit weak and Chris could not read the bill. Patron turned up the lights so Chris could read it, problem was the other half dozen locals thought it was last orders! So the Brit team nearly cleared another bar by default. Gareth K11 [  t o p  ]    SUNDAY'S SAILING IMAGES click on photo for larger image. [  t o p  ]  D i a r y    M e s s a g e    T w o : MONDAY, DECEMBER 3: Was woken up at 7am with Chris holding a welcome cup of tea. After breakfast it was out into the dull overcast and drizzly day. Down at the lake it was blowing a good southerly about 8 to 12mph. Chris rigged his DN and Gareth took the Class 3 off the trailer and rigged it. By the time we were ready the wind had dropped to 6 to 10mph. The sailing area was still small. As were the only skippers on the ice we were very cautious where we went as it had not been freezing over night and we did not know how thick the ice was. Out in the Class 3 it was absolutely great. I was using the old Sand Rover cockpit - very small as you have your heavy ice sailing gear on. With only the ratchet on the front and no winch it was hard work pulling the sail. Just you had it sorted you had to look where to turn. This was the same down wind, just as you finished pulling it all in and pointing to tank up the speed it was time to turn. One or two times you had a nice hike and powered off down wind only to get ready to turn upwind, care had to be taken to make a long arc as the heavier Class 3 does not take kindly to being turned sharper than it feels it should do, you risked breaking away and spinning out. Since I assume no one has set a British Class 3 ice sailing speed record I would like to set one at 53.1 mph. Wind speed was about 8-10 mph. Given more space and a little more wind I expect I could still go faster. The ice was black ice with some water on it about 4 degs which made it a little soft. I am sure in better conditions someone will do better, but I will stake my claim for now. I came into the pits and adjusted the forestay as the boom was scraping my helmet off every tack. By now the wind had dropped to no more than 8 mph and you could have a fast cruise round about 30 to 35 mph. It was a lovely sail as you spent time just enjoying the sail instead of pulling the rig in and turning as you run out of lake. I came back in for some hot Swedish soup we had made earlier, hit the spot just right with the thick broccoli and potato in the thermos. By now the wind had dropped to 5mph. Out sailing over to the right as you were looking for the wind I became aware of a different sound coming from the ice. A sort of hissing, light crackling sound. Looking closer, I saw the leeward runner was making longitudinal cracks in the ice which opened enough to get air in and you could see the various cracks follow you on the ice. The other rear runner was doing the same. It was then you realised that the heavy Class 3 was on "thin ice" and you needed some wind to get the yacht speed up. There wasn't any!! Putting a tack in the ice complained all the way back over to the left side where it was a bit thicker. With the ice becoming a lot softer I decided that was it for the week unless the ice gets better. Chris put some snow runners on his DN as the ice was by now getting softer. I took the spark and pushed over to the right mark with an ice drill. In places the ice cracked as you passed over. At the right hand mark (traffic cone) the ice was only 2 inches thick with a large pool of water visible a little further on. Up at the middle mark (traffic cone) the ice was 2.5 inches thick. And over the left side 3 inches thick. Even on the good black ice the sailing was very marginal. It was obvious that it was melting from underneath as well as on top. Chris's lighter DN got away with it. Tomorrow I think a very careful inspection of the ice is needed to see if it safe. If the weather stays warm it looks very questionable if we can safely sail tomorrow. Other points of the day were you needed a dedicated set of runners for the Class 3 as the alignment was not at its best as I used the DN runners. A little adjustment on the steering to make it less positive and I will be happy. We are back at the hostel having a cup of tea and Chris is repairing two broken battens. Just have to remember not to drink out of the cup he is mixing the glass fibre in otherwise my lips might be best friends with the cup for some time!! Drinking a beer as a precaution!! The British team will be making some phone calls tonight to see if the snow has melted off the ice up at Ostersund. If it's improved looks like we may move up there. Regards to everyone Gareth K11 MONDAY'S SAILING IMAGES click on photo for larger image.     [  t o p  ]  D i a r y    M e s s a g e    T h r e e : TUESDAY MIDDAY, DECEMBER 4: It's midday and at Hakens house having our soup and a coffee with Hakan (S143) and Asa (S546) Andersson's place. we are hunting for the ice. There is a small lake just south of the old lake. It was frozen with 10cm ice a few weeks ago. We will investigate this afternoon. Conditions this morning were the worst for ice boating - dull overcast, barely twilight at 9am and it was drizzling and up at the lake wet snow was falling. The lake is 120 metres above sea level and it seems that you can draw a line on the map where the lakes just higher up the country have ice and the others lower down do not. Also depends on the depth. We packed the yachts up on to the trailers and at 10am we were given a private tour of the local church. A large building very solidly built. There we some 14th Century gravestones near the altar and others dating from the 17th Century. We then went up the stone spiral stairs to the old winding wheel used to build the church, then up again on wooden stairs to two bells, then up again to the inside of the four faces of the clock. Up again to the top of the tower and the windows where we looked out onto the town. Hakan, Chris and I have been pouring over a map of the area talking about lakes that can be sailed on. In Stockholm one ice boater reported that the drier air is coming in from the east (Lativia). I have sent pictures of the church. Regards to everyone Gareth K11 TUESDAY'S IMAGES click on photo for larger image.   [  t o p  ]  D i a r y    M e s s a g e    F o u r : TUESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 4: Today was the worst case - rain, wet snow, etc. In the afternoon we went and surveyed two lakes to the south of Torsaker. This involved driving the dirt roads through the forests to get to the lakes. Hakan Andersson loaned us a map and showed us the location of the lakes. Some 3 miles into the forest on the road, we came to a crossroads that was not on the map. Not sure which way to go and the fear of getting lost, we resorted to the GPS and the detailed maps on the PC. In a few moments up popped our position and we drove onto the lake. The lake was difficult to access. We finally found a layby, because "sods law" is that if you parked on the track a logging lorry will come along. It involved a 100 metre walk through the trees walking on the soft spongy forest floor, full of lichens and mosses, to the frozen lake. We gingerly went on the ice and drilled it to find it over 4 inches thick. The rest of the lake looked OK but the isolated position and bad access made us think twice. As we walked back through the thick forest, you could think of bears, wolves and moose that can easily hide in the forest! Back on the forest road we found another lake that had better access via a picnic trail. Back on the forest track we again had to resort to the GPS as we took a wrong turn and it turned out that we were going deeper into the forest! Turning round we made our way back to the road. Back on the main road it was 2pm so we made our way to Storvick, finding but a small town we carried on further to Sanvicken. We parked the Disco and did some shopping. With the thin ice we were sailing on floating safety line and a life jacket was on the shopping list. Also we bought some mountain bike tyres with ice studs in. We made our way back to the hostel at Torsaker ready to eat mousse at Hakan's house. Hakan picked us up in his Landrover and we had some very, very nice Moose with potatoes, peas and a very nice sauce (gravy) that I have to find out how it is made to taste so good. Three helpings later the stomach just had enough room for some very nice chocolate sweet with cream. To help it all down Hakan produced a nice wine and Chris bought a bottle from his "cellar" as well. To finish off an after dinner wine with coffee polished it all off. We are now chatting away in the kitchen, presently Hakan and Chris are talking about being poorly and not passing stools for a very long time!!! (Glad I typing this)? Regards to everyone Gareth K11 TUESDAY EVENING'S IMAGES click on photo for larger image. [  t o p  ]  D i a r y    M e s s a g e    F i v e : WEDNESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 5: Was up at 7am with Chris's welcome cup of tea. Breakfast with bacon, egg, tomatoes and fried banana fuelled the stomachs ready for the day. We were determined to find this lake that we couldn't find yesterday. It looks fine on the map but on the gravel roads, surrounded by trees one track looks like any other. This time we were taking no chances and navigated on the GPS that was tracking on the laptop. The Route 66 Professional program has all the little tracks marked. We drove over six miles into the forest. The tarmac road ran out just after 3 miles. It was on the ice covered gravel tracks to a crossroads, then turn right along a straight track for a mile, then turn left and then a left again on to a small track that lead through the trees and the lake was on our right. I am certain without the GPS we would have missed the small turning and in the thick woods would have driven on into a maze of twisty dead end tracks. It would have been very easy to get lost and disorientated; it would take a long time to drive out if you did. We eventually found a landing stage that took us over the weak shore line ice. With only two of us and the lake not been inspected for three weeks we put our new safety gear into action. The spark was loaded with the floating safety line, ski pole and long pole and we put on the padded life jackets. In such an isolated location any problem could soon become a big problem, so we were taking no chances. Temp was -1, dull, overcast with very light flecks of snow falling. Out on the ice with the ice drill we found it about 4 inches. Further out it was a good three inches. Chris used the spark to survey the lake and I walked the parts nearer the shoreline. You could tell how thick the ice was by tapping the ice with the pole and noting the sound it made. With the ice looking safe enough we rigged the yachts and waited for the wind. What wind there was came in small puffs, only enough to get the yacht sailing at a running speed. We managed about three runs up and down the lake before the wind finally dropped. That was the queue for lunch on the ice. (See photo below of Chris has his soup!) We tried another few runs but ended up pushing most of the time. We gave up just before 2pm and made our way out of the forest back to Lake Malmjarm where we again put the safety gear on and took the spark out on the ice. The horrible water at the shoreline had gone and the ice was good with strong black ice further out. It was about 2.5 inches thick. We did not go too far out to the cone which had been left on the ice as it was thinner out there. It was -1 so we hoped the night frost might thicken the ice for tomorrow. We rigged the yachts in the hope of sailing tomorrow then went back to the hostel in the fading light. Gareth K11 WEDNESDAY'S IMAGES click on photo for larger image. [  t o p  ]  D i a r y    M e s s a g e    S i x : THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6: Not the best of days! Was up with the usual cup of tea at seven, on the road after breaky by 9am. The ice on the lake was covered by nearly two inches of snow, with no wind and light snow still falling. We pulled out the "no wind programme"! Chris had his crosscountry skis. Gareth hauled out the fold-up motor bike! Chris was off on the ice with Gareth following up after finding some rope to tow the "Spark" in case of my own spark plug failure. Turned out Chris was the first with the 16-year-old ski boot breaking up on the ski binding. So at only 250 metres out "Spark plug No. 1" had to go to the rescue and take "Spark No. 2" in tow. All this was done on thin snow-covered black ice only 2 inches thick. With this in mind Spark plug No. 1" opened the throttle for the shoreline with the disabled skier standing on "Spark No. 2". So all was not lost from the outing. Chris tested the crosscountry skis that failed but can be repaired; the motorbike we now know can be ridden on snow and should be able to tow two DNs back when there is no wind. Gareth called at Håkan and Åsa Andersson's to upload the last day's info and waited for the Press to ring, as we seem to be flavour of the week with the local media. We were told we are on the front page of the local newspaper on Saturday. (Not sure if that is the "Wanted" page or not!) Gave up waiting at 2pm. The decision for the remainder of the day was to fulfill our shopping list for our alternative "no wind programme" - a shopping trip to Falun, some 30 mins away. On the way we called at Bigar Andersonn for a chat, coffee and very nice nibbles. In Falun we managed to find some ski bindings, shoes, etc for Chris; sets of skates for both of us; and a TV adaptor so we could play DVDs on the hostel TV. We called at Lars Myers on the way back after some food in Falun. Back at the hostel we discovered a problem with blown fuses, a result of Chris earlier trying to use a 3.5Kw motor on a grinder. The ground floor and first floor power points were dead! A recce with a torch down in the cellar found a fuse box. Changing a 10 amp fuse had half the lights back on. Trying to read a Swedish fuse box was fun enough but after the fuses got past 20 amp even I gave up. The idea of plunging various unconnected parts of our housing block into darkness was not a good idea as the car park was full of cars, so there were others elsewhere in the hostel and Englishmen pulling out Swedish fuses might not be a good idea. We had gone to the trouble of getting the TV adaptor when out shopping so we could watch Basil, Sybil and Manuel in "Fawlty Towers" from a DVD but we had no telly and no power for the DVD player... or the for the laptop!! What more could anyone do on a dark, cold Swedish night with no tellie but resort to the Screwdrivers - need I say more? (By now you should know the Screwdrivers are of liquid origin and not an item found in most toolboxes). Resorted to the spare Screwdriver as the other bottle was empty! At least we still have hot water for a shower and off to bed. Gareth K11 THURSDAY'S IMAGES click on photo for larger image. The "rescued" Chris Williams and his shoddy skis. The rescuer on his "Spark Plug No. 2" with "Spark No. 2" in tow.   [  t o p  ]  D i a r y    M e s s a g e    S e v e n : FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7: Had boiled eggs for breakfast for a change. Problem was there were no egg cups and only one spoon between both of Chris and I. Chris ultimately used a small measuring spoon and slurped it down. With a blue sky and no wind it was time to re-pack the cars that had become a jumble of items. The we made our way down to the lake and the view was lovely. The snow was hard and crusty which meant you needed a strong wind to get you going. There was mist hanging on the in the corner of the lake so we knew the day was going to be hopeless as a high pressure system was moving in on us. Returned to the hostel then we we jumped into one car and made our way to Gavle, a large town by the Gulf of Bothnia. Gareth found some real rubber boots handmade in Finland that could be fitted with steel studs. Sort of thing needed when you are sloshing around in a few inches of water when on the ice. Also tried to find some small snow chains to fit the mini-bike. It was an interesting challenge to find a place that might have them. Next week was the answer in all the shops and merchants we tried. We made our way back to T&oring;rsaker as we had an interview with the local newspaper reporter at 2pm. Did the interview and had coffee, etc. Håken arrived and we presented a large framed picture to him for his hard work and time on the phone trying to find ice for us. (Well done Håken) Temps remained below freezing all day, no good for ice sailing! What we want now is warm weather to come and melt the snow or very cold weather to come and freeze new lakes. Now we see first hand how ice sailing can be so fickle but can change in a few days. You just need a damn good network of friends, that Sweden has. It's 17.30 but it feels like 22.30. Gareth K11 [  t o p  ]  D i a r y    M e s s a g e    E i g h t : SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8: Actually had a lie in till 8am. Bread and scrambled eggs for breky. Down at the lake there was a good wind blowing so we rigged. Last night temps dropped to -6, cloud cover raised the temp in the morning to about zero. We hoped that it would thicken the ice up a little. A quick look confirmed the thickness to be just over two inches. Both of us were standing together while I drilled another hole when the ice made a loud "crump" sound so we made some distance between us sharpish. The snow on top of the ice had softened up a little and it was plate runners to start off with. The ice was hard under the snow and in the good wind we had some good sailing. Actual thickness of the ice was maybe on the limit of safety so we did not venture too far out onto the ice as there were two soft wet patches in the middle that you could sail round. Any further out we knew was thinner ice. You could see open water out to the islands. For the first half hour we wore our lifejackets "just in case". We slowly moved out to make a sailable area some 200 metres square. There was ice outside the areas that looked OK but we suspected it would be too thin so did not risk it. Later on Håken Anderssen and another local turned up bringing us the local Saturday paper. We had a large 6x6 inch picture on the front page and nearly half a page inside. We sailed till 3pm when the light failed. Our plate runners had by then lost their "edge" and in the moderate wind one or two near spins were made. The plate runners are made of a soft type of stainless and on the hard ice in the moderate wind the edge, although looking alright, just looses that sharpness, much like a tyre going off. All of a sudden the yacht breaks away and slides, that takes more edge off and the ability to bring the yacht from downwind to upwind more precarious. Gareth retired, got the camera out but cold fingers made it a short session. Håken also explained that the small lake in the forest called "Stilleren" that chris and I had adventures on earlier in the week was much talked about by local ice sailors, but we were possibly the first ever to sail on it. Another first for the Brits! On the way back Father Christmas was at home in his workshop, an old large house in the woods as you drop down the hill from the lake. The road sides were lit by those big 6-inch candles. The locals from all round the villages come with their children to see Santa in the house. It was a sight to behold. Back in Törsaker it was much the same. All the roadsides were lit with candles and a local Christmas market with stalls was in the central area of he town. We bought some very nice chocolate covered marshmallows at a price of 86 Kroner for two boxes of eight each. Damn good value we thought! Chris and I made our way to the local restaurant-pub-disco-meeting place, etc to find the younger crowd already having a good time with Marita Vikstrom, the local singer, strumming away on the guitar. We had to sit next to a couple already eating as the place was full. Turned out the fella and Håken built their first ice yacht together and it was in a barn some 400 metres away. He invited us back for drinks to a lovely old large house with some large barns. Into the barn we went by torchlight and clambered up onto the upper decks. Up ladders, over wood piles, all the time minding the gaps in the floors, we found the A-framed yacht. And, I didn't have my camera! Made our way back to the "pub" and the older crowd were in. I was just about to leave when a person who I met the last week explained to me that he was the "real Father Christmas"!! He was the one dressed up in the house on the outskirts of town that evening. His beard, etc is a real one and stuck on well as he explained the small children pull it just to make sure he is the real fella. I even have his telephone number! Gareth K11 [  t o p  ]  D i a r y    M e s s a g e    N i n e : SUNDAY, DECEMBER 9: Drove the 373 miles from Törsaker down to southern Sweden. Weather was dull and misty. Chris knew of a hotel just off the main road at Ljunby, just north of Helsingborg. The evening meal was an interesting exercise in "guess what animal" lurked under the silver food warmers! Danish-style chicken, lamb, pork and maybe... beef? The sausages were big fat black things, then there was pink ones as well! Think the taste was best acquired. MONDAY, DECEMBER 10: Drove the final 260 miles to Esbjerg in Denmark over the bridges at Oresund and Storebaelt. The weather was again dull and misty all the way making driving boring as you could not see anything further than 400-500 metres. Used "Starship Discovery's" real-time, street-level, GPS navigation system to drive round the small town of Ringsted and found the only restaurant there was. We had a Danish coffee as an early lunch then carried on. Arriving at Esbjerg we had an hour to spare so we walked into town after parking at the ferry terminal and found a sports shop. Guess what, they sold what we had been looking for all over Sweden - some thermally insulated, waterproof, spiked golfing shoes (mudpluggers) that are ideal for ice sailors. So it was one up for Denmark. Back at the dock we waited in the fog for the hour to get on board the "Dana Anglia" and back to the UK. I put the diesel heater (webasto) on set control for 22 degs and fell asleep for 35 minutes. With only 96 people on board it was pre-dinner drinks at the team captain's then into the restaurant where we never did hit the hot food again as the cold buffet was so good. Just had room for sweet stuff and cheese! Sat here typing this before I go home. Thanks for looking at the mail updates. Hope you all enjoyed them. Gareth K11 SATURDAY, DEC 8 IMAGES click on photo for larger image. Gareth's "Starship Discover" all packed for Saturday's outing on the ice. Built to impress - Törsarker's historic church glistens in the morning sunlight. Chris sitting down to a "small" Swedish breakfast. Chris in K1 out enjoying himself on Saturday. A soft wet patch that gareth and Chris looked at decided to avoid. Wonder why? Gareth putting the finishing touches to his gumboots. [  b a c k   t o   th e   t o p   o f   t h e   p a g e  ] NEW    AERIAL IMAGES OF TORSÅKER REGION SWEDISH ICE SAILING WEB SITE NEW    BLACK ICE BOAT CLUB WEB SITE BACK TO THE LINCOLNSHIRE LYC OPENING PAGE and CONTENTS