The Mighty Kiel Canal…

After two days on the Kiel Canal, including an overnight stop at Gieselau, I finally made the huge lock at Holtenau and eased into the Baltic Sea.

The Baltic Sea lies on the other side of the lock at Holtenau, the end of the Kiel Canal.

This has been an incredibly draining few days and as I relax at the Royal British Kiel Yacht Club, the shattering weariness has put me on my back as the adrenalin ebbs away.

Tomorrow these very kind folk are going to dive beneath ‘Free’, for no charge, in an attempt to put my mind at ease. A check of the propeller and shaft will inspire me with the confidence to continue my voyage east past the old East German Hanseatic ports and into Poland.

Sharing the canal with huge ships can be very humbling!

The Kiel Canal is over one hundred kilometres long and is incredibly tedious and hard work, especially for a single-hander as you have no one to share the helm with. Mile after mile, with an eye constantly open on the fast commercial and military ships that creep up on you, seemingly out of nowhere.

Intense concentration is needed as the freighters move fast and leave no room for helm error.

There is nothing more exhausting than straining your hearing for sounds that may indicate mechanical problems. Every thirty minutes I was checking the engine room for any indication of gearbox and stern gland overheating, but thankfully everything held together.

The transporter bridge at Rendsburg, a town just over half way down the canal. The hardest work is over.

I was very moved when reading the good wishes from you all this morning. The folk here let me use their internet and I am relieved to give you the good news, hoping that the dawn doesn’t bring anything untoward. A beautiful blue sky greeted me as I awoke, hardly able to believe that I have finally reached the Baltic Sea.

A new day… waking to the sunshine at the Royal British Kiel Yacht Club

The future is an open book, as usual. Who knows what lies around the next headland? We can only live our lives, hoping for a break now and then, when the chips are down. This crazy sailing life has put me in all sorts of perilous situations over the years, but conversely a deep understanding of the human soul and what it can endure.

My friend Christian sent a wonderful poem by Longfellow to me, and it highlights what I am about. I will let it speak to you:

Ah! what pleasant visions haunt me
As I gaze upon the sea!
All the old romantic legends,
All my dreams, come back to me.

 

 Till my soul is full of longing

For the secret of the sea,
And the heart of the great ocean
Sends a thrilling pulse through me.