Over the last few days, we have been “clocking up the miles”. After our visit to Visby on Gotland, we made a short stopover in Kalmar on the east coast of Sweden and then headed around the southern tip of Sweden and north again in one go. Past Copenhagen, through the Kattegat up to Strandby, a small harbor just below the northern tip of Denmark. Unfortunately, we had one reliable constant along the entire route: the headwind. Sailing was almost unthinkable. We therefore had to cover the approximately 370 nautical miles with the active support of our Callesen Diesel. As the weather in the North Sea (our next destination) can be very rough at times and could force us to make unwanted port calls, Arved wanted to create a time buffer. Hence the long engine trip.

Over the last few days, we have been “clocking up the miles”. After our visit to Visby on Gotland, we made a short stopover in Kalmar on the east coast of Sweden and then headed around the southern tip of Sweden and north again in one go. Past Copenhagen, through the Kattegat up to Strandby, a small harbor just below the northern tip of Denmark. Unfortunately, we had one reliable constant along the entire route: the headwind. Sailing was almost unthinkable. We therefore had to cover the approximately 370 nautical miles with the active support of our Callesen Diesel. As the weather in the North Sea (our next destination) can be very rough at times and could force us to make unwanted port calls, Arved wanted to create a time buffer. Hence the long engine trip.

The time at sea was used for various measurements. Richard is in charge of one of the series of measurements. When leaving Kalmar, he climbed to the top of the Dagmar Aaen's jib boom, well secured. There he mounted a camera that is pointed directly downwards, i.e. at the water. Every day from 09:00 to 21:00, the camera takes pictures of the surface of the water. Four times an hour. Richard formats the collected photos every evening and then uploads them to a database. This series of measurements is called “Eye on water”. Professor Oliver Zielinski, head of the Institute for Baltic Sea Research in Warnemünde, explains what it's all about:

Heute ist das anders: jede Messung zählt. Gerade in wenig erforschten Gebieten wie der zentralen Ostsee ist jeder Datenpunkt wertvoll. Und Modelle können heute mit solchen Daten auch gut umgehen, selbst wenn sie nicht auf sechs Kommastellen genau sind“ – soweit Professor Oliver Zielinski. Auf unserer Ocean Change 2025-Seite können die Bilder entlang unserer Fahrtroute eingesehen werden. Dort gibt es dann auch vertiefende Informationen zum „Eye on Water“ Projekt. Unser nächstes Ziel ist die Nordsee.

(Matze)

Position: 57.493429, 10.508637