Sail to Stockholm

[Mariage]

A little more about Stockholm Welcome to the Archipelago Foundation

[Sea Sprite]

First of all I recommend you to buy all 3 charts inbound Stockholm avoiding that you might have to use the one you didn’t buy.
All routings through the archipelago of Stockholm are very beautiful and well marked as long as you stay on the main route.

When leaving the marked routing the charts are generally correct concerning depth markings as well as obstacles and landmarks indicated. As a different to many other places in the world you can trust the information given on these charts.

Concerning your lack of an anchor winch I do not se that as a problem when looking for night anchorages in one of the many natural lagoons offered in the archipelago. You normally drop your anchor from the stern 20-30 meter before the selected “stone” or cliff and then just have a jumper ready on the bow to jump and tie up the bow to one of the nearby trees or branches.

Concerning how to assist you entering these lagoons there a plenty of cruising guides available and on many places you will see the entry information necessary on the chart. The 3 “båtsportskort” have several small scale inset which very well indicate a recommended approach.

See all these lagoons as a natural harbor or marina free to use without having to spend money for expensive overcharged marinas. Save the money to the fee’s on Stockholm City’s Marina and enjoy what the city can offer you instead.

Finally a general advice; don’t be afraid to explore this beautiful archipelago because of the seamanship required navigating in these waters. It’s not so difficult as it might look when preparing the routes on the maps. If being in doubt during a tricky navigation, then slow down the speed, look around and compare what you see on the chart, and check if all the other boats around you also might get into navigation problems; if not just follow them until you are sure about your position. Remember there are PLENTY of boats navigating in the waters around Stockholm, especially during holidays, vacation season and week-ends.

Enjoy your trip…

[Darkwand]

Get the english version of "Arholma - Landsort and Gotland" its a perfectly sized book that has a large number of natural harbours in them as well as maps of stores guest harbours tourist attractions etc.
This is a book that EVERYONE has in sweden and you should get it too if you have time to spend a few days in the Stockholm archipelago.

Remember that "skärgårdsstiftelsen" has placed crude but sufficient sanitary facilities at a number of natural harbours. One thing to keep in mind overall though is that on weekends the number of boats quadroples which can make it rather hard to find a berth at some guest harbours.

But i agree if you want an easy route go into sandhamn and then just follow the commuter ships from waxholmsbolaget when in doubt. The island oposite Sandhamn Lökön usually space but the area is among the bussiest in the Archipelago so could be full.

Regarding charts Båtsportkortet Mellersta is the one containing the last part of the route into Stockholm. with 2m depth you can sail past Waxholm on your way in atleast which is highly recomended as it is a much more beautifull setting then the dreary Oxdjupet on the opposite side of Rindö.

Also don't worry about anchoring in a natural harbour the bottom is mostly clay and depth increases pretty fast at most places where the land ends.

If you sail in on a weekend though there will be alot of sailing boats heading along the route from sandhamn into stockholm so you could just sail behind them to make it easier.

[JimB]

The 'Cruising Association' is a British cruising club which has a section dedicated to Baltic cruising. If you've got the cash, overseas members pay about £60 per year to join (about $100?). One of the big advantages for Baltic section members (about 150 boats, cruising throughout the Baltic) is that they have an email net - 'balticnet' - on which anyone can ask a question, post a notice or whatever.

Additionally, they have a whole range of English language cruising guides and harbour guides, most of which can be downloaded by members free of charge.

It's worth a thought . . .

JimB,
Google 'jimb sail' to find my web site
Compares the Cruise areas of Europe

[freetime]

Eniro kartor visar adresser & vägen till företag & personer

you can zoom in where you want....don´t use this for navigation Just checking....

[Captain mud]

Hei, check out this page: Eniro.se - Sök företag, kartor, personer, nummer you can find a realy good sea map there that you can use for planing your trip. (not for sailing only!!!) i usaly use that one i combanation whit google earth, there you can calkulate the route i Nm f.eks.

Have a nice trip and remember that swedish people are much nicer than the look!! just start the talk at than you cant stop them.

Good wind, Captain Mud

[olegl84]

I got information about ferries and Riga on Riga tourist guide inlatvia.com

[Kimmo]

Originally Posted by Hampus

Regarding the Archipelago of Aland; it's littered with rocks and small islands but very beautiful. The big problem is the charts. Last time I sailed there... 2003 I think, the charts (finnish) really sucked, lots of blank areas without depth. They were, however, about to release new ones. I never saw the new charts, but make sure you get the latest ones.
/Hampus

It hasn't changed and probably never will. As you've seen, there's thousands of islands and there is no way to (or money) survey every area, thus many areas are just blank without depth.

Just a thing that you have to live with.