American folk music...

...on Jennifer's deck performed by Terry, our new guitar man, while we are waiting for the lock that will takes us to the Baltic Sea to open. 

Jennifer is now waiting in a designated position together with four sister yachts of various sizes.

Ingemar enjoys listening to Terry from a comfortable position on the sun deck.

A personal cold call at sea

Living an extended period of time onboard a yacht like Jennifer is a lot of fun in the right company, but it can also be a bit risky. 

Three days ago our captain felt the first signs of an unwelcome visitor in his nose and throat. In order to make this visitor disappear as quickly as possible I have been serving captain Lasse cup after cup filled with my favourite cold cure: freshly grounded ginger in a cup of hot honey tea. 

He is now feeling much better!

The Kiel Canal

After leaving Helgoland yesterday at noon we had great sailing, at times reaching a speed of 9.3 knots,  all the way to Brunsbüttel. The Kiel Canal, or Nord-Ostsee Kanal, runs 99 km (53 miles) NW from Brunsbüttel on the River Elbe to Kiel on the Baltic Coast. At the canal lock captain Lasse was a bit disappointed by the not so friendly behaviour of the female lock attendant...

He thought that perhaps, if we invite her for dinner, that the French onion soup Staffan had prepared for our dinner would cheer her up!

Jennifer and her crew spent the night only 10 meters away from the lock used by large vessels such as tankers and container ships. It was very interesting for me to see these big ships passing by so closely.

Apart from at Brunsbüttel and Holtenau, there are five berthing places (weichen)

where it is possible for yachts to spend the night. Moving at night is not permitted. Yachts will not be locked into the canal unless they have time to reach one of these berthing places before dark.