The Gilleleje fishing harbour

Gilleleje is the home of a great number of Danish fishing boats:

A Swedish Coast Guard working boat leaving Helsingborg

Yesterday afternoon this small working boat left the Swedish Coastguard's Helsingborg station in good speed:

 

 

The Øresund Strait - A Paradise for Sport Anglers

The popular trip/charter fishing boat Tärnö on its way to Helsingborg after a hopefully
successful day of sport fishing in the Sound.

The Øresund strait is the home of some of the best sport fishing in Scandinavia. For those who want to find out more, there is a lot of useful information in English on this page:

For the sport angler, the Sound can offer an extremely varied range of sea and coastal fishing. Here, Cod, Mackerel, Herring, Sea Trout, Garfish, Plaice, Flounder and Dab all bite. If your luck is really in you might pull up the odd Whiting, Haddock, Coalfish Lumpfish, Eel or Salmon. Those fishing in the southern part of the Sound can hook both Perch and Roach. It could mean a really delicious fish soup for those who have got angling and casting down to a fine art, there are many tricks in the trade. For those interested in trying their luck, the best way is to go aboard one of the trip fishing boats. These are manned by experienced skippers and their echo probe can find the shoals. There is usually equipment to hire and for the beginner plenty of advice and tips in the art of casting and hooking.

Yesterday, the anglers on board one of the most popular trip/charter fishing boats, Tärnö, had probably been lucky - otherwise they would not have been surrounded by so many gulls ...

A speed boat race in the Baltic?

There must be some kind of a speed boat race going on in the Baltic right now. A couple of minutes ago, Marine Traffic Com live AIS map showed several boats going extremely fast in the waters between Ystad and Bornholm. For example the fastest of these three boats had a speed of 89.6 knots, which is equivalent to 165.9392 km/h!

Status: Underway
Speed/Course: 89.6 kn / 41˚
245727238

Status: Underway
Speed/Course: 76.8 kn / 213˚
230997710

Status: Underway
Speed/Course: 76.8 kn / 230˚
230982094

Pictures of the Helsingborg marina on a cloudy June evening

The Helsingborg marina and ferry terminal looked great last night, with some distinct clouds above:

The Helsingborg based pilot boat 211 SE

The pilot boat 211 SE , based in Helsingborg, I can observe in action several times daily. Here is a close up of the 17 m x 5 m boat, which was built in 2009/10:

PS

I added an image of this small coast guard boat, which is also based in Helsingborg:

The Baltic Herring Fair in Helsinki

The Baltic Herring Fair is Helsinki's oldest traditional annual event, dating back to 1743. Early October Helsinki's famous Market Square, bordering the Baltic Sea, bustles with activity, when fishermen from the south coast and the Åland islands sell their products directly from their boats.

During the 1925 Baltic Herring Fair, the row of fishing boats at the Market Square was an impressive sight:

The church boats of lake Siljan

Dalarna - particularly the lake Siljan region - in central Sweden is famous for the church boats.
Since the road network was very poor in the 19th and early 20th centuries, people had to use boats in order to get to their local church.  Around the year 1850, Leksand had about 60 church boats of the type shown on these photographs. The biggest boats had up to 12 pairs of oars. 

Church boat on lake Siljan in the 1890s.

Sunday morning in Leksand in the late 19th century.

The schooner Nina on a cold December day in Helsingborg

The gorgeous schooner Nina was this afternoon waiting for the 2013 sailing season to begin at the Helsingborg Marina:

The Helsingborg marina on a dark november day

The Helsingborg marina is quiet this time of the year. However, in the afternoon dusk, it looked rather nice today. 

A comeback for rotor ships?

The picture above, taken in Potsdam in 1925, shows the world's first rotor ship - also called Flettner ship after its inventor, German engineer Anton Flettner. (Flettner applied for a patent for his invention in 1922).

In a Flettner ship the rotorsails take advantage of the Magnus effect - a force acting on a spinning body in a moving airstream - for propulsion. 

The Buckau
(image by wikipedia)

In 1924, Flettner's rotors were used on a larger ship, the Buckau:

The vessel was a refitted schooner which carried two cylinders (or rotors) about 15 metres (50 ft) high, and 3 metres (10 ft) in diameter, driven by an electric propulsion system of 50 hp (37 kW) power. In 1926, a larger ship with three rotors, the Barbara, was built by the shipyard A.G. Weser in Bremen.

Following completion of its trials, the Buckau set out on her first voyage in February 1925, from Danzig to Scotland across the North Sea. The rotors did not give the slightest cause for concern in even the stormiest weather, and the rotor ship could tack (sail into the wind) at 20-30 degrees, while the vessel with its original sail rig could not tack closer than 45 degrees to the wind.

On 31 March 1926, the Buckau, now renamed Baden Baden after the German spa town, sailed to New York via South America, arriving in New York harbor on 9 May.

It was found at the time that the rotor system could not compete economically with the diesel engines that were also being developed for ships in this era. Flettner turned his attention to other projects and the rotors were dismantled. Baden Baden was destroyed in a Caribbean storm in 1931. Due to the rising cost of fossil fuels, as well as environmental concerns, there has been renewed interest in the concept in the later 20th century, starting with Jacques-Yves Cousteau's Alcyone in 1983.

More recently Wärtsilä, the Finnish company marine engine company, has unveiled a design for a large cruise ferry that uses LNG to power the main engines and Flettner rotors using wind for additional power. On June 6 this year, Wärtsilä's head of Concept Design, Ilkka Rytkölä, showed this picture of the design in a presentation he gave at the Centrum Balticum:

Wärtsilä's futuristic ferry design.

A couple of years ago, there was some speculation about Finnish ferry operator Viking Line using Wärtsilä's concept for their new cruise ferry. However, Viking Line seems to have opted for a more conventional solution.

The German E-ship, using rotors in the rear was  launched in 2008.
(image by wikipedia)

The University of Flensburg in Germany has developed this rotor-driven catamaran:

The University of Flensburg's Flettner catamaran.
(image by wikipedia)

 However, the world's first first rotor-driven sailing boat - with the wind powering the wing rotors - was constructed by the Finnish engineer V.S. Savonius already in the 1920s. (Flettner's rotors were driven by engines).The photo below shows Savonius on board his boat in Finland's southern archipelago in the summer of 1925. 

Finnish engineer V.S. Savonius on board his rotor-driven sailing boat. (1925)

Rotor-driven ships and boats appear to have made a come-back in the beginning of the 21st century. Only time will tell whether they will play a serious role in the future.

PS
Added on April 3, 2017:

It seems that rotor technology indeed is making a come back: 

Finnish cleantech firm Norsepower claims its rotor sail technology will help the shipping industry become environmentally friendlier. This week the company announced that a pair of its tall, cylindrical sails will be installed for long-term trials on a Maersk Tankers vessel in 2018.

More information here.

The Wilh. R. Lundgren - a classic Swedish rescue boat

An early 1920s photo of the Swedish rescue boat Wilh. R. Lundgren, based  in  Vinga

Since its founding in 1907, the Swedish Sea Rescue Society ("Svenska Sällskapet för Räddning af Skeppsbrutne") has been working with maritime search and rescue on Swedish lakes and seas. Currently the  society runs 66 life boat stations, with about 170 boats and 1800 volunteers. 

A rescue team setting out in stormy weather (early 1920s)

The first Swedish boats used for rescue operations were rowed by the volunteer crews. However, very soon  the Sea Rescue Society realized that it was necessary to acquire engine powered rescue boats. For that purpose the society organized a competition in order to find a type of  rescue vessel that best suited the needs in Swedish waters. 

Inspector J. Hutchinson-Kay and his Swedish wife  

The first prize was awarded to a design by the Lloyd's inspector, naval engineer J. Hutchinson-Kay. 

The volunteer crew  at the Grönhögen rescue station ready for action  (early  1920s)

Before the first new rescue ships were commissioned, the Sea Rescue Society asked Hutchinson-Kay to make a number of adjustments in order to make the boats more suitable for Swedish circumstances. 

The first new rescue boats were launched in 1912. In the beginning of the 1920's there were already seven Hutchinson-Kay type engine powered rescue boats operating in different parts of Sweden. Below is a drawing of the fifth boat, the Wilh. R. Lundgren, operating in the Skagerack, between Pater Noster in the north and Tistlarna in the south. The interior design of the Wilh. R. Lundgren differed somewhat from the interior of the other six boats, due to a number of adjustments done to make it more suitable for the harsh Skagerack environment. 

Rescue boat Wilh. R. Lundgren:

Length: 13,1m
Breadth: 3,8m
Carvel-built (oak)
Iron keel, 2,8 ton
2 cylinder 30hp engine


PS
Hopefully somebody will make a replica of this gorgeous boat sometime in the not too distant future! 

A mellow September evening in Øresund

For many reasons I have always enjoyed the sea. There is never a dull day on the sea. Each day has its own different charm. 

This September evening in Øresund was mellow and calm - nice e.g. for a meditative moment on the boat ,a nice outing with the rowing boat, or a relaxing evening swim ....

The day before Midsummer Eve in Øresund

Today, on the day before Midsummer Eve, people in the Øresund region enjoyed the nice and sunny weather.


Boat owners were out with their boats ....

Others were out on the pier just enjoying the day ....

I enjoyed the fountain in the center of Helsingborg .....