During the Gullviverally two weeks ago, my headsail furler unfortunately failed. Since then, I've been working around the clock to get a new Furlex furler installed, including some fiberglass modifications to the bow, as the new furler was slightly larger than the old one and initially wouldn't fit. By the evening before Marcus arrived from Västervik, however, everything was finally in place, and we were able to cast off on Friday evening.

After a long, grueling winter with endless of hours repairing the boat, the moment had finally come for the first sail of the year. A heatwave had settled over southern Sweden, and David, Petter, and I stocked the boat with plenty of good food before setting course for the archipelago.

A couple of weeks after we had sailed our new boat home to Stockholm, David and I decided to take a trip up to the northern archipelago of Stockholm. It was late August; the summer warmth had faded and it was noticeably cooler when we set off, but we were still excited to do some sailing in new waters.

This summer took an unexpected turn when I went ahead and bought a new, larger sailboat. I had been thinking about upgrading for a while, and the idea of cramming five people into my small Smaragd for a holiday sail just wasn’t very appealing.