The reality of navigating in Sweden by Tom Cunliffe. Summer 2017

Tom Cunliffe navigates and pilots through the maze of islands and rocks that is Sweden.
If you’re interested in sailing, things maritime and the salty road to freedom, you'll enjoy my channel, so pour yourself a glass of the finest and settle down to listen to my occasional chats.
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Welcome on board!
Tom
copyright Tom Cunliffe 2017

[@WayOfHaQodesh]

Ahhh, my beautiful homeland of Sverige.

[@emlynjay8633]

The authoritative voice of Sailing.

[@erikhn9331]

As most Danish sailors, I’m a member of the SXK, The Swedes are brilliant with navigational help. And Thank God for the modern equipment - I do remember in the old days how scary it was sometimes in the middle of the night to find the safe way through the skärgard/archipelago 😉

[@kimfucku8074]

I cannot say how much I like to listen to Mr. Cunliffe!

[@TomCunliffeYachtsandYarns]

Good to know I have an avid listener and am not talking to thin air!

[@berendotto]

@@TomCunliffeYachtsandYarns Not just one!

[@erikhn9331]

@@TomCunliffeYachtsandYarns Never ever - always as in each and every time a great pleasure!

[@karlsmith5935]

Dear Mr cunliffe. I would just like say what an utter inspiration you and wife have been to me keep up the good work and gods to you sir

[@MikeFloutier]

Just wanted to say a big thank you for all you do Tom. I bought my first boat at age 62 and, with the help of your "Complete Day Skipper" (and the RYA's "Navigation Exercises"), managed to get my Day Skipper. I've had immense pleasure sailing for the last 3 years; so thank you so much!

[@TomCunliffeYachtsandYarns]

The pleasure's all mine Mike. It's a grand thing to have the opportunity to give a bit back to the people of the sea who have given me so much. Tom

[@TrainDriverRob]

What can I say? I don't own a boat or even sail, but I love these vlogs and I loved the 'Boat Yard' TV programmes. Natural presenter for sure.

[@andreascarlberg3998]

Lovely chap! Hope you enjoyed sailing Sweden's west. Best regards, Andreas

[@ivorsmyle8937]

I was always told, chart or map for navigation, GPS for confirmation, fair winds, and a following sea.

[@gregaldworth1200]

Beautiful Sweden, that area is very reminiscent of the Thirty Thousand Islands in Georgian Bay Canada. Enjoy the vlogs very much!

[@kevinjolly8080]

Tom, it is good to see you looking so well and the colour in your face. I hope you allow Ros to spend as much time in the sun as you. Looking forward to the next vlog. Fair winds and I hope we can catch up for a beer on your return.

[@Lanxe]

Thanks Tom - just discovered your channel. Keep doing your thing!

[@STBYRUD]

Brilliant, fair winds, enjoy your passage down south and say hi to my hometown!

[@georgestratis1430]

Thanks Tom. Amazing video!

[@jjrevelry7913]

Great vlog - the view from the helm whilst sailing and narrating is great. We used the Seapilot app on iPad for 'rock' navigation around the Stockholm Archipelago which was easier as much more detail remained visible at lower zoom it also gave us AIS targets if we had wifi or data on! Similar cheap price.

[@rustysailor4672]

Just discovered your channel and love it. A minor detail that people may misunderstand: The GPS will not always show you the correct position. Depending on inaccurate maps (rare in Europe) or reflection of the signal on walls or rocks, the error can be 100 m or more with no forewarning. As usefull as it is in general, in close quarters you cannot rely on the GPS signal.

[@TomCunliffeYachtsandYarns]

Quite right too and thanks for making the point. I ought to have mentioned that in passing. This wasn't a lesson GPS however. For that, go to my video- 'Do you think you know where you are.' kzbin.info/www/bejne/rXywfIqgpr2DZs0 Tom

[@914va]

Great Vblog!! Come a long ways from red arrow stickers!! Makes for more relaxing cruising. Keep it coming!!

[@neilphelan5296]

as usual ... great vid Tom... :-)

[@TermiteUSA]

Love the picture of Nelson on the bulkhead there.

[@TomCunliffeYachtsandYarns]

That was given to me by my daughter and underneath she's written, 'God bless him, and shame fall on those who do not same Amen'. This was said by Lady Hamilton's husband who knew all, yet still loved Nelson. Tom

[@MAlgMAlg1]

This is very nice, and I find it wonderful to see that someone finds my home waters so special :)

[@MAlgMAlg1]

Though I'm not sure I would call these waters terrifying, I find them quite natural to navigate, just read the charts! ;)

[@TomCunliffeYachtsandYarns]

Hi. My wife and I love Sweden. It's funny, one's home waters always seem easier than somewhere you don't know. I don't find Sweden terrifying either, but you do have to concentrate in a different way to our own issues back in the English Channel. We all have our specialties. Many people are terrified by the tides down here which can rise to 40ft in some places and run at up to four knots out of sight of land. I guess it's what you're used to. Tom

[@MAlgMAlg1]

@@TomCunliffeYachtsandYarns Oh don't get me wrong. I don't mean to diminish the very real effect of simply being used to something. I for one am scared to bits of strong tides and endless shifting sandbanks. We are all humbled by the sea, one way or another, after all.

[@CheersWarren]

Magic , thanks your experience is so marvelous to hear , please keep posting , have you cruised Norway? I have friends going there this year, cheers Warren

[@guyfitter3006]

Enjoyed that informs thanks John

[@legend343]

I now live in Sweden on the West coast, or Best coast as we like to call it and it is wonderful. Thousands of anchorage’s to lay in and even when it’s blowing hard one can still sail because as you say it’s protected. Next time you’re in Sweden (W coast ) I WILL have to be more switched on and invite yourself and Roz for dinner.! Warren

[@TomCunliffeYachtsandYarns]

Thanks for your kind invitation Warren. We'd love to come by for dinner, but I don't think it'll be next summer as we're planning to head for Bothnia - but you never know!

[@peterbraidwood4834]

Hi Tom. Great video and insight into Swedish cruising. The first anchorage you went into reminded me of Tinkers Hole near the Sound of Iona. Peter

[@TomCunliffeYachtsandYarns]

Thanks Peter. Yes, there are some similarities, aren't there. No seals though! Wish I were there now! All best Tom

[@peteroe8723]

i would love to hear your views on the Finnish Archipelago in the south-west. Keep up the good work. Love your vlog. R.Peter

[@andersjansson6705]

Excellent

[@AdurianJ]

Dear mr Cunliffe as a Swede that pilot book isn't the only pilot book out there for that stretch of coast there are a couple of competitors making such books (everyone has them) and i know some of them have English Editions. But that information is also available in some of the more advanced electronic charts you can buy for your GPS navigator up to and including aerial photographs of marinas.

[@Seafariireland]

I fancy a bit of rock hopping some day!

[@vonhier]

As a compromise you could connect your tablet to the built in WIFI of your Raymarine plotter. There is an app called Raycontrol which instantly captures the plotter`s display to the tablet and even lets you control the plotter remotely. The way I do it - for example when it is not comfortable to handle paper charts in the windy cockpit (or lying in the bunk, checking if the crew is still steering the course)

[@Snoozzzzzze]

The few training courses that I have been on have been very anti having a chart in the cockpit. As an airline pilot I can only hope that the airlines that they choose to fly on don’t feel the same.

[@tonihodgkins8649]

Do so enjoy your vidios of travel and maintaince, you remind me of jack Hargreaves who I watched as a young boy, his was in a shed at the bottom of the garden never rehearsed straight of the cuff, I guess just like yours, keep them coming tom, stay well, Toni skipper of the schooner Elinor,

[@TomCunliffeYachtsandYarns]

Thanks Toni. I remember Jack Hargreaves and am flattered that you compare me to him. Tom

[@andvil01]

I live in Sweden. Sailing and kayaking. Yes, we have the chart in the cockpit. Put it in a clear waterproof bag. The trick is to always know where you are. Looka at the landscape, the markings of the sail route and back to the chart. Find a mark in the distance. Go there and find the next to go to. If you are fogetting yourself for 10 min, you are lost. The charts are pretty good in the marked routes, but outside not so much. A ground can easily be 50 m off in reality. Do not zoom in alot on the plotter and think you can trust the chart. Keep at least 100 m from everything you can run aground on. Anchor you boat bow to land. Buy steel vedges with a ring. Hit them down in cracks and tie your boat to. And enjoy your stay in Sweden.

[@TomCunliffeYachtsandYarns]

Many thanks for your input. Can't wait to get back to do some more sailing in your beautiful country. Tom

[@eddieg66]

You should be on the telly your great at explaining stuff great video

[@TomCunliffeYachtsandYarns]

Thanks - I have been and would love to be again. Just waiting for the call!

[@eddieg66]

@@TomCunliffeYachtsandYarns well your very good great way about you

[@Dg-zj6jo]

amazing tech

[@Yeaitstemp]

Yea talk to the locals they will help you get thru cause out in ocean it was blowing 30kts and 10kts on inland passge

[@darrylmcleman6456]

Join the navy and see the world ( through a porthole)!!!

[@3wheelie]

If you were heading for Hamburg You are of the line! But maybe it was Hamburgsund?😉

[@TomCunliffeYachtsandYarns]

Yes, it was Hamburgsund. Sorry about that - when I'm just talking off the hoof I don't always get things right. Tom

[@gurglejug627]

Almost no tide on the West Coast of Sweden, so it's easy to moor with a stern anchor, and a bow-line to a piton in the rocks - you set the line long then pull the boat in until you see or feel the ground, then back her off appropriately. Eniro.se do sea-charts for free online so long as your phone has not been 'rooted', and I've found them very good. In high season, one can pay £25 to 35 to moor alongside (£50 per night in Gothenburg city centre areas), but anchoring is always free of charge. Inland, by navigating the Göte/Trollhättan canal (just go straight up the river from Gothenburg some 3km, and you enter it by default), you come to lake Vännern with a load of bridges that are opened on request, and a some 5 or 6 locks, several lovely places to stop en route, in and out of town, it takes about 13 hours each way. The fee is £110 each way, and a lock keeper further up comes to take your payment. The cruising is wonderful, as is swimming in the second largest lake in Europe - no tides at all, freshwater, loads of anchorages in the often empty archipelagos, berthing is about £10-15 per night high season, often including showers, or there's an honesty box where no-one really bothers collecting fees, or it's a fiver, off season (no showers after end of September/October usually). One can then go on to Stockholm via the inland canal route, but it's horrendously expensive at over £800 each way, and the 56 odd locks lead to it being nicknamed 'the divorce ditch'. There are loads of places to take water aboard, and also to empty septic tanks by suction pump - a tank is a must in the lake. Diesel prices in Sweden are usually about the same as the UK, or Germany plus 20%. The season is July to August, so sailing in May/June and in September gives you the water almost to yourself, so long as you have a good heater aboard for the chilly nights, the days are usually warm. Bonnes voyages!

[@TomCunliffeYachtsandYarns]

Thanks Gurgle for that comprehensive insight. I must say that when I heard the canal was called the 'Divorce Ditch', it put me off, but I like the sound of the trip up to Lake Vannern. I'll hope to go that way in a couple of years. All best Tom

[@jeffreysearle2996]

Is the lord Nelson I see hanging next to your chart table?

[@SailingVinderla]

Try Norway my friend! :D

[@TomCunliffeYachtsandYarns]

I have, many times. I love it, especially the West Coast, all the way to Lofoten. Tom

[@Cobwobbler]

Brilliant entertainment. Why aren’t you on the BBC Tom?

[@TomCunliffeYachtsandYarns]

Hi Martin. Been there, done that. I'd love to do it again and reach all those excellent people out there who are starved of the reality of the sea, but I haven't had the call. Ah well.....Tom

[@claussvensson7834]

Why have you not visited the Finnish archipelago (between Aland and the Finnish mainland). Highly recommended

[@TomCunliffeYachtsandYarns]

We have visited the Finnish archipelagos Claus. Last year we went up to Haapasaari, a year or three back we sailed through the Aland Islands to Turku, and in 1988 we cruised all the way up the Gulf through the islands to Leningrad. You are right - it's wonderful.

[@paulputnam2305]

👌⚓️👍

[@je3432]

If you want to sail in sweden we have an app called " eniro på sjön". It's for free and it works onsdag your phone or tablet. Happy Sailing folks

[@TomCunliffeYachtsandYarns]

Thanks JE. I have it and it's grand. Tom

[@paxwallacejazz]

Well I'm an American expatliving in Copenhagen but I never get to see this side of things. Thanx

[@peterforden5917]

careful taking notes on the chart because if its a military area and your charts are hecked by whoever you WILL get prosecuted for espionage.... though tourists may be tolerated....:)

[@TomCunliffeYachtsandYarns]

Thanks Peter for the dire warning. That's good to know. Tom

[@markjennings2315]

That auto focus cannot be trusted lol

[@santamulligan676]

Too much motoring going on