ARC Baltic in Rønne Bornholm
by World Cruising Club 12 Jul 2019 10:46 UTC
ARC Baltic underway © World Cruising
The ARC Baltic fleet left Rostock on 9th July, slipping lines at various times due to weather conditions and those following on the YB Tracker will have spotted Mila's planned pit-stop in a beautiful lagoon en route to Rønne.
There was a brisk westerly breeze of 15-25 knots which made for some excellent sailing in quite choppy seas. As the sun set, the wind eased for a while but funnily enough darkness never really came and associated light of the setting sun just slid along the sky line from west to east; 'must be something to do with the hemisphere,' we mused.
The WhatsApp group were chatting most of the way sharing photos of each other and describing snacks, which movies the kids where watching, who was eating ice cream etc etc. As the sun reappeared in the eastern sky the beautiful Danish Island of Bornholm came into view.
After a short radio chat with the harbour authorities all the yachts were granted permission to enter the south harbour. Although a busy industrial port, it was the perfect setting for our first ARC Baltic 2019 impromptu BBQ. Rønne Harbour very kindly lent us their huge BBQ grill and the party got started at around 7pm with everyone cooking, laughing and sharing telling tales of the sail up. ""It was amazing to see the sun go down but not actually go dark, a beautiful night sail!" said Mark the crew on Sea Crusader. "We had the spinnaker up for the twilight hours it was great."
On the grill, fresh fish and local steaks alongside huge sausages, chicken, pork steaks and kebabs all sizzling away together. So lovely to be able to share a gorgeous evening with such happy and friendly friends - a true rally atmosphere setting the tone for the coming weeks ahead. Lots of locals are also visiting the harbour to admire the fleet and look at the beautiful flags flying.
Rønne is full of really helpful friendly people all happy to assist, a random passerby even took one of the participants to the hospital for a few stitches after he slipped with a knife whilst removing cable ties. All repaired a nice job done.
Today is a free day for roaming and exploring with many of the crews setting off on discounted hire bikes to cycle through the beautiful countryside.
The morning yoga group went well as did the swimming team. A great start to what promises to be an exceptional rally with as always an exceptional yellow shirt team, always happy to help, although the BBQ did take some cleaning this morning.
A group tour is planned for tomorrow by bus exploring the northern end of the island, with a lunch stop. A castle viewing, round church and a herring smoker are all on the list, can't wait to see more of this gorgeous place.
Some yachts will leave tomorrow for more adventures on route to Visby. Others will remain here until Saturday.