Position: 59°24.61’N, 18°54.07’E

Sunrise looking across the Palkob light, underway from Moja to Stora Nassa.

Position: 59°26.20’N, 19°12.10’E

Approaching the narrow entry to the anchorage at Stora Nassa.

Position: 59°25.88’N, 19°11.74’E

Our poor tender propeller has taken quite a beating in Sweden. We do have two spares, but here James is extending its life by straightening the bent blades with a wrench. We generally get 1-2 years from an outboard prop.

Position: 59°26.25’N, 19°11.91’E

Most of the islands in Stora Nassa belong to a nature reserve. The main exception is a lovely village on the main island, Stora Bonden.

Position: 59°26.32’N, 19°11.90’E

The sweeping view east across the village to Stora Nassa nature reserve from the hill on Stora Bonden (click image for larger view).

Position: 59°25.31’N, 19°12.33’E

The Stora Nassa nature reserve includes about 400 islands and touring the narrow channels between them in the tender is great fun.

Position: 59°25.66’N, 19°11.82’E

We landed the tender and climbed to the hill on Mastskaret for another fabulous view across Stora Nassa (click image for larger view).

Position: 59°25.91’N, 19°11.55’E

Looking northwest across the complex waterways in Stora Nassa from the island of Stora Sprangskar.

Position: 59°25.87’N, 19°11.57’E

Our beautiful anchorage at Stora Nassa nature reserve.

Position: 59°25.87’N, 19°11.74’E

Another spectacular Swedish sunrise from the anchorage at Stora Nassa.

Position: 59°25.68’N, 19°11.75’E

Jennifer watching for hazards from the bow as we exit the anchorage at Stora Nassa. We’re leaving a different way from the route we entered and several charted hazards are nearby, so we’re being extra careful.

Position: 59°27.63’N, 19°13.51’E

It’s common in Sweden to use white paint on a rock as a form of marker. These are visible from a long way off and are quite effective.

Position: 59°37.53’N, 19°16.59’E

Tight channel coming into the anchorage at Norrpada.

Position: 59°37.66’N, 19°16.59’E

Anchored off Storskar at Norrpada nature reserve. We took the tender out for quick ride when we arrived to take some pictures in the morning light.

Position: 59°37.66’N, 19°16.58’E

For a 16-year-old, Spitfire still is remarkably playful. He was particularly full of energy this morning.

Position: 59°37.66’N, 19°16.58’E

Adjusting the dead pan on the primary autopilot. We strongly suspect that we have a rudder position sensor problem on autopilot #1. Here James is adjusting the dead pan to eliminate the pilot swinging the rudder back and forth. This is normally caused by setting the rudder dead pan too low, but the setting we’re using has been fine for a year. It’s highly likely we have a rudder position sensor problem that is leading to intermittent steering errors and insufficient rudder dead pan but, to be sure, we’ll get the dead pan correct and see if the rudder position sensor errors persist.

Position: 59°37.66’N, 19°16.59’E

When we had the pump problem a year ago the pump got sufficiently hot that it darkened the hydraulic steering fluid so we’re putting temperature sensors on each Autopilot steering pump to detect these problems early. Amazingly, both the pump and steering system never stopped working even though the temperatures where high enough to darken the fluid. We changed the fluid and we will now have Maretron TMP100 sensors monitoring and alarming on excess temperature.

Position: 59°37.66’N, 19°16.59’E

With the temperature at 52°F (11°C) it was warm enough to have lunch on deck.

Position: 59°37.69’N, 19°16.37’E

After lunch we went out on a more extensive tender tour of the Norrpada nature reserve. We started with a climb up to the top of Storskar for an impressive view east across the archipelago (click image for a larger view). We’ve really enjoyed the Stockholm Archipelago, but particularly liked the wild and windswept outer island groups.

Position: 59°37.69’N, 19°16.35’E

Storskar is owned by Pelarorden (the Pillar Order), a Swedish society founded in by drama actor Axel Hultman and a friend in 1892. According to its statutes, the society’s purpose is to “spread friendship, companionship and understanding between the Swedish men, who plow the archipelago’s waves, feel its waters and love its nature”. The society meets on Storskar every three years and placed this wind vane here in 1926. The letters PO are just barely visible on the surface.

Position: 59°37.69’N, 19°16.35’E

The mark of the Pelarorden is prominent on Storskar. The mark is adapted from the symbol commonly used in the timber trade for tugs with a trailer longer than 200m to symbolize how the society helps its more than 200 members.

Position: 59°37.66’N, 19°16.36’E

Looking across our anchorage at Norrpada nature reserve from Storskar.

Position: 59°37.77’N, 19°16.12’E

It looked like a tornado had swept through the island of Gummaskar, leaving a narrow path of destruction with the treetops all snapped off.

Position: 59°37.78’N, 19°15.99’E

A cairn atop Gummaskar caught our eye, so we climbed up to the top for this view north.

Position: 59°37.78’N, 19°15.99’E

From the top of Gummaskar we could see a Silja Line ferry way in the distance, heading into Stockholm from Estonia.

Position: 59°38.31’N, 19°15.94’E

A substantial dock with cabins on the tiny island of Askskaret. It looks like a wonderful place to spend some lazy summer days.

Position: 59°37.66’N, 19°16.60’E

Sunset from the anchorage at Norrpada, with the Pelarorden mark visible on the left.

Position: 59°37.69’N, 19°16.54’E

The winds were blowing up to 30kts today, so we were surprised when an open boat entered the anchorage at Norrpada. The boat was a very capable-looking Anytec A27, so conditions would have to get pretty bad to cause it any trouble. But what was even more surprising was when we went outside to say hello, the skipper called out “Hello James!”.

Position: 59°37.69’N, 19°16.54’E

The skipper, Markus Rautio, was a blog reader who’d stopped by Norrpada on the off chance we were still there. We set out a few fenders and asked if he’d like to tie alongside and come aboard for a visit. That Anytec A27 is a really nice-looking boat.

Position: 59°37.69’N, 19°16.54’E

Markus Rautio had run from Helsinki to Aland the day before and was en route to Stockholm today. Over the past 10 years he’s travelled 26,000 miles throughout the Baltic in Anytec boats, equivalent to around the world. We loved his Ursuit exposure suit. It provide flotation and hypothermia protection as do our Mustang 2175s, but seals like a drysuit and is much less bulky. We had a great time talking about boats and travels with Markus, who gave us lots of local knowledge on places to visit in Finland.