After two demanding days beating westwards, both Blue Layla and her crew are ready for a well-earned break. We settle into a sheltered berth in Laboe for a week, complete with uninterrupted views across the Kiel Fjord and the occasional welcome spell of sunshine between the showers. While part of the crew bravely heads south by train to attend a series of unavoidable appointments, Blue Layla remains in Laboe with the home crew—and once again proves that the “boat office” is a perfectly workable concept. Video calls, emails and paperwork all continue remarkably smoothly, even with Force 7 blowing across the marina in the morning. If only there were not so much to distract us outside the hatches. From our front-row seats, the marina provides endless entertainment. A three-masted sailing ship swaps places with the ferry, skippers attempt to squeeze improbably large yachts into improbably small berths, and everyone watching secretly hopes there will be just enough drama to make the manoeuvre memorable—but not expensive. In Kiel, life really does revolve around the water.

The people of Kiel seem to take every opportunity for a swim, preferably early in the morning and wearing as little as possible. All around are reminders that this is one of Germany’s great sailing cities: the state parliament, the Kiel Yacht Club, countless yachts and a fjord that is never still. Thanks to frequent ferries—covered by the D-Ticket and equipped to carry bicycles—the fjord is not merely scenery but an entirely ordinary part of the local transport network.