At the latitude of Marstrand, south of the island of Tjörn, the Skagerrak gives way to the Kattegat. With strong westerly winds forecast for the next few days, we decide to tuck ourselves away to the east of the island, in the Stenungssund. A marina there has been recommended to us: it is inexpensive and supposedly usually fairly empty, but reservations are not possible. Part of the crew had really wanted to go to Marstrand, but one or two quiet nights in an out-of-the-way harbour sound tempting too. So today we make only a short hop to Björholmen, which is new to us – one of those little fishing harbours of which there have been around seventy in Bohuslän for the past five hundred years, now offering a peaceful stay with a hotel and a guest harbour. It really is a gorgeous place, and the passage here through Mollösund is scenic.

When we arrive, the guest pontoon is empty apart from a motorboat, which soon departs. But shortly afterwards every berth is taken (see below). And then the first sailboats come whizzing past us, sailed by fit-looking crews with perfectly trimmed high-performance sails (see above). Only then does the penny drop: tomorrow sees Sweden’s largest sailing regatta, “Runt Tjörn”. A four-figure number of boats are entered, with both the start and finish in Stenungssund... We frantically try to find a berth for tomorrow. Almost every harbour in the area is fully booked for the weekend; only in Marstrand are three out of 275 berths still available on Friday afternoon for Saturday night. We manage to secure one of them.

“Det blåser verkligen idag” (“It really is blowing today”) – that is how the skipper of the Swedish Bavaria greets us when we arrive in Marstrand, where his yacht is still occupying the berth we have pre-booked. In fact, we are not entitled to the berth until one o’clock in the afternoon, but with the forecast calling for the wind to increase as the day goes on, we have once again set off early. We liked Björholmen, and the first part of the passage through the picturesque Kyrkosund is beautiful, too (see further above). Then we have to head out into open water. This is precisely where the maritime boundary between the Skagerrak and the Kattegat runs. The sky turns greyer and the sea rougher, with gusts reaching twenty-two knots (see above). SY Blue Layla happily accelerates (see below) – she loves these conditions rather more than the crew does, so predictably we arrive in Marstrand far too early. We use the wait for our berth to refuel, then treat ourselves to the best kanelbulle of the trip so far, and look forward to Marstrand during a very special regatta week, with plenty of sailing eye candy.