Reflections on Cruising the Baltic
There are a lot of things I am grateful for in my life. Now I have another thing to add to the list: a summer spent sailing around the Baltic Sea! Sailing in the Baltic is not something most sailors get the chance to do, and now I have done it. Why don’t more sailors sail up there? Well, the Baltic is a great place to sail, but it is not a great place to sail to! There are really only three ways to get there. The first two are: Sail up the North Sea and enter over the top of Denmark at Skagen, or leave the North Sea and motor up through the Kiel canal. I chose the third way; I bought a boat made in Denmark!
I knew that my cruising ground was destined to be the Mediterranean, as we have set up our home in Valencia and I want to have the boat nearby, but the factory that built my dreamboat is located in Skærbaek, Denmark, so why not time the delivery date to launch in spring and then sail there first before moving the boat to the Mediterranean for the longer term? Why not, indeed! So when I selected hull number 29 of the Dragonfly 40, I made sure it came with a launch date in April. Summer of 2026 was to be our Baltic summer.
I visited the factory several times during the build to see the process, and I was impressed with the build quality and the consistency. Quorning Boats plans their builds well in advance and had no problem meeting the schedules they had set out. Each time I visited, I was welcomed; they took the time to explain all of the project milestones they were currently working towards and how the pieces would come together. In between visits, they sent pictures to keep me informed.
When we arrived in Denmark, it was still early spring weather. It was still quite cold in late April. I was really glad that standard equipment on a new Dragonfly 40 includes a diesel heater, though I may never need it in Spain. The goal was to get the boat ready to cruise for the summer, and a new boat needs a few things to make it a home. In nearby Kolding, we found much of what we needed: plates, cups, and flatware, as well as sheets and towels.
Meanwhile, we were able to go sailing with Peter Quorning, who walked us through the sailing systems on the boat. Because we took delivery at Skaerbaek, we had access to factory support as we discovered the boat. We spent the first few weeks outfitting and learning the boat while staying at the charming little harbor at Skaerbaek. We did day sails and docking practice to get used to the intricacies of the new DF40. We finally departed for our summer cruise on May 21st.
Our plan was to cruise Denmark and eastern Sweden for the first month, then join the ARC Baltic for the month of July. After a week in the Lillebelt and the Fyn Archipelago, we hustled around to pick up a friend in Copenhagen, which is a great city to hang out in, if a little expensive. Then, we headed north to Helsingør, home of Hamlet’s castle, and over to Sweden, where we experienced the “Scandi Mooring” for the first time: dropping a stern anchor and tying the bow to a rock. Yes, it’s as hard as it sounds, and we had lots of help from friendly Swedes to get it done, but it was such a unique experience!
We then had to head back south to meet the ARC Baltic in Kiel on July 1st. On the way, we stopped at the factory in Skærbaek to ask more questions, and we had lots of help from Søren and the Quorning service team to fix a few things we’d messed up as new owners. As we headed for Kiel, we took some time to stop at some more harbors along the way. We particularly liked Ærøskøbing, on the island of Ærø, and Flensburg, our first stop in Germany, but each place we visited was charming! We arrived a few days early for the ARC Baltic and anchored for the night in the Kielfjord before joining the fleet in the Sporthafen Kiel.
Most people know the ARC as the folks who help you cross oceans, but the ARC Baltic is a little different; it’s more of a “cruise in company” where they organize the itinerary, marinas, and even some fun events and walking tours. It’s a great way to add some structure to your Baltic cruising plans and to meet other sailors and be social and have fun. There are visits to major cities, like Tallinn and Helsinki, as well as stops in interesting harbors like Stralsund, Bornholm, and Visby. It was a perfect way to put some miles on my new Dragonfly. We had lots of challenges and lots of fun sailing in a fun and non-competitive rally with great sailors and with the support of the ARC Baltic shore team who were there to greet us at every harbor and organize social events and tours for the group that would have been difficult to organize traveling on our own.
One summer is not nearly enough to explore the charms of the Baltic. We got to visit Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Estonia, Finland, but the short sailing season dictates a limited itinerary. We didn’t visit Poland, Lithuania, or Latvia, and in better times it would have been very nice to see St. Petersburg, but in 2026 that was out of the question. Now that I’m back on the boat here in Spain, I realize how much I left unseen in the Baltic. But now it’s time for us to explore the Mediterranean after the best possible shakedown of our new boat!