You can also find out more about the A-Team here. south-westerly wind blew us to Ærø. The 6,000 lucky residents of this Baltic island, pronounced Air-rue in Denmark’s South Funen area, enjoy free buses and shallow beaches as well as picture-perfect villages. It was only fitting that we arrived on Peggy, an historic wooden sailing ship, as the 54 square mile island is known for its history of sailing ships. There is also a maritime museum. Bristol pilot cutter Built in 1903.
“We’re going to Ærø without a plane,” quipped one crew member as we set the sails on leaving the German Baltic port of Kiel. The journey began with a 12-hour trip by train from London to Cuxhaven on the German North Sea. A short taxi ride took us to Cuxhaven Marina. We spent the night on Peggy, in the marina.
Peggy, her sails lowered, cruised along at six miles per hour. 150 metre long container ships were looming over us and approaching. The 61-mile (99km) canal, which saves some 500 miles on the route between Germany’s North Sea and the Baltic ports, was opened in 1895 when it was called the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Kanal. Germans know it now as the Nord-Ostsee-Kanal, but it is known internationally as the Kiel canal. This is because the Baltic port that started construction was the starting point for the canal’s construction. Kaiser Wilhelm II imposed a tax to fund its operation.
The canal has a lovely rural feel, with reeds bordering it. The waterway was bordered by trees on both sides, as well as the banks and cycle paths. Even more idyllic was an overnight stop on the Gieselau canal at a junction where the River Eider Navigation meets the Gieselau canal. Starlings flew into the roost to perform their evening murmurations. They changed from sailing boats to hearts. We ate our dinner on the deck as the sun set behind the trees. After breakfast, we went swimming in the river that was lined with waterlilies. We then continued to Kiel. As we approached the eastern end of the canal, it became less rural.
The next day we left our overnight anchorage on Kiel Fjord. Peggy looked resplendent under the afternoon sun. The only people who knew what to do were the captains – Peggy’s owners John Potter & Rachel Haynes. We, the four crew members, did what was asked of us. We made tea, pulled ropes, or gripped tightly on to the tiller. We maintained our course by following a landmark, the compass, or the route shown on a digital map. Peggy is old, but she still has modern navigational systems.
We accelerated at seven knots as the waves lashed and splashed against the hull. The sails and boom creaked. The sun lit the way, even though clouds in the distance loomed. The art of sailing is to be on the edge of the weather and harness the wind. One wrong push of the tiller could cause the boom to swing, causing disaster. On land, you may not pay much attention to the skies except to ask “should we bring a brolly?” At sea, the clouds seem to be laden with weight. That dark bruise of cloud ahead might be rife with squalls. But the weather gods were kind, the wind a constant south-westerly blowing us on our way. There were plenty of sailing boats out in the fjord leaning into the 25 knots of wind but once we were on our way on the 37-mile crossing, we only saw a few other vessels, one of which was similarly from the history books with russet sails and a mizzen mast.
Three hours later, Ærø island appeared on the horizon, seemingly edged with tall sandy beaches. Closer to, it became clear that these were actually fields ripe for harvest. Six hours after leaving Kiel, the passage into the harbour at Marstal was marked with red and green buoys distinctively topped with supersize bottle brushes. They looked jolly and festive, and already Ærø felt special. We tied up in the harbour next to a seafood restaurant.
Our waiter was a young man with a fish tattooed on the inside of his forearm. “It’s a trout,” he said. “It’s a reminder of the day my dad and I went fishing and I caught five but he only caught one.” The friendly staff and meal of lobster bisque, plaice and prawns, along with a rite-of-passage story, seemed a fitting celebration of our arrival by sailing boat.
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We were in the village of Marstal, which has the island’s main harbour, today mostly used by yachts. The maritime museum spreads across several historic buildings nearby. There are rooms full of model boats and photographs and paintings of tall ships that were built here. For children there are ship playgrounds, including one where the captain’s bridge appears to heave in a stormy sea. Another room is an art gallery of oil paintings by 19th-century naval artist JEC Rasmussen who was born in Ærø, depicting both the joys and horrors of life at sea: sailors caught in a tempest, taking an axe to their broken mast to stop things getting worse.
We boarded the free community bus to the village of Ærøskøbing where, in the pedestrianised centre there are cosy, colourful centuries-old houses. Mullioned windows display wooden boats and porcelain dogs while hollyhocks grow between cobbles outside decoratively carved doors. We visited the whisky distillery and its courtyard cafe before heading for a swim at Vesterstrand beach where a jetty led out over eelgrass to a sand-bottomed, clear sea watched over by two dozen beach cabins of all shapes and colours. People arrived on bicycles for their daily swim.
In the maritime museum, a volunteer, Lotte, had told us that many islanders, like her, are retirees. As well as swimming and sailing, “singing in choirs is a popular pastime”, she said. Ærø seemed heavenly and even more so without a plane.
Paul Miles was a guest of Rachel Haynes and John Potter, owners of Peggy. For more information about Bristol pilot cutters, visit bcpcoa.com. Travel back from Kiel was provided by raileurope.com, which has fares between London and Cuxhaven or Kiel from £101 one-way. Venturesail Holidays offers similar trips with berths on historic sailing boats worldwide including transits of the Kiel canal and sailing in the western Baltic visiting Ærø and other islands
