Every post on this website is read by my cousin Deborah from New York. She is the granddaughter of my grandmothers’ sister Meta, who emigrated to the States in the twenties of the last century. She was 19 years old, when she crossed the atlantic on the steamship Westphalia.

Deborah has visited Germany many times, having her German roots in Anglia, she is very interested in all our posts, especially the pictures, for they give her a regular update on this area of her ancestry.

Although this was already her third visit within the last 15 years, she never managed to accompany us on a trip aboard LOTTE. Either she visited us during our summer trips, or the weather was too bad for sailing.

This year we planned a daytrip for the 17th of june, a date in the best time of the year. On Friday night we checked the weather forecast and there was neither rain, nor low temperatures, but a lot of wind…

On saturday morning the bay was full of waves, their white heads glittering in the sun. This weather would have been ok for our trips, but definitly not for a summer’s day trip with four people on a Folkboat. So we called my father and together we decided to wait for the coming sunday.

The next day presented us with all we needed: a gentle breeze was moving the white clouds over the blue sky and our small boat over the sea. Together with Deborah and Karin, Robbi and I set sails – northward we went. We followed the coast and crossed the foul grounds at the Geltinger Birk. After we circled the lighthouse of Kalkgrund, we made a detour to Denmark.

With her professional knowledge of photography she took a lot of pictures and therefore this is one of the rare posts with pictures of both Robbi and I onboard LOTTE.

After landing in Wackerballig again, we enjoyed a break at the harbour cafe with its fabulous view of the Baltic Sea and its delicious cake. Deborah told us that she was a bit anxious about sailing with us, because of all our pictures and videos with a lot of action in heavy red raingear and the sea spilling over our decks, but the bright summer’s day and gently waves made for a wonderful trip and she was happy to join us on LOTTE for her first sailing adventure.