Solo sailing in the Southern Baltic Sea during the month of April : The pro and cons Chartering a vessel during the month of April has actually a lot of advantages. First at all, you can get substantial off season reductions for this period of time. Add to this the traditional early bird and long term charter discount and you end up paying only half the price than in high season. As you have to bear the costs all on your own, the savings can be quite significant. Another big plus is the fact that you avoid all the hassle that you encounter in the harbors during the high season. During April, there was basically no one in port, so no need to check beforehand berth availabilities. Moreover, as a newbie in solo sailing you can pick out the berth that best suits to you and you can test and train the various mooring maneuvers without bothering other boat owners and attracting the judgmental looks from the pontoon. The weather situation in April is probably the main factor that holds back people to sail this area. If you are not into cold weather sailing, then this place at this period of time is probably not for you. Most of time I had to deal with temperatures varying from 0 to 10 degrees Celsius, but I got as well few sunny days, even one weekend with more than 25 degrees. Over the sea, the air temperature is dominated by the sea temperature, which makes the Baltic sea substantially colder than the North Sea whose temperature is heavily influenced by the Gulf Stream. If you re not bothered by the cold weather, this should not hold you back. It is all about preparation and bringing the right gear that keeps you dry and warm. Check out as well this website which gives you a list of top 10 cold weather sailing tips. The winds in April can be variable in direction and strength. Out of the 18 sailing days I had to deal with stronger winds during 4 days ( 6-7 Beaufort) in the south Baltic sea. The wind that originates from nord east is especially chilly as it brings down the cold from the Gulf of Finland. There are virtually no tides in the Baltic Sea which makes navigation and mooring a lot easier in this area. Moreover, the average currents are rather weak. There are some currents in the Oresund straight pointing south when the wind comes from west respectively pointing north when the wind comes from the east. Fog can be quite frequent over open sea in April as the seas are still cold and the temperature is rising.On my passage between southern Sweden and Germany, the fog has been especially dense with visibility below 1 nm.
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