Hörnum on the Isle of Sylt, Germany

We cast off the dock in the yacht harbor in Helgoland this morning at 8:10, 25 minutes later than we had planned, which allowed another, larger sailing vessel to get to the fuel dock, which opened at 8 a.m., before us. We had to wait almost an hour for that boat to take on fuel. After it left, we docked and took on 400 liters of diesel, duty free. Twenty-five minutes later, at 10:10, we cast off and headed north.

Waterfront of Helgoland with traditional boats from near the fuel dock

The headland of Helgoland with two sea stacks and fortification walls

After getting past the shoals, we were able to cut the engine and raise the main and unfurl the genoa to sail in 13 knots of wind from the SSE around 11 a.m. We enjoyed the quiet, and we were alone on the gray sea with the sky a hazy lighter gray all around us. The sea had about a 1 foot chop, and we sailed on a broad reach, starboard tack until the wind dropped just before 3 p.m. to 10 knots. We could have sailed at 3-4 knots speed over ground with the wind but we would have arrived here in Hörnum late in the day and rain was in the forecast, so we turned on the engine. Luckily, the current was helping us speed along, so we arrived at 5:30. Two men were waiting for us on the dock at Sylter Yacht Club and quickly helped us secure Mantra to the dock in the sheltered harbor.

The clouds were skittering across the sky, some of them quite dark, so we got ready quickly and went to explore the beach and town of Hörnum on the southern end of Sylt while we had time. The beach is quite wide and has a promenade between it and the town. At the end, a path slopes down to the beach below the red and white light house which is surrounded by imported trees and vegetation. We walked near the lapping water to where the sand forms a curving spit to the east. It was high tide, so we could not continue walking along the west side of the island.

Beach in front of the town of Hörnum

The lighthouse in Hörnum

The southern spit of Sylt

Sylt, the northernmost island in Germany, is part of the North Frisian Islands which form a barrier between the North Sea and the Wadden Sea. It has a 45 kilometer (25 mile) sandy beach. The island consists of heath, sand dunes and beaches, and its shape is constantly shifting, particularly on the northern and southern tips. Like most of the other Frisian Islands, it was part of the mainland until it was separated by flooding. For Sylt, this occurred in January 1362, when the Grote Mandrenke (Great Drowning of Men) flood resulted from a cyclone, coinciding with a new moon, which swept across the British Isles, the Netherlands, northern Germany and Denmark. At least 25,000 people lost their lives.

Our travels along the eastern coast of the North Sea do not coincide with the Northern European summer vacation season, which spans from mid-June to early September, peaking mid-July through August. Therefore, the resorts from Oostende to the northernmost Frisian island have been quiet. The previous islands had a lot of ferry service from the mainland, so there were a lot of day trippers but few people on longer vacations. Helgoland hosts cruise ships, with passengers being brought to shore from the floating behemoths by tenders, but they only stayed for a few hours. As we walked or peddled along the roads and paths, often no one else has been around once we left the villages. We have seen only a few dozen people here.

After our beach walk on Hörnum, we walked through part of the resort town, where all the houses and duplexes are painted the same shade of white and have slate roofs with exactly the same slope. It is actually quite attractive. The waitress where we stopped for a delicious dinner told us, when asked, that the first houses had been virtually identical and became so iconic that the municipality now requires that all buildings follow the same plan to please the tourists.

Older housing in Hörnum

Newer but similar housing

After our entrees, we succumbed to the lure of dessert and were not disappointed with the presentation or the taste of the apple kuchen. I hardly ever take photos of food, but this dessert was just lovely.

Delicious apple kuchen

We have now returned to Mantra, and the rain has not yet started (as of 10 p.m.). High winds are predicted for tonight, with gusts to 40 knots, but it should be calmer, although maybe we, tomorrow, so we plan to make it to Denmark, which we can see from here, probably to Esbjerg on the mainland of Jutland. Peter, who is pretty dirty from emptying and cleaning one of the two large fuel tanks on the boat yesterday, has gone to the showers at the yacht club. I prefer, unless the shower facilities are quite close, to shower on the boat in the morning (every two or three days) so that I can just take off my nightgown and get dressed afterwards rather than having to get dressed to go to the shower.