Malmo

Many years, and what feels like several lifetimes ago, Mike took regular work trips to Malmo, probably visiting 20-30 times over the course of several years. The third largest city in Sweden and historically a epicenter of Swedish commercial shipbuilding, Malmo still maintained a bit of its working-class heritage even though the big shipyards mostly closed up shop in the late 1990s, and much of the waterfront was populated with low, vacant warehouses and streets that looked as if they once supported plenty of truck traffic.

Returning to the city by boat was a big surprise. The majority of the waterfront area has been redeveloped, with shiny modern apartment buildings interspersed with parks replacing the old industrial warehouses. Those flats closest to the water enjoy a view of the iconic Oresund Bridge and the lights of Copenhagen twinkling across the water.

With no anchorages that would provide any protection against the strong westerly breeze, Madrone took a guest slip in Dockan Marina – in a perfect example of the redevelopment, the marina is built along the interior of a former shipbuilding drydock, and the pleasure boats moored there are surrounded by bars, restaurants, and public walkways and parks.

Besides soaking up some more city life and enjoying some of Malmo’s bustling restaurant scene, a highlight of our visit was reconnecting with some fellow sailors. We first met Malin and Johan in Oahu in 2018, after our first ocean passage from San Francisco and their long sail from Panama to Hawaii. They are now back in Sweden with an expanded family and a monumental project of building a new 50′ cruising boat themselves in a barn on their small farm in southern Sweden. In a way typical of cruising sailors, even though we’d only spent one evening together in Hawaii, Malin and Johan welcomed us with open arms, inviting us to spend the night at their house, to check out their boat build, and to compare notes about some of the places we’ve both sailed. We get great lessons in the right way to provide hospitality everywhere we go…