Those who sail the Vänern are usually travelling through: For many German crews, it is just a stopover on the Göta Canal project, which some owners want to experience once in their lives. But the huge inland lake, which is more like a small sea, is a great sailing area, especially for sailors with trailerable boats. Get on the ferry in Kiel, get off in Gothenburg and less than five hours later you're travelling on a natural idyll that is never overcrowded.
But now you no longer have to travel with your own boat; for some years now, a small Swedish charter company has been offering older but well-maintained maxis for charter. YACHT author Jan Jepsen travelled on the inland sea with such a boat and experienced a wonderful area with typical Swedish attributes such as rocky islands, great anchorages, the romance of Bullerbü and friendly locals who invited the German guests to a club regatta. If you want to experience the whole lake, a week is not enough, Vänern is suitable for a whole holiday cruise.
