Encompassed by the merciless Baltic Sea, Gotland – Sweden’s largest island – was once a Viking stronghold. While the island’s patchwork quilt of churches traces a path from the old Norse gods to the raids of Christian missionaries, one Viking attribute that never succumbed to foreign influence was maritime prowess.

Large dragon-prowed longships defined the Viking Age, capable of navigating both choppy seas and shallow rivers. Today, that mantle is held by J Craft boats, built just outside the island’s capital, Visby.

J Craft’s 11.5-metre retro runarounds feature handcrafted mahogany veneer mounted on a fibreglass hull. They’re striking, head-turning works of art capable of slicing through hell and high water, and they proved irresistible to former US fighter pilot and boat-lover Alfred Coyle. The Tennessee-born sixty-something took delivery of his J Craft Torpedo RS (the RS denoting an upgraded Volvo Penta IPS 650 engine), Amazon Queen, in June 2025.

The Stockholm Archipelago is a yachting haven, with 30,000 islands offering sheltered channels, striking anchorages and year-round Nordic nature. The trendy sailing hub of Sandhamn is arguably the most popular of all the isles, characterised by rickety, stepped cliffs lined with wooden fishing huts.

It attained literary fame in the 2000s through Viveca Sten’s crime novels, Sandhamn Murders, but is best known for its deserted sandy dunes, pine forests and vibrant harbour life. It’s a popular spot for boaters seeking archipelago charm, and we arrive hungry and thirsty, ready for lunch at Sandhamn Seglarhotell, where food is the focus.

Over the past 20 years, gastronomy has rocketed in Sweden, thanks to the likes of head chef Thomas Omfors, who has created a dining experience based on fresh, seasonal ingredients crafted with care and inspired by the sea. We feast on a smorgasbord of seafood, smoked salmon and grilled meat on the outdoor terrace with sparkling views across the harbour. In summer, the restaurant’s orangery makes for a stylish hangout.

Close by, the uninhabited island of Gotska Sandön offers sandy beaches and pine forests for a scenic post-lunch stroll. Designated a national park since 1909, it has no harbour and requires a beach landing, though the effort is worth it for those keen to catch a glimpse of the colony of grey seals. The lucky few may also sight mountain hares and bats, as well as the endangered perennial herb Kashubian vetch and several wild orchids.

Accompanying us on the journey is Zens, an immaculate, all-cream 15-year-old J Craft Torpedo with tan leather accents. Her Austrian owner gifts the builder use of his craft in exchange for overwintering it at the yard. He greets us from his summer house in Saltsjöbaden (meaning the salt sea baths), ready for another season of Swedish cruising. Saltsjöbaden was originally developed as a resort by wealthy Swedish banker Knut Agathon Wallenberg, who built a railway linking the coastal town to Stockholm. It soon became a destination suburb for the upper-middle classes and remains a sought-after enclave today.

The strait’s brackish water is shallow and narrow and can be traversed only by small vessels with up to a three-metre draught; no problem for our J Crafts, though yachts visiting the inner archipelago are advised to keep to the network of designated deep water, such as Oxdjupet Channel, one of the main shipping entrances from the Baltic Sea toward Stockholm, and the Landsort Channel.

Many yacht owners rely on the expertise of local pilots, though the outer fairway east of the islands is well positioned for visiting superyachts and forms a traditional route used by deeperdraught vessels entering Stockholm waters.

Another quirk of the region is Sweden’s “allemansrätten” concept, which allows free roaming in nature, on private land and water. It’s common to see yachts moored stern-to rocks using shore lines – a very Scandinavian style of cruising – that encourages an adventure-forward approach to boating. Stockholm is a city built on water, with yawning skies and wild islands that even cloud cover and rain can’t dull our enthusiasm for.

As we motor down slow, winding rivers where Scots pine sprout from rocky outcrops, and we dance in the cockpit while performing highspeed pirouettes, the sight of two J Crafts cruising in tandem draws smiles and waves from island residents. Our arrival in the city centre is marked with an aperitif at the Royal Motor Boat House before we tie up on Djurgården Island outside of famed restaurant AIRA, both gleaming hulls eliciting sighs of admiration from onlookers.

The two-Michelin-star establishment, overlooking the Djurgårdsbrunn canal with views back toward Östermalm, is aptly housed in a boatyard-inspired building designed by prominent Swedish architect Jonas Bohlin.

The interior lighting and colour scheme resemble the archipelago’s seasonal shifts, also reflected in the Nordic cuisine served here. We devour curated plates of hand-dived scallops with white asparagus and jalapeño oil, followed by turbot with confit dried tomatoes with miso and chicken stock and nduja oil, paired with a crisp Riesling from the prominent Prüm vineyard.

The archipelago’s summer season is short, lasting only July and August, though the proximity of the islands allows for multiple activities on an island-hopping itinerary

The following day, we push further into the outer archipelago to discover ever more rustic set-ups. Svartsö Krog on Svartsö island (meaning black island due to its peat-rich soil) is one of the region’s most talked-about establishments.

Its seasonal, foraged menu cooked over an open fire features local herbs, vegetables and seafood, served in a woodland setting complete with glamping bell tents and a Goldilocks-style wooden building.

The Alsvik ferry jetty sits a convenient 200 metres from the site and is where Sweden’s amphibious street bus (which cruises on water then drives up onto land) deposits locals, though private boats can tie up at the restaurant’s private wooden jetty. The archipelago’s summer season is short, lasting only July and August, though the proximity of the islands allows for multiple activities on an island-hopping itinerary.

On the nearby island of Grinda, forested hiking trails and sandy beaches beckon, while Fjäderholmarna, the closest archipelago island to Stockholm, offers crafts shops, walking trails and views of the city. But it’s on the islands of Värmdö and Möja that a more traditional Swedish offering can be found, with preserved cottages, art studios and small taverns serving up great helpings of hygge.

Amazon Queen drops me, after three days of feasting, on Stockholm’s banks with waves and cheers before continuing her onward journey. Coyle and Rejane take in the fishing village of Grisslehamn in northern Sweden, and the quiet inlets of Finland’s Åland Islands, where they sample 200-year-old bottles of Veuve Clicquot discovered in a shipwreck at the bottom of the Baltic Sea.

Plans to venture to Helsinki were thwarted by the weather, so they turned around and explored the Swedish coast, stopping off somewhere new every day, including a stint at Björn Ulvaeus from ABBA’s modern waterfront Slottsholmen Hotel in Västervik.

Strong winds further prevented them from taking Amazon Queen to Copenhagen yet, undeterred, they spent three days relaxing on the sunlit Danish island of Bornholm, after which their captain took the boat to Germany where it was shipped across to France, and they spent a week among friends on the Cycladic Greek islands of Mykonos and Santorini.

Their grand tour finished with three days in Monte-Carlo where they met up with the owners of Amazon Queen’s sister Torpedo, Toucan. “By the time our maiden voyage was done, we’d put 150 hours on the boat and banked a lifetime of memories,” says Coyle.

First published in the March 2026 issue of BOAT International. Get this magazine sent straight to your door, or subscribe and never miss an issue.