Passage Report No. 92

Return to Finland: Kotka to Mariehamn

It prides itself on its parks, gardens and public sculpture. Kotka is the ideal place to relax - Skipper takes three, post Russia, days.

At anchor in Arparnis Cove, Porgetti Island, Skipper hears a row boat.

 

"...You have sailed from Australia?.. (Ralf, descendent of the first landowner).

"... you are welcome to visit..."

A swimmer is near.

"... you have sailed from Australia?.."

"...you are welcome to join us for a sauna and evening meal..." (Lars, retired Nokia executive)

"...the island was a stone quarry to rebuild Helsinki...large sailing barges came in...my father bought land after the war...later sold land for other summer houses..."

"...I can recall clear water, St Petersburg "soviet" pollution makes it a soup...it is improving. The city has better systems..."

Baring all, in 100 degree humidity, sweating, cold swimming, washing, induces the unique sauna languidness..

Maija (partner of Lars), gourmet chef, provides, on a cool, summer, clear, evening.

Skipper and Lars, visit ancient Porvoo, second oldest town in Finland. A fishing, trading port, its cobbled streets, time worn wooden buildings, along a river, evoke history.

Ralf: "...we are rowing to the local market...you are welcome to join us..." Skipper, Ralf and grandson, Ben row to market. A Helsinki male choir, joyously, entertains the locals.

Another sauna (Ralf, grandson), dinner - superb hospitality.

Good friends.

Sahula sails on calm seas, 12-15 knots to Helsinki.

Solo sailing is doable, solo mooring is challenging - especially if a stern bouy, bow to, berth.

Skipper edges slowly in, amazed when Graham and Fay (English), are there to assist with lines - by coincidence they are passing by in their motor home.

Under Tanya (motor), self steering is by electronic digital pilot linked to Valerie's (Hydrovane wind vane) rudder. It has not being working. Local chandlery provides a new one.

Crew boards - Australian lady.

"...clunk...", Tanya (in reverse) stops. Sahula, metres off the quay, drifts towards berthed yachts. A rope tangles the propellor. Skipper dives twice - freezes.

"...can I help..." - local arranges diver and tow to the wharf. Rope is cut off - relief no damage.

Sahula heads towards Porkula peninsula, closest point to Tallinn, Estonia. Night anchorage in Sodergrund island cove.

(Trisha pic)

Mollie (spinnaker), flat sea, fair winds, tramps Sahula to Estonia - some 35 nm.

"...Silya Symphony (large Baltic ferry - 20 knots) this is yacht Sahula..." AIS "radar" advises ship name and details.

"...yes, we are altering course..."

Pirita Marina (16 e, showers extra) is a bus ride to city. Sahula enters, but opts to move to the new, Old City Marina (40 feet: 45 e - all inclusive) is a short walk to old city Tallinn.

"...a square rigger..." Tall Ship race (300 vessels) is due - Sahula circles, the skipper calls "you're a long way...visit us in port..."

Three masted, cannon ports bristling, 1703, Russian built, replica, 100 foot - "Shtandart" is skipper/owner, Vladimir's (built in Russia) business - chartered with 14 (150 on original) crew in European waters.

Skipper dreams - all sails flying before a stiff Baltic wind.

Five large passenger ships cannot dim, beautiful, ancient, Hanseatic, walled, Tallinn - beneath spired, "onion" topped churches, cobbled streets wend between old, workers and traders homes of lower and nobility palaces on hilltop "Tocampea"- World Heritage and "2011 - Cultural Capital of Europe."

 

 

 

Estonia shares language with Finland (3 BC Finno-Ugric tribes moved east from Hungarian regions); historically German nobility dominated despite, at times, Swede, Dane and Russian Czarist, influence. Soviet Russia, ruled into the 20th century until independence in 1991.

Estonians enjoy their, hard won, freedom - friendly, outgoing, sensing their prosperous destiny.

Kadriorg park, garden and baroque palace (now art museum) built by Czar, Peter the Great, underlines Russian influence.

Modern Estonia is encapsulated in the new, architectual masterpiece, KUMA art gallery. It contains the strongest, national/local art collection yet seen by Skipper.

 

Before the Gothic Town Hall, restaurants/ bars buzz across the Gothic town hall square. Skipper and crew, meet Rally friends.

Leaving Estonia, Sahula approaches, slowly, Finland's, rock strewn, coast.

Anchored behind Korsholm Island, Sahula's crew relax, swim, sunbake, sketch. In late evening light, two deer graze, nonchantly, ashore.

Charted "pleasure boat routes" host the summer fleet. Sahula prefers, off track, wilderness anchorages, entered slowly on "rock alert."

In a luminous blue, pearl, sky, clouds of blue, grey, brown, white, racing - seagulls pirouette before the wind - deep green, blue, forests - pine, birch - shake, rustle - signets line, busily dipping, behind regal, white, parents - seagull chicks, rock bound, cry out to attentive parents - ducklings scatter in spray behind strung mothers - a timeless seascape, racing summer time - ringing with the circle of life. (Trisha - cloud/wildlife pics)

 

 

 

 

Finn sailors seem to prefer the many island marinas, established moorings or summer house wharves.

"...you are in the "Bermuda Triangle..." In summer, Finn yachts "disappear" in the archipelago, between, ports of Mariehamn, Turku and Hanko.

Rock phobia inhibits Finn cruising off the charted "pleasure boat" routes. Yacht club island bases offer security and facilities, particularly, a sauna. A Finn without a sauna is bereft of an "essential."

Anchored off Rosala Island, crew discover a village viking exhibition. At many anchorages, Crews walks ashore reveal rock mounds of possible antiquity.

Sahula leans, heavily reefed, into a 30 knots NW'ly.

"...we can do better, it is not up to our usual standard..."

- slowly moving to anchor for two days, "off track," behind Oholm Island, in beautiful seclusion and wildlife.

Skipper sketches a colourful record.

Marina RIB meets Sahula "... full, maybe you can go alongside..." In 30 knots, Mariehamn (Aland Island) marina (25 e) space is a premium. Welcome Finn's berth Sahula.

"...I have sailed this region for 40 years, this is the worst...(two weeks, 30 knot NW'ly)...holidays are finishing... families need to go home..."

"...the Brits have taken the summer, the high is there it is usually here..."

 

A masted forest, rigging shrieking, dogs barking, children fishing - facilities are taxed. Sauna expose the unsunned pink of a myriad human shapes.

"...tomorrow, the marina will empty...wind less..." -

Sahula awaits before crossing the Aland Sea to Sweden.

Next Report: Stockholm to Gota Canal.

Best,

David

23rd July, 2013