Author: josinjohn

Very fast sail over the  “Ålands Sea”. Stopped at the most southerly harbour, Rødhamn, for a late lunch, then motorsailed up to Mariehamn. Will be here two nights. Need to do some shopping. WiFi on the boat doen’t work here, but there is a (poor) WiFi connection here in the marina, maybe because I chose a pen away from the shore, to avoid the noise.  Åland is one hour ahead of Norway. It is now 22:00 local time and the sun hasn’t set yet. Anyway, sleepytime. 

an island half way between mainland Finland and Sweden. Tall lighthouse. Used to be a Coastguard station, but that moved to a less-exposed place a few years ago, where I spent last night actually. Used to be agriculture and fishing here too, but all gone now. Just tourists and the occasional boat. 

   
 
Read all about it!

Started from Vaasa yesterday afternoon, having waited for the weather to be more clement. But the clouds brewed again and one enormous thundercloud built up and changed the playing field sufficiently that I put in to a plan B harbour. There to be met by first a very fierce-sounding dog, which turned out to be very tame and friendly, then by inquisitive coastguards and customs. They simpathized, and when they heard where I was heading, produced and gave me detailed chart copies of the best way of getting here. All over sea areas blank white on my charts. No, it’ll be fine, there are lots of new nav-aids. No problem!  Slightly sceptical, but very grateful, we did it this morning. Yes, plenty of markers and lead-lines. Piece of cake! Wind was light and sailable to begin with but gradually increased and veered on to the nose, so the engine did its thing admirably most of the way.

Nice spot for lunch this. Jetty good for four boats, two tied up. The other one a small speed boat with a 175hp engine and three diverse gents out for a ‘cruise’. Asked me if I knew where they could buy petrol! Two other tripperboats came, deposited their cargo, who were to walk the nature trail to the other side of the island, and left. Back to us two waiting for the wind to die down a bit. Foecast so, but it hasn’t happened yet. Only about four hours for Josin to a suitable haven in Sweden, so I can well wait quite patiently, and eat the last of the Vaasa-market cherries, and snooze ………

Josin’s WiFi is talking to Sweden. Back in the internet world again, so: All’s well from SailorJohn. 

It is raining. Long time since. Back to chilly unfortunately. Warm inside, got an electric heater going!

Very long day yesterday, woke just after 5, away at 6:20, lunch stop for an hour, (including zizz) arrive Vasa at 18:40, just before the rain started, 62 nautical miles motorsailing.  Done partly as an experiment to see how it went, because time is running out, and the goal of Haparanda and the end of the Baltic is still a ways to go. Done some pencil-chewing arithmatic before breakfast this morning, fortified for the effort by an extra cup of tea. Started May 25th, therefore 44 days gone, and must assume the same to get home again, takes us to 25 August. It is still at least six normal days to Haparanda, and six back, which would mean home in at least one week into September. The later in the summer the less reliable the weather, so the conclusion is straght forward. No more Finland. Bad luck! No, not really, just too many days rebuilding the electrics, (very successful bytheway, except at the top of the mast!), which just had to be done before a summer’s cruise. No worries, must leave some white spaces on the Scandinavian charts. Wouldn’t be any mystery left otherwise, would there?  

What I didn’t really appreciate when planning this trip was how many more boat-miles there are in Finland, partly in Åland too, compared to crowfly-miles.  Finland’s west coast is very shallow with myriads of islands, rocks etc, and the towns, and therefore harbours and facilities, are almost always down a fjord or so from the sea, and take half a day to get there and back. Much navigating everywhere else. Staight line progress is therefore slower than usual. NB for those who follow. The relatively shallow waters means that choppy seas develop quickly outside the skerries in any wind, and make sailing rather less than comfortable, so inside the skerries is milder, but wind-sheltered of course. Compromises here too, as in life otherwise!

 As long as one keeps to the marked channels, navigating is easy and reliable. Very well marked all the way, especially the main route. Paper charts are still, in my opinion, necessary, as well as the apparent advantages of electronic ones. My combination of overview paper, detailed paper and an iPad with Navionics charts is hard to beat. Safe. Expensive though!

Must go and negotiate with the harbourmaster to get the WiFi to behave, before I can post this, and look at the weather forecast, and,and,and.  My on-board ICE WiFi works well in the rest of Scandinavia, but doesn’t reach Finland. The in-harbour WiFi generally leaves a lot to be desired. 

All is otherwise well, from SailorJohn. 

A little island in the outer skerries, once a pilot station. Planned for an afternoon’s sail. 

After a sleep-in, a sunday breakfast, a morning being domestic, including a large clothes wash, lunch and a post-lunch snooze, decided, as the weather was propricious, to continue north. Turned out to be a bit strenuous, as the wind strengthened a lot and after a while at a non-sailable angle, we motored and bounced into quite uncomfortable choppy seas. No problem. Until, far from shore: Fishing gear, almost invisible until rather too close, lots of small floats and ropes on the surface. Stopped engine to avoid knitting and sailed out of harms way. Continued back on course on engine. This was in a marked track, though well out to sea. Kept an eagle watch after that, and just as well, another lot of traps for an innocent sailboat. Did the same jig. Very glad to creep into this harbour, which is very small, and an interesting, well-marked narrow lane in. The wind has calmed somewhat now, but has gone round to the NE, so what was a quite sheltered spot is now more exposed to the wind, causing small waves to develop and rock the boat. I’m sure they will not keep me awake! Late now, more tomorrow. 

Now Kristinestad 

Lovely sail today with a wind from the SE, over the quarter, and plenty of it, so we really scooted along. Long stretches without navigating, then lots of red and green poles to watch, count, evaluate and avoid.  Tied up in the official guestharbour outside a large hotel. Only two other boats, one enormous, with lots of sea-scouts, and one small runabout, with family from gran to pram.  Need a snooze now, night a little distrubed. 

All’s well, from SailorJohn. 

more tries at piccies:

The view from the top of the lighthouse, at last!  It would seem that it is necessary to be online to upload photos. Odd. Since they are in the iPad anyway!
Peaceful Jurmo:  

 Ex-Russian fort, whats left of an insignificant bit of it.  
 

So now, when on the internet, more pics may appear with blogs

JosinJohn

I have tried to load the view from the top, but still have no luck, so. ……

Breakfast museli was taken sitting very quietly in the cockpit, watching the swifts coming and going. They have nested inside the woodwork of the jetty, and access is via missing planks. Two just by the cockpit. Very busy little birds.

Sunshine again today, but getting overcast later. Wind has gone round from the south to NNW, so today is a motoring day. First part is outside the rocks and islands, so no navigating, just blogging with a regular peek out. But the waves are from the west and we roll. Not good for the weak-stomached!  In a few hours we will be back in sheltered waters. 

Goal for the day is Reposaari, 61 37 / 21 26. Again recommended by neighbour in Lappo. Looks sheltered. 

Surprise this morning when I returned to the boat. There was a man standing, looking at my flag. “Unusual to see a Norwegian here, where are you from, etc” Turns out he is from Nordheimsund in Hardanger. We had a long chat. Motorboat type, lives up the coast somewhere else with an unpronouncable name. Relief for me to be able to communicate easily! 

Evening: didn’t get the above sent, WiFi dead. Now in Reosaari after an interesting day, partly motoring in and out of the islands, and partly sailing in open waters with plenty of wind, almost on the nose, mostly in the last hour getting here. The marina is in an inside lagoon, with very shallow water just before the entrance. Followed the markers carefully, and briefly saw 0 m depth on the echosounder. No bump, not even a slow squelch. Mystical. 

Neighbour sailboat came in just after me, but from the north after an exhilerating sail. We sat on the park bench and compared notes and harbours. I now have at least 20 recommendations up the Finnish coast, easy when you get to know how! Forecast for the next few days is not promising. Hope they got it wrong!

Hungry now. Dinner time. All’s well, from SailorJohn

I have just written a long post, and it has disappeared, not sent. Grrrrrrrr!! Try again. 

Yesterday evening, at nearly nine o’clock, the outside and inside temperatures were both 28,5 degrees, and that was in the ‘cool’ of the evening. Yes, summer is here. 

A motorsail yesterday north up the main channel, not relaay enough wind, and then lots of navigating in to this charming town with the unpronounceable name. The charts and lanes are peppered with markers, and the depth, or shallowth, of the lane one is negotiating. Need to pay attention, otherwise surprises. Pressing need to find a chart-shop, as we are now almost off the edge of the present ones. 

If you look at the map of this place, you will see that it is all in rectangles, about fifty meters each. All houses are similar, of wood, painted in a variety of colours, some fading, so must have been built all about the same time. A placard on the hard here tells of much maritime activity, customs, smuggling and prosperity. Probably to do with timber, as there are trees everywhere still. A large factory area, outside the town on the way in here, was belching both white and brown smoke, luckily out to sea, so there is still prosperity.

The heat sent me to the supermarket, air conditioned of course. Reckon that a lot of others had done the same. Anothr country, another system in the ‘super’. You pick up, for example, your carrots, and take them to the weighing machine. Behind is a large tablet of, not icons as in Sweden, numbers, a hundred of them. Help! Nobody could, until a young teenager showed me how. The carrot-shelf has a number. So, back to the carrot shelf, find and remember it and return to the weighing machine. Wait in queue. My turn. What was that number again? Whatever, the machine squirts out a sticky lable to be stuck onto a suitable carrot. No problem when you know how, but it taxes the number-remember part of the brain a bit. Shopping priority had to be strict, as it had to be carried the halfhour back to the boat. Choose the shady route. Find a bench half way. Sit and watch. Smalls in prams not happy. Pram-pushing mums none too happy either.

WiFi here is intermittent, and free, but only if you sit in everybody’s way outside the cafe. Roaring trade in cooling drinks and ice creams. One small boy angry because his favourite one was sold out. 

Goal for the day is not Rauma, the next largish place, but a lighthouse, Kylmäpihlaja, with small harbour, out to sea a bit. 61 09 / 21 18. Praised by the harbour-book, it will avoid the long navigational-knitting to and from the town. 

There is a breeze, from the SW, which will be perfect for a sail today if it holds. All’s well, from SailorJohn. 

Jurmo was very peaceful, very. Took a walk around and listened to the sigh of the wind in the trees and calling of birds. Took pictures, but uploading isn’t working.  No WiFi, so no internet and no blogg yesterday evening. 

So, pottered on and found a nice quiet bay a mile or two north and relaxed, and watched the birds. Early evening there was a considerable commotion of cormorants, at least a hundred of them, obviously following a steam of something and fishing it energetically.  About half an hour it lasted, then some of them flew away, but most swam to the nearest rock and struggled ashore, quite replete. Much flapping and drying of wings and competing for space.  Glorious sunset, at after elleven.  

Woken by the sun this morning at just after five, so the day began. Yes, I did have a dip, not long, water temp 14,5. Brrrrrr. Feel good afterwards!  Bright sunshine today and not a cloud. Pressure high and rising. Maybe summer starts here and now?

Goal for the day is Uusikaupunki, about 25 nm to the NE.  The little wind is in the east, so we are motor-sailing, and expect to get there at lunchtime. Neighbour boat in Lappo, Finish, excellent english, strongly recommended the place, so we must visit. (Don’t think it was his home town). 

Last two days in WiFi darkness, but now, in sunny Lappo harbour, we are back in the electronic world again. 

  
That Castle was quite impressive, mostly, from the outside, of the enormous area of wall compared to the miniscule ‘windows’. Inside I didn’t see, as it was closed. But more interesting was the collection of old buildings on the way there. (I’ll think of the name soon). Ålands official Maypole is erected and celebrated there, and most impressive it was too:

  
Explanations another time, I have the brochure somewhere. Lovely quiet place, grassy banks and picnicers too. 

Then on to Bomarsund, where we anchored for the night just round the corner. Entertainment that evening was a demented crow, large and very squawky-loud, trying to get into a cottage by flying through the closed verana windows. He must have had a very sore beak afterwards!  Next morning round to the small jetty, and a walk up to the remains of the Russian fort. Placards told of the original layout and buildings. Lots of big cannon laid out, just in case like.  Very comprehensive facility, must have cost a considerable portion of the Czar’s budget. Pity about the outcome though, as it was blasted and pillaged to ruins, for the Russians. 

Then had a lovely sail across relatively open water, going NE, and anchored up in a large bay off Eklinge, with a shallow entrance, (no, we didn’t). Only neighbours, swans. This area seems to be swan-country. Lots of them, also in swarms (wrong collective word, nicely onomatopeic!). 

Lappo for one night then, and then northward, up the main channel between Åland and Finland. Need to study the charts carefully, lots of shallows and rocks on the Finnish coast, and the harbour book, before deciding where to stop next. 

Now for an Åland pancake for lunch. Had one four years ago, and yummy memories. 

All’s well, from SailorJohn

Fog cleared. No wind, then good wind, a wait for the bridge to open, then more sailing, this time a little competitively amongst the other, bridge-waiting, five sailing boats. Three of them didn’t try very hard, and we came second. The other was several sizes larger though!

Very friendly harbour-help, who also informed that they had freshly-smoked ‘sik’, a trout relative, white flesh, available. Bought, filleted and eaten. Delicious. Half today, half tomorrow. 

There is a castle here which is a guide-book rave, with a significant history, so after the sik has settled, and maybe a strawberry or several, steps will be taken, (ten minutes, the harbour-hostess said). 

Will only stay here long enough to view the castle, and then on to Bomarsund later, against that lovely wind unfortunately, to get back out of this ‘fjord’, which has Ålands’s golf course on one side. Looks very attractive. Distance ashore is a bit too far to judge the slice/hook play. 

All’s well, from sailorJohn