Adventures in the islands off Helsinki
After 7 days of racing and training with the Finnish team in
Helsinki, we decided to have a day off.
And what better to do in your day off… than go sailing!
Andrew, Lauri, Silja, Dave and I raced from our training session at
one of the Nylandska Jaktklubben (NJK) sites
to the other to get ready for our voyage of sorts aboard the
Lehtinen’s historic 6m. The plan was to cruise from Helsinki
harbour down the coast to another little island – also owned by the
NJK, and spend the night there. It all went to plan of course til
about 9pm, when the wind decided to die completely.
Of course it would be an insult to fit a motor to such a classic
sailing yacht… and the prospect of paddling the 4.5 tonne boat
all the way home was not all that appealing. We bobbed around for a
few hours eating and drinking before a tiny bit of breeze filled in
and pushed us another few kilometres down the coast. Sunset comes
and goes, midnight follows… the wind dies again and we paddle…
thankfully within sight of the island, the breeze fills in again
and we make the remainder under sail to complete our almost 7 hour
journey at 1.30am.
They have another Finnish tradition here with saunas. The Finns are
mad for them… and I can imagine why after sailing here for a week
in summer! Anyway, the five of us jumped in the sauna in the early
hours of the morning for a few rounds of heating up, then dunking
in the sea (very very cold), then drinking… etc etc. I’m not
exactly sure what the heating and cooling is supposed to do, but it
feels pretty good so I wont complain.
We all get to sleep well past 3, then wake up in the morning for
another long sail home, this time in up to 15 knots on the nose all
the way. Nice to start with, but very wet and cold by the
end.
All good fun.
Tomorrow we race again, with 4 races planned on a combined course
with the 49ers. Hopefully the wind stays in!
