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Shenanigan - Midniight Shenanigans



On Monday 27th July, after refuelling at 45p per litre (!), we headed out to Kronshtadt Island border control to check out of Russia passing the 2018 football world cup stadium and entering the very narrow channel before passing the Russian navy ship graveyard next to the border control. The check out process fortunately was a lot smoother than on the way in and only took 1 ¼ hours.

With only light headwinds we found ourselves motoring again.  The night was rather more eventful than the day when at 22:45, whilst still in the fairly busy Russian traffic separation scheme, Mary P (another ARC yacht) called us on the radio asking if we could see them and said that they were experiencing engine problems; not the best place to be with a problem and also they were not immediately identifiable by other vessels as they don’t have an AIS transmitter. We agreed to standby and offered our assistance should they need it.  We circled behind them for a short while before they confirmed that their engine had in fact seized and would we be able to tow them safely out of the shipping channel.  We organised over the radio that we would set up a stern bridle and they a bow tow line.  We went alongside to take their tow line, and set off.  Within minutes we heard a looming cruise liner that we had seen approaching calling Shenanigan over the radio to ask if we were underway as we were directly in their path - the beauty and safety aspect of transmitting AIS.  We explained the situation and he agreed to change course and asked us to do the same so that we were clear of his path.

We offered to tow Mary P to the EU check in point on Haapasaari Island. 5 hours and 29 miles later we rather spectacularly delivered Mary P to a space on the border control pontoon and we continued over to the anchoring area until customs opened.  We have since spoken Neil and the Mary P crew who are hopeful that they will be able to rejoin the rally at Stockholm. We wish them all the best with getting their engine fixed.

Next morning after checking back in to the EU we headed for Boviken where we anchored for the night – an extremely quite anchorage that we had to ourselves, the water here perfectly reflected the evening clouds.

On Wednesday morning we carried on through the islands of the archipelago to NJK Yacht Club in Helsinki – an idyllic yacht club marina on it’s own island with private ferry.  Only Oojah had arrived before us so we capitilised on the empty washing machines! In between washing loads we enjoyed drinks on the yacht club lawn. Next morning our friends Jane and Phill, who travelled by train from St Petersburg to Helsinki, came to the island to visit us. 

Helsinki has a very pleasant, almost tranquil atmosphere, surprisingly unexpected for a capital city, and the smoked salmon here is divine. This sense of tranquillity was summed up by the speaker, James Casserly, at the skippers’ briefing here when he said, “Finland and busy don’t go together.”

We spent a lovely evening in the yacht club for a whole fleet supper last night and today was spent wandering around a flea market and reprovisioning.

Jane and Phill are coming for a boat supper where we will say our goodbyes.  The whole fleet is going to form a parade of sail around the harbour in the morning before departing.

We are looking forward to exploring the Finnish and Swedish archipelagos on our way to Mariehamm. 



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