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Shenanigan - Helsinki to Mariehamn



Jane and Phill joined us on board for supper on our last night in Helsinki (Sat 1st Aug) bringing ‘squeaky teeth’ bread cheese and cloud berry jam for pudding – a traditional Finnish dish with an unusual texture which made our teeth squeak as we bit into it. This was an odd sensation but rather moreish.

The fleet left Helsinki after a parade of sail around the harbour and we all headed off back into the Finnish archipelago en route to Mariehamn.  We stopped briefly to refuel and Brian brought us all yummy warm doughnuts with cardamom seeds in for breakfast.

After some super sailing, we motored into an anchorage for the night at a place called Barosund.  I had forgotten to take anything out of the freezer for supper but managed to defrost some sausages in the warm engine compartment.

Monday we carried on and our intention was to anchor at Oxviken that night.  Plans changed when that evening we came across a very new looking uncharted bridge at Lovo!  A sign on the bridge said max height 19 ½ metres. After much debate whether or not we would clear the stated bridge height we decided it would be too tight to risk so we dropped the anchor instead and found another route for the morning.  Sweet ‘n’ sour chicken and noodles and a card game of Racing Demons ended the evening.

The next morning we retraced our route back for about 45 minutes and after 44 miles of weaving our way through islands, rocks and more cardinal marks than I could count we stopped in a very peaceful anchorage at Bolsnas and watched the evening display of damsel flies. Here we enjoyed the last of our smoked salmon from Helsinki and Timmy tested the water but it was very cold!  The peace was short lived by a shriek of ‘they’re naked’ from Timmy.  I grabbed my binoculars and saw that he was quite right, there was a group of people climbing out of a dinghy and they were absolutely starkers but wearing brightly coloured flippers – it would have made a great photo but I didn’t dare! On hearing the shriek they all ran, flippers still on, up the hill into the woods – and this would have made a great video!! Try as we could we couldn’t supress our laughter which was left ringing around the now not so peaceful anchorage.

We left early next morning for the last leg to Mariehamn.  The morning was beautiful and the sea as flat as ever, as we have become accustomed to, giving some perfect sailing.  Today was a day of ferry dodging in the narrow channels between the islands and rocks. By lunchtime visibility reduced and the rain came.  Brian and Christopher donned their oilies and got very wet.  They kept smiling and I plied them with mugs of hot chocolate and hot bacon and brie baguettes to keep them happy – any excuse to stay below in the dry! But I did clean the galley and loo!

We arrived in Mariehamn that afternoon in sunshine and an invitation to birthday drinks on the pontoon with Mike from Northern Light.

We spent Thursday visiting the ship ‘Pommern’, the maritime museum and a bit of food shopping.  The Pommern launched in 1903 is the only sailing merchant vessel in the world that is preserved in original condition.  Pommern continued trading around the world up until the second world war.

Timmy managed to adopt a friendly cat who spent the evening, and probably most of the night, on board. We left him snuggled in the cockpit when we went to bed, by the morning he had left; fortunately the only evidence that he had been on the boat was cat hair on the cockpit cushions.

Friday was another early start out of Mariehamn and into the thousands of islands, islets and rocks of the Swedish archipelago winding our way to Stockholm.


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