Helsinki-Tallinn race 2012

Now back home. The whole crew is probably tired but happy. We had a very good race. Our start was at 18.00. We got an excellent start being among the first ones that crossed the start line. The weather forecast did not promise too much wind so especially our yacht suffered from it being quite heavy because of its age. The yachts were different 30 years ago. Reaching Helsinki lighthouse was quite painful. We were finally at 22.00 in this firs treal turn point. The whole fleet continued to the east and we read from the forecast that the more west you go, the more wind there will be... (still only between 1-3 m/s max). The decision was perfect. While the other fleet had moved far away yo the east, we were really moving to the west. At Tallinn lighthous we made a mistake that cost us the position outside top 10. We took the spinnaker up too late. Immediately when we got it up (half an hour before Aegna ice buoy) and we moved over 7 knots and even 8 knots as our top speed. We reached the goal at 5.46.10 and almost sailed to he finishing with Spinnaker, but a minute before we changed to genoa... Our final position was 13/30 Yachts in the Business-LYS class (only 29 started). Our second DAY-medical/worpix teamer crossed the finishing line about one hour later, being 26th/30. AquilaDeux got the "Tapio Matikainen trophy" that is given to the best yacht among our own circles (so it is not official trophy). Anyhow the AQ2 skipper can hold it for one year. As always there was a big party on the saturday evening. More than 1000 sailors really know how to party! Thanks Jaska, Stidi, Anssi and Pekka. Thanks also Erkki, Ipu, Per and Ilpo for competition. Next year again!

Only two days 2 HTR

copyright for the photo : Anna Louisa Amanda Matikainen. Friday it starts. AquilaDeux is now prepared for the race. The crew is motivated. Everything is checked and double checked. Only thing we have to care now is the food and Friday afternoon.... YES! This is the seventh time we take part in HTR with AquilaDeux. To celebrate this you can enjoy a pic of AquilaDeux taken by pro.

One week to Helsinki-Tallinn race

This year we take part in Helsinki-Tallin race with two yachts: S/Y AquilaDeux (Swan 371 LYS 1,20) and S/Y Sunday (Finngulf 33 LYS 1,24). Both yachts are participating on the class "Business"-LYS. this year we sail under the colors DAY-medical (www.day-medical.com) and worpix(www.worpix.com). DAY-medical is a Swiss company who develops and manufactures innovative solution for the laboratory diagnostics. Their first product is the line of DAYmate automates for the blood banks. Worpix is a new channel to deliver photograph directly from the photographer to the end-user.

AquilaDeux crew this year is: Petri (Skipper), Jaska (Helmsman), Stidi (strategist), Pekka (Piano-man) and Anssi A (deck-crew). Sunday-crew is Erkki (Skipper), Ipu (crew), Per (crew) and Ilpo (crew) At the moment according the long-term forecast we can expect SW wind around 5 m/s. In Tallinn we will give a new prize for the "best Matikainen-yacht". Prize is offcially named as "P.T.Matikainen Challenge trophy". may the best man win!

Tallinn - Helsinki

We stayed one day in Tallinn to get some ratios to the boat. Now there is at least enough beer, rum and brandy to the crew for Helsinki - Tallinn race the 17-18th of August. Early this morning at 6.45 we set our sails bak to Helsinki. We got some droplets of rain in the beginning, but later on the sun shined from open sky. The wind was fair and fast enough. We reached the home docks at 14.00. What a fine day. Thank you Laura and Matias

Helsinki -Tallinn for fun

We started early morning at 5.45, because the weather forecast promised headwind (again). The day was very sunny and also the wind was blowing directly towards us. Anyhow we managed to sail the whole day and reached Tallinn vanasadam Yacht club at 15.45. In the evening we go the Olde Hansa to party our prolonged weekend. Probably we got some tan today Participants Skipper, Anna , Laura and Matias