25th July. Beautiful Saturday pique nique

Today was fantastique sailing day to perform small pique nique in the front of Helsinki.

Sun shined - Light Winds. Such a beautiful day.

20th of July back home. Excellent trip!

 We started around 10.00 after a good sleep. We set our course towards Helsinki -back home! We enjoyed the last pieces of ratios purchased from Rauma (for example gravlax from the Baltic sea - best ever! And some flamed trout with new potatoes).

 On the porkkala sea we passed smaller yachts...

 After Porkkala we were even capapble to set some sails for a while.

 While reaching Helsinki, we had small rain showers and we caught  very beautiful rainbow shots

Pihlajasaari looked very colorful at the dawn.

We finally moored in Särkkä after 20.00 in the evening. Quickly cleaned the Yacht and finally went home to sleep.

Excellent small adventure for the summer 2015.

Thank you all who participated on this tour.

19th of July - Perfect weather towards Hanko (and further...)

 The day started with nice fresh wind +8 m/s up to 11 m/s. It gave Aq2 nice speed (top speed 8 knots). The miles were collected quite easily so while raching Hanko we decided to continue further.The weather was so fantastic. Full sailing day!

We stayed overnight in Byxholma island (natural port). Erkki came to support us for the docking. Nice place to be. There are hundreds of these marked island in Finland to stay over. Thank you Uuusimaa Region to organize this (Buoys + Sauna + outhouse + fireplace organized by the regional government).

18th of July Selkämeri. Some really heavy rains and strong wind ahead

We started by filling the tanks at 8.00 in the morning.In the morning there was practically no winds but the forecast promised heavy winds and rains for the afternoon.

Somewhere in front of Uusikaupunki the wind started to raise and we also got light rain for the taste.

Just before Kustavi the forewind was heavy (blowing over 15 m/s) and it was raining so that we got totally wet.

When reaching Kustavi we decided to stay in Lootholma Marina (and holiday-center). In the local restaurant we tasted excelent whitefish and Pearch! Good Kitchen!

15-17th of July staying in Rauma

 Old Rauma City is quite charming for any visitor.

 Local street art.

 Small shops and bakeries around....

Meet Rauma to feel it yourself!

The new crew arrived on Friday night. Tomorrow there should be an early start, because the winds will be higher and we should be in Helsinki in three days....

14th of July Low but head wind - little bit of sailing - little bit more using the engine

We kept the sails up (sometimes little helped with the engine) until we reached the Uusikaupunki level. There the route started to be too narrow so we continued with engine alone towards Rauma. We still had to beat the clock. Nice sunny day.

We also met real sailing ships on the way....

Rauma from the sea. A lot of Industry and a large commercial port. In Raume there is the second largest Toilet-paper factory in the World! Happy Toileting ;)!

 AquilaDeux reached the Syvärauma Marina (totally renewed, fantastic clean place with excellent docs. Fully equipped with showers + bar!

 Naturally we hurried up to the City with stidi to get something to eat. We were quite hungry after the long leg. Almost all the restaurants were already closed, but in the end Chicken wings and Pork ribs combined with fried potatoes tasted good.

Good day - good sleep in the night.

13th of July through Turku Archipelago

 From the beginning of the day, we knew it will be long. Beacuse to Reach Rauma in two days is quite a long trip for any yacht. Luckily we got fair winds and early start (we left Hanko before 8.00 in the Morning)

 Here we pass the "archipelago gate" Kasnäslandet

 Sailing through Turku Archipelago. Long nice open waters. Strange high islands.

 Reaching the sunset and arriving to Teersalo, north part of Archipelago. Just before Kustavi Island (gate to the Selkämeri).

 AquilaDeux Moored in Teersalo at 22.00 in the evening.

We were the last legal customers in the local bar Vanha Salakuljettaja to have a sip of Beer before sleep.

What a nice sailing day!

11th of July to Hanko. Important purchases + party party party. 12th of June new crew arrived.

We woke up (not even early in Barösund and continued the day towards Hanko somewhere around 10.00 in the morning. The earth was good for us and gave a perfect day to sail. So we sailed the whole day, sun was shining. Everyone was happy for the days experience. Just a half an hour before Hanko we had small rainshowers from a thunder cloud (only for 15 minutes). When we were in Hanko - no more rain.

We parked the yacht in the Itämeren Portti piers. 

 After registering the yacht, the Skipper left the female crew in the yacht to prepare their evening and left to the magazines to purchase a missing sea-chart for the Selkämeri region (north of Turku Archipelago). The local Entrepreneur organized the missing chart even though the shop was already closed. later on we found out that this map was extremely important to have to reach Rauma.

 After very important visit to Sauna The Crew decided to offer the Skipper a nice meal in the Itämeren Portti Restaurant. Excellent fish. Thank you ladies!

 Later on we visited local bars starting from the pavillion next to the port. The party continued until 5.00 in the morning. Anyway what happens in Hanko stays in Hanko...

Very tired crew left the next day back to Helsinki and the Skipper stayed in the yacht to wait for Stidi for the next three days. Stidi  arrived in the evening. There we tasted some wine and prepared the trip for the next day.

10th of Jully Adventure towards Rauma started

The lady crew arrived and we were ready to start at 17.00. First we filled the water and Diesel tanks for the trip. There was practically no wind and if was it was towards us. To keep trip going we decided to engine forwards.

 We reached Barösund (Kaupan laituri - The Pier of the local store) at 23.00. And stayed there overnight. GT tasted very good after the days trip. Tomorrows plan is to have a party in Hanko.

3rd of July Attempt to Tallinn

 The Crew arrived chilling early in the morning. The idea was to go to Tallinn to fill the ratios for the summer sailing. Matias and Aleksi arrived exactly and we set sails to the south. Unfortunately the wind was almost all the time against us and also the waves were quite a challenge.

We tried to start the engine somewhere at the Helsinki lighthouse and we noticed it does not start.... decision turn back to Helsinki. If service is needed - it is easier to get while in Helsinki.

Finally we got AQ2 in the Särkkä Service pier. The same time we arrived to Särkkä there were FDP boats and ambulatory groups + Helicopter in Särkkä. Terrible accident had happened in the boathouse and one member of Merenkävijät has lost his life. Sad but true.Matiasd and Aleksi went back to Helsinki and decided to go to Tallinn anyway the next day to enjoy the athmospere. They decided to use ferries. 

So no ratios filled. Luckily it was quite easy to fix the engine. The wind got higher reaching 14 m/s so the Captain stayed in the yacht overnight and moved it back to its place the next day.

Small and interesting trip to learn new things.