Swan 50 th anniversary regatta Turku. 107 Beauties gathered

Aquiladeux is located in river Aura, ready for tomorrow's regatta.

Crew: Petri (Skipper), Jaska (Steerman) , Stadi ( Strategy). Erkki (Deck officer), Pekka, Anssi and the newcomer Aksu ( the deck team).

12th of July new crew arrived

12th of June the new crew arrived. I hope they enjoy the summer and AQ2 fully.

The blog returns the 28th of July (Turku Swan archipelago regatta)

11th of July to Mariehamn

 Early mornig we transfered aq2 to Mariehamn. Originally our target was the classic western port, but heavy rain let us decide to stay in the eastern port.

Tomorrow comes new crew (bro E and his family), they will sail in the archipelago and transfer the yacht in Turku where the Swan-Regatta is in the end of July.

10th of July early morning Tick-alert and to Kastelholm

 The morning was shocking: Skipper was bitten! He checked the wound and there was red ring around it....

As always the captain stayed calm and called immediately to the doctor ( thanks Niina) to get all the necessary antibiotics.

So we set our sails to Kastelholm, where we got medicine and enjoyed the beautiful evening.

9th of July over the Kihtifjärd to Sottunga (in Åland)

 The day started without any wind. So we engined over Kihtifjärd to Sottunga. Sottunga is the smallest city in Finland (only 101 inhabitants).

There is a small church located near the port. Sottunga is also well known for a very strong tick-population (maybe Kumlinge even more...)
We spent our day in café and the evening in the Yacht. The place is worth visiting.

8th of July an exellent sailing day to Korpoström

 Finally Sauna and good food!

6-7th of July, Björkö. higher winds and extra night in the safe haven

The day started with promising winds, that reached higher and higher speeds all day long (we managed to break reefed genoa) until  we reached Björkö. We decided to stay an extra day there because of the weather.

Björkö is an absolutely interesting and beautiful Island just in the edge of the sea. The island has a small inner sweet water lake where we wet our toes.

The second day we wondered around the lake and island. The forecast promised much better weather to Thursday.

The same evening we made a decision to change the destination from Sandhamn to Mariehamn. I hope it is also OK to mr E and his family.

5th July to Högsåra

 The previous evening was long, so we were able to leave Hanko only at 12.30. The wind was high on speed and unfortunately directly against us. We had to use the engine the whole time (with small help of sails)

Near Hiittinen we noticed Sea-Eagles nest on the top of a lighthouse. We were in Hogsara at 18.00 and set an anchor there on a bay.

Special bacon-meat-cream-pasta filled our stomachs. Early evening we all fell asleep.

4th of July, To Hanko.

 

We left Porkkala at 8.00. First the Skipper put Susanna in charge of steering. She did her task more than well. It is possible to use her again for this task. Excellent job Susanna!

 The weather was partly rainy, but we were able to use the sails time after time. Especially in Tvärminne region the never ending chain of rainclouds crossed our route.

 Hanko was reached at 18.00. Our old crew (Petri V) was there waiting for the inspection - can he continue?

After parking the yacht in the Port of Baltics docks we picked Petri V up for the inspection. Unfortunately I had to decide that he is rejected to continue with this leg. The x-ray showed that his ankle is crushed. Minimum 4 months of cast on his leg. Later we heard that he might keep the cast until the next January. Thanks Petri for great company get well soon!

3rd of July to Porkkala

We left Tallinn at 11.00. towards Porkkala

The day was rainy and quite windy. Perfect sailing wind. We reached top speed of 8,5 knots. Porkkala was approached very fast. We were moored around 18.00. The same time arrived our new  crew (Jaska and Susanna). Unfortunately the  old crew (Petri V) hurt his leg on landing. He left to Jorvi hospital  in the middle of the next night (at 3.00) for  inspection.

1-2nd of July Helsinki- Tallinn

The crew (Petri V) arrived at 9.30. After having a glass of wine in the restaurant Särkkä we decided to go directly to Tallinn - overnight. It was just so nice and beautiful night.

We started at 23.30 and sailed against the wind until 5.00. Then we used the motor to Tallinn. Tallinn (Pirita) was reached at 10.00.

In Tallinn we were totally exhausted and had long powernaps.

In the afternoon we trimmed the mast, then we went to buy the ratios for this summers sailing experience (food, beer, beer and some beer).

Tomorrow we continue to Porkkala where we will get more crew (Susanna and Jaska).

After that we continue westwards. Only thing that binds us is to reach Sandhamn latest the 11th of July, where Skippers Bro and Family takes over AQ2 for a while, or if the weather changes - we can do the change somewhere else...