The round Baltic-sea trip 2009 is over with success

We did it!










AquilaDeux has now sailed around the Baltic sea. We visited waters of all countries of the Baltic sea in the following order: Estonia- Latvia- Lithuania - Russia (kaliningrad)- Poland - Germany - Denmark -Sweden!

We visited 7 cities: Ventspils, Gdynia, Kolobrzeg, Copenhagen, Ystad, Kalmar and Oxelösund.

Totally 1422,1 nautic Miles.

Longest leg Oxelösund- Helsinki 343 nautic miles

Shortest leg Copenhagen - Ystad 60 miles

Great job, great crews and good mood during all legs.

We had 4 different crews:

Helsinki - Ventspils - Gdynia:

Petri (Skipper) - Lotta (1st officer) - Ari (bosun)

Gdynia - Kolobrzeg - Copenhagen:

Petri (Skipper) -Lotta (1st officer) - Ari (bosun) - Stanislav (deck monkey) - Kristof (cabin boy)

Copenhagen - Ystad - Kalmar -Oxelösund:

Petri (Skipper) - Annika (his master) - Matias (his rebel)

Oxelösund - Helsinki

Petri (Skipper) - Ari (1st officer) - Ville (deck monkey/cabin boy) - Vessu (deck monkey)

THANKS FOR ALL PARTICIPANTS

The story continues

The longest leg is over 300 nm without seeing land

From Oxelösund we started on Thursday the 26th of June 1t 15.30. From the beginning it was clear that we have to criss-cross because of the front wind. Anyhow the wind turned to the NW and according the forecast it should stay there at least the next 24 hours. We decided to head directly to the east and press the boat to Saaremaa/Hiiumaa direction.

The next day was perfect sailing day and we managed to push the boat upper and upper. In the evening we reached the west side of Hiiumaa, just below the latitude of Ristna 40 miles off the coast... then wind came down.

Sunday morning 2.00 a.m darkest moment, in the middle of the traffic junction suddenly the cargo-ships lights disapper... very close to us. The fog was arriving. Luckily we have A.I.S so we managed too see and also contact this freighter to avoid the collision. The similar situation continued until morning 8.00 when we aheaded 051 degrees direction directly to Porkkala lighthouse. In the morning fog we were very close to Birka Shipper which we met next time also in the foggy wether in Porkkala... our new friend.

Porkkala lighthouse was reached the 28th of June at 4.00 a.m and home port at 10.00.

This leg was best on the food side. The boats Grande chef Ville was able to create good portions from Falukorv, bread, beef, skärgårds sallad, and standard knäckebröd.

Great leg. Totally 343 nautic miles, of these 300 nm without seeing land. Tired? Yes!

Oxelösund until the 26th of June

Oxelösund - The 1970´s open air museum.

Very good Guest harbour, with adequant services. If you walk about one kilometer you will find the city, that reminds you very much of 1970´s "socialdemokrat Sverige" with a concrete mall servicing good citizens.

As a contrast you might see pleasant wooden houses with beautiful gardens and some industrial sights... there has been a major iron mine here since very long time.

The water here is strangely clear and visible. It is very rare to see such clear water in the Baltic sea.

I suggest everyone who reads this blog and have an inexpensive hobby of sailing to visit here.

Swedish hospitability is without comparison. We have a lot to learn about them in Finland.

The way is long... especially with no wind

what is red, flurry, warm, little bit moist inside and smells like herring? - the skippers cap!

We continued the trip towards North. In the beginning while we were setting the sails up, Archie - the Autopilot - made a small error and we little bit broached scaring the crew for a while. After that we got really heavy winds under the clouds in front of Borgholm.

Then suddenly all the wind went away for several hours..

We sailed the whole night, and the major part of the next day... until we finally reached Oxelösund, where the trip will continue directly non-stop to Helsinki on the 26th of June.

24 hours, 128 nm to Kalmar

17th started with nice western wind blowing 6-8 m/s. We targeted to go directly to Kalmar. The weather was the same until around 8.00 the barometer alarmed for sudden fast drop down. Gale warning!

The wind turned very fast to southern direction and blowed some 15 m/s steadily. Aquiladeux reached the top speeds of 8-9 knots on this fair wind. At 10.00 18.6 we reached Kalmar. Bed was very sweet to meet after 24 h watch.

Next target to North probably Västervik. Our Goal is to get the yacht in Nynäshamn from where we collect new crew and set sails directly to Helsinki starting the 26th of June. CREW WANTED FOR THE LAST LEG, If you are interested write: pjmatikainen@gmail.com

Warmup to Ystad. Next Kalmar

On Tuesday the 16th we finally continued the trip. The first day we just "wet our feet" and approached to Ystad.

Next leg takes +/- 24 h, we are targeting Kalmar.

The weather forecast is promisining continous modearte Westerd wind. Must get the sunlotions ready.

Copenhagen... Rainy, Windy Copenhagen...

Engine guy visited on Thursday. The engine should work again.

It has been really wet and windy days until today we got real sunshine and the temperature got up.


Just at the sunrise tomorrow morning the cabin boy who is now promoted and he is ranked now as an able seaman. He is going back to Belgium to command his own fleet and crew... be terrified he is coming home!!

The skippers home troops arrive Sunday the 14th. Monday the 15th we fill the ratios and on Tuesday the 16th we set the sails to the east and we are going to follow the ancient Viking routes via coastline of Sweden until we are back in Helsinki.

The crew left, waiting for the new crew and service

In the morning three crewmembers left to Finland. Only one brave Belgian Kristof stays here with the Skipper. And that is good, because after we get the Engine fixed we will move to another marina to wait for the crew that sails the boat back to Finland.

The new crew will arrive the 14th and we will go towards Finland the 16th... if we get the engine fixed.

Today we will see...

Copengagen reached - little bit crippled

The 9th of June 2009 started with a nice sunny weather. We got ne wind blowing some 6-7 m/s for the beginning. Very soon the weather changed for the wind up to 15 m/s and the rain and Thunder.

First 80 Nautic Miles we had +7,5 knots average speed. The lady was well balanced and everything was perfect.

The crew "smelled" the changes in the weather at the right moment - we had all the time just the right sail-load.

Somewhere around 22.00 the wind was gradually going down and just in the midnight there was no wind at all. We had to start the engines, especially because we were in the middle of the Ship traffic-junction near Rügen/Southern Sweden.... 30 minutes and Silence. The engine Tilted.

Then we set the sails up and next two hours just circulating with the sea-streams.

The morning came the wind came.... at least 3 m/s and a small movement was noticed, but there was also a fog that limited visibility. Somewhere at 9.00 the fog disappeared and we started to move towards Copenhagen.

In Copenhagen we had to call towing help (wind was too high, we did not want to break somebody elses boats) and we got it from the Royal Tuborg Sailing Club. They towed us in their beautiful new port to wait for the repairman that should come the 11th to fix the engine.

Kolobrzeg Reached

We reached Kolobrzeg at 13.00 under a Thunderstorm. There was a lot of Thunder and lightning just the moment we arrived.

Before arriving we noticed that there must be a Russian or Ukrainian abroad, because someone had eaten all the bacon without frying during the night/morning. Finally we noticed that we have Stanislav,a Russian with Ukrainian roots, no more to wonder. Blood is stronger than vodka!

We will relax here and eat something warm, drink something cold. Tomorrow we head to Copenhagen.

Kolobrzeg has a very tiny Marina I suggest all the fellow sailors enter here early. All services included. The gas station is not located in the marina.

On the road to west

On Sunday morning around 10.00 we set our course to west.

In the beginning 9 m/s wind from the ne that made us to go with an engine against the wind until we reached the Hel peninsula.

The freshmen of the boat were not so fresh in the beginning of the tour, but the longer we waited we could see colour returning to their happy cheecks.

After passing Hel, sails up und go (up and go, funny)!

Around 23.00 we set the Cruising Chute up to keep the speed. Somewehere at 03.00 we had to give up sailing and stat the engine again.

I suppose we arrive Kolobrzeg around noon local time. There we will have good night rest and target to Copennhagen. Hopefully we find nice restaurants from Kolobbrzeg.

The new crewmembers arrived

The new crewmembers arrived in the afternoon of the 6th of June. On the picture you can appoint the original crew with the flags of the countries we passed.

The new crewmemebers are Kristof [BEL](Canteen boy) and Stanislav [RUS](Deck Monkey).

Tomorrow - as soon as we wake up - we will make "drang nach vestern" - "Lebensraum für AquilaDeux". First fill the tanks and then go on.

Waiting for my crew

Loaning the lyrics from Lou Reed, the feelings are "waiting for my crew" for everybody. Two extra crewmembers will join the team tomorrow. On Sunday the 7th of June we will direct to the Kolobrzeg, some 140 nautic miles to the west.

Gdynia is very good target for fellow sailors, but I suggest to reserve places in advance from Gdynia Yachtclub marina - we are lucky to be here so early in the summer, but there are not too many guest places. All the exist: Funny shower where the "ToiletMaster"-lady will follow you every time in Shower and ask between the shower "good?".... everything OK.

Today we also visited Gdansk to get feelings from that old Hansa town.

From Ventspils to Gdynia

From Ventspils we got 50 litres diesel with a transfer by car, After filling up we continued the trip forwards to Gdynia.

It was sailing from the beginning to the end.

In the night between 2nd and 3rd the wind was getting higher reaching 17 m/s. On 3rd of June the weather stayed the same. The only difference was that the cold rain joined the bloody weather.

Only marks for the statistics were a vhf "good luck" wishes from Lithuanian Navy before entering the Russian waters... and of course the speed top we reached on the surf: 12 knots!

Gdynia was reached 23.42. Beer needed-

Ventspils finally

From the start 31st of May 2009 there has been very low wind or no wind at all, so we had to use a lot of Engine.

South of Saarenmaa the sea was dead calm and - we suppose it was - large neverending fields of Bluealgae flourishing.... here and there were dead seaguls floating, cannibalized by the same species... maccabre show

Finally we got wind until the end of the day. Ventspils reached 1.6.2009 at 23.11hrs. 230 nautic miles passed. We must stay here until we get more diesel, but tomorrow shows.