Long time silence in this blog is over...

Yesterday, the 11th of August the boat was released from the boatyard. The engine service is finally over...

Because of the overheating in the southern Baltics the malfunction list was massive:

The ventiles are changed, the Pistons and piston rings are changed. The exhaustion fumes pipe is changed (was burned). Water temperature-meter and oil-pressure meter are added.

But basically the Volvo engine must be good, beacause even with these failiures we managed to drive over 18 hours with the engine in our Baltic Tour.

Next Saturday it will be early morning start to go ahead Emsalö, to participate Emsalö-Runt, 100 years jubileum race.

At the moment the weather forecast is promising: NW-wind 7-9 m/s

VIDEO CLIPS BELOW

Another video Clip to see.

Sailing is fun!

Somewhere from the Southern Baltic Sea between Kolobrzeg and Copenhagen. In this leg we experienced a wide spectre of different weather. There was gale wind, no wind, Thinderstorms and heavy rain. We also had the best medium speed in the first 10 hours of this leg (around 8 knots)... but then the wind came down... On this leg we also experienced the engine breakdown... But in the end we are back in Helsinki and the summer continues. Next Summer maybe we experience St. Petersburg and the Northern coast of Estonia. Probably with several boats.

Small obligatory pause because of Services

The biggest service is naturally the engine. Very soon the engine will be bolted out and the service company will check what is the original problem.

The same time some minor things will be corrected. For example the new WC-bowl will be installated. Generally the boat is in excellent condition and is very satisfactory and reliable companion in all conditions.

The story will continue after the small changes are done...

Tomorrow the Engine Service

Tomorrow morning we wash the dirt away from our trip and Bring the boat to the Engine Service. Hopefully we get the engine working before the season ends.

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.