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Sunday, 05. July 2009 : Eastward towards Russian waters

leaving our berth for the incoming Silja ferry. First no wind then hard beating in up to 15 m/s headwind from Santio to Vyborg, and through the Saimaa kanal back to Finland into Lappeenranta

Håkan arrived, as planned on 30 july evening, and we left next morning for our trip eastward. The schedule is tight if we want to be in Savonlinna on july 8th to meet our wives coming there by car. They certaily expect to enjoy Turandot at the Savonlinna Opera Festival together with their husbands. This means ca 40 sm average daily distances.

Håkan telling stories

We decide to make a long first day trip of 60 miles, to the island of Fagerö south Kotka, to create some slack for the coming days. Rather tired, we turn into the pinwood of sea-marks leading through the extremely rocky area around the harbour.
Fagerö is the main pleasure boat recreation spot for Kotka people, and there we even found a genuine finnish tango dancing palace, with a long haired trubadur and some finnish cuples dancing closely with dreamy expressions on theyr faces.

Next day trip was to Santio, a small island, where the customs clearing for pleasure boats is done by customs officers coming by boat from the mainland when requested. Sun was up until late night and the water 21 degree warm, inviting for a refreshing evening bath.

Next days forecast was 8-10 m/s from northwest, perfect for the 45 miles to Nyborg. Unfortunately, the forecast was wrong, we got rather gusty winds from northeast, exactly on the bow, and up 15 15 m/s. Sir Francis had to show her hardwind beating capabilities - she performed well according to both skipper and crew.

We stayed overnight at the first lock of Saimaa Kanal, the Brushnocnoe lock. Next day, we were surprised by the efficient people running the locks, in most cases we could go right into the locks without waiting, and tie up at the floating bollards.

The entire kanal took us seven hours, and after another hour we found a berth in the center of Lappeenranta.

Unfortunately, the high pressure system is definitely gone now, and the weather forecast is promising rain and cold weather for the coming week. Maybe we have to see the opera dressed in our foul weather gear.