Monday, 29. June 2009 : Helsinki
In the guest harbour of Porkkala, I was a bit surprised to find a medium sized motorboat being parked on a rock, the bow pointing to the sky. Soon after, the sea-police showed up, the “sailor” was taken into custody and the boat rescued. Just a few minutes later, I saw the wreck of a little sailboat that had been hit by another motorboat, going on autopilot and the driver brewing coffee in the cabin…..
Surprise - when tied up, I found myself parked side by side with a German boat we had met at the start of our journey, in Gräddö - they are on their way to Helsinki too.
Sunday morning, on my way to Helsinki, I changed my mind and lowered anchor in a small bay just 10 miles west of the city. It was again a wonderful day with temperatures between 25 and 30 C, and 21 C in the water. The afternoon went with swimming, rowing and a short walk in the wilderness of a little island.
Today, monday, I finally made it to Helsiki, where Håkan will arrive tomorrow evening, to join me and Sir Francis all the way to Savonlinna. It was a great moment for me to tie up at the jetty of NJK, on a small island right in the center of the city. It is now 31 years ago when I was here during the 1978 R8M worldcup, as a crew member on R8M Katarina. After a series of races, we came number three overall, but mainly I remember all the festivities arranged by the officials every evening during the week, and the headaches when it was time to race again the mornings after.
Although I have been in Helsinki many times since then, I was overwhelmed by the sizzeling life I found in the city this time. Partly it may depend on the beautiful weather and summer temperatures, but I believe another reason is that economy is going well for Finland - Helsinki sure has got an international touch.
The NJK guest harbour was a pleasant surprise with professional service by the harbourmaster helping to find a nice spot, and then taking and tieing up the bow-ropes. There is an exclusive restaurant in the club house, but they have a “sailor’s special” for a very reasonable price for us poor sailors spending all their money with boatstuff.
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