Hauklahti, Helsinki and Hello to many Friends
We were very excited about arriving in Haukilahti Marina – it was the marina that was about 5 mins walk from our old house. From about an hour out we started to recognise the surroundings and familiar landmarks.
The island we used to go to for BBQs, the water tower, the islands we use to Nordic ski to and the island we had had a puncture on our canoe – it all built to a sense of coming home. Soon we could see our rock that we used to walk to on many evenings and watch the summer evening sun. The entrance to the marina was shallow so I was trying to focus on that – whilst still looking around soaking up the moment. Just as we arrived 2 boats left from the jetty by the restaurant and we were able to park slap bang outside the restaurant – just as we had imagined it would be – every time we used to pass the marina when we lived here.
I used to cycle round the marina on my way to work in the summer and would imagine one day Carra would be parked there. We had made it and we were both grinning like Cheshire Cats.
We were going to be here for a week – which would allow us to relax and not have to look at the weather. Piia was back in town so popped in for a coffee. The first 2 days I spent at my favourite wood working place and I managed to build a shelf and make a few other bits and pieces. Followed by a varnishing session on the boat. It was very relaxing.
Each evening we had a the chance to catch up with friends. Anne and Jussi our first evening. Some former colleagues from Nokia the next: Jarkko, Mikko, Tony, Suska, Marko and Heikki, then Catherine – hearing about her adventures in Nepal, Our neighbours: Mikko and Miia, and finally Chris on Sunday. We also fitted in a visit to Sharon and Andy – we saw Andy briefly before he had to fly – and he would be staying in our house that night. It also gave us the time to cycle round our favourite cycle routes. Having our own base made us really feel that we were back living there.
We also visited Merja and Saku and their lovely apartment overlooking the harbour. We went for a walk to a lovely restaurant in the woods for lunch in Lauttisaari.
We had met them on the Rally earlier in the summer. But soon it was time to move on – well except the weather wasn’t cooperating and we stayed an extra night.
The day we were due to leave it threw it down with rain but thankfully by the time we left the rain had been replaced by some really dreich weather: low mist, dull, overcast, cold and miserable – but at least it wasn’t raining. We picked our way through the rocks into Helsinki Harbour – avoiding the numerous ferries. Sadly the view of the harbour was very limited given the weather but we were soon tied up in the harbour of NJK with its splendid old Clubhouse.
A white wooden building with a beautiful green roof – it was always a place where we would go for a special meal. So it was fitting that we would bring Carra here.
I took the ferry over to the many land to pick up some supplies then we had Bamse onboard for a drink before eating in the Clubhouse. The building oozes history – silver trophies and foreign yacht club burgees adorn the walls.
It is 10 years to the days since Issy died – so we raise a glass to her. I cant believe it is 10 years and yet sometimes it feels longer.
When I got out of the sauna – there was some groaning from the pontoon. The wind had increased and the boat was in danger of moving the pontoon enough to drop the bridge connecting the pontoon to the shore into the water. So with no time to lose I got Christian and Christoffer to help me drop her back onto the buoy. Then Christoffer went to pick up Mags in the dinghy – who was now out of the sauna and wondering what was happening. We were shortly about to have lunch but not knowing what was the rating of the buoy or the size of the concrete block securing the buoy, I wasn’t keen to leave the boat. So Mags went for lunch and I stayed on the boat and tidied things up. It was a bit frustrating – but I wouldn’t have enjoyed the lunch if I wasn’t sure that Carra was safe. After an hour I was happy that the boat wasn’t moving and the wind had dropped so I went ashore and had lunch and celebrated our arrival with a glass of Champagne.
The next morning we had a sauna with Piia before inviting Piia and Christian over for a rather yummy chicken caesar salad on Carra – all cooked from scratch. It was soon time to leave – we were just popping round to the other side of the island to Svarto – where Diana lives.
Rodhamn is a real favourite of ours. Its name comes from the red granite rocks that make up the harbour – one large island – and a few islands providing a natural harbour. The is a wooden staging/board walk that hugs the edge of the island providing a harbour to moor on. Red paths cross the island as the rock’s natural lichen is worn away by 
visitors. Rock circles and mazes lie around places by former islanders – though more recent residents I suspect. The harbour master sells fresh bread and cakes – what is not to like. There is a small museum in the old radio building telling the history of the island life. We went for a walk and heard the remarkable tunes warbled by a nightingale ( the bird beng identified by our Finnish Neighbour) With strong southerlys due being tucked in was perfect shelter – so time to get the watercolours out followed by 2 hours looking at the heads and achieving very little…..By now the tooth was more painful. It was Friday afternoon when I realised this was going to be more than just a tooth ache as the pain was spreading to my ear. Thankfully we have some antibiotics onboard that can be used for abscesses and I started taking these. As I was pretty sure it was an abscess there was no point going to a Dentist in Mariehamn as he would have to wait for the antibiotics to work so we set off early to go to Sandvik on Kokars. There was a total absence of wind so we motored. By now my jaw and face were in agony – any slight movement would send excruciating wave of pain off. So I resorted to Dr Google – who suggested various pain remedies most of which we didn’t have on board but I tried out the bite on a wet teabag. Albeit disgusting, it did appear to help. I kept hoping the antibiotics would take effect after all it had been a day. But by lunch I was feel decidedly unwell and at which point we met 2 ferries in a very narrow passage. Could the day get any worse – by now there was enough wind to sail but I didn’t need anything more to think about so we continued motoring. At which point the fog came in – with only 200m visibility you needed to concentrate. Mags manned the chart plotter to spot other boats on AIS – once of which was a ferry travelling at 12 knots. But as we approached Sandvik the fog lifted and the sun shone. I also started to feel better – finally the antibiotic appeared to be winning against my abscess. We moored up, to discover we had boats either side us with all female crew – that is a first!
The Island had more houses than I was expecting and organised into streets – well dirt tracks. The harbour was bounded by lots of working traditional boat houses and was very attractive. We walked up to the lighthouse and round part of the island. This is the only place I know where the harbour facilities include carpet washing racks!
So our initial plan of stopping over night at Rossala was abandoned and we did a longer leg (57nm) to get to Hanko, arriving at 8pm – which was no issue due to the midnight sun. It doesn’t really get dark at the moment. We expected strong winds on Wednesday so opted for the more expensive Island marina as it was more sheltered than that of the town quay.
Despite being close to Vaxholm and sailing past the Castle many times we have never actually visited it. But it was part of the Rally activities – so we boarded the little ferry across to the Island. The island fortress was one of the principal old naval defences of Stockholm. As you might expect it is made of thick stone – but surprisingly refined inside. The castle was used at the time of the Russian invasion in 17th and 18th Centuries. That night all the Rally had drinks onboard Duo our Finnish Boat ( Merja, Saku, Kirsti and Heppo) – Kirsti starting the evening off with a song about the Rally.
Previously we had done this passage when we brought Carra up from Germany – though under engine. But with time and familiarity of sailing close to big lumps of granite our confidence has grown and we have plucked up courage to sail though these rocky passages – now we enjoy sailing through them. Though at the particularly interesting narrow, shallow passage with a double dog leg we did roll up the Yankee ( the big sail at the front) to slow us down; as doing 7 knots with 3.5m below you would be a tad uncomfortable. We entered the wonderfully sheltered natural harbour of Ringson which we planned to make home until the southerly winds arrived in 2 days. Tucked up safely wa
s Blue Orchid ( we had met them in Vastervik) – we had been playing boat leap frog with them since then, so it was nice to catch up them again. They invited us over for drinks in the cockpit – very civilised.
After breakfast we went for a walk around Island. We tied up the dinghy to a rock and went to investigate the red wooden information hut which even had a library inside. The small island is a nature reserve and still has a working farm with animals – which allows you to see how farms would have been in the archipelago in former times.
At one point we were shadowed by a minesweeper that was about 200m astern of us and it shadowed our every move and maintained our speed for about 30 mins….. it felt like a slow motion car chase at 5 knots. We then lost them by turning down the equivalent of a pedestrian alley that led to the entrance to our anchorage which was about 10 m wide and 2.9m deep ( we are 4m wide and 1.9m deep). Once into Kupa Klint it deepened and we were nicely sheltered by the 30m cliff ( tall for here) that bounded the anchorage on one side, the other side being a series of small skerries. The anchorage was very still and you could hear and see the fish jumping all around. As evening fell the wind died completely in the distant archipelago and it was as if the islands were sitting on a mirror. With the sun setting the rocks glow pink and it is what makes evenings so special here.
wanted to go, it meant that we had decided to stay put for the day. Giving me the chance to try and resolve a problem we had with the heads ( the toilet). So I spent much of the day with marigolds on fixing the pump. Having replaced the valve gasket, I reassembled the pump and performed the banana test. A simulation test – which it passed but the proof is in the pudding or the aftermath of the pudding!
nvited back to Max and Lynnie and had a lovely evening.
We visited the little harbour of Lickersam and saw the Maiden raukar, tall imposing limestone stacks rising from the sea. At the top of the island we took a small car ferry to Faro a small off the north coast. It had a much more open landscape with incredibly neat stone walls and windmills.
We took the coast rod
e back and came across some old fishing huts standing in complete isolation on a beaches miles from any habitation.
around. There is a real trust based culture here which is lovely. After supper we headed south to see the sunset over the beach at Tofta.
We had a lively sail to Figeholm particularly going down wind through a narrow and shallow gap – despite putting most of the sail away we doing 5.5 knots through the gap…… sigh of relief when through. We sailed most of the way til we came to a Nuclear power station and the rocky passages got a bit more tricky. We have sailed here for 3 years now but this was the narrowest rocky passage we have done – it was about an hour of intricate turns mostly marked with red and green posts but at one point the gap between the red and green was only about 7-8m….and we are 4m. But the time we got to “Figeholm’s narrow winding entrance” described in the pilot book it felt like a motorway. By the time we arrive I felt I had earnt my beer!
Figeholm was an immaculate little village with a gasthamn that is run by villagers – who couldn’t do enough for you. The place oozed pride and everything was very well tended. On the Saturday morning there was a works party, flowers were planted, grass cut – none of which needed doing as it was already looking good. Beautiful old wooden building lined the small inlet. We decided to stop here for a second night as it was just such a lovely place.
9th – 17th May – I had been keen to visit Trosa – but with a channel that was too shallow for us and the only anchorage being in the wrong direction, we needed to go bus. A beautiful wooden vil
lage that is built around a fast flowing river.
us time to explore the island. We set off and we were quite content tacking at a leisurely pace to the harbour till Mags spotted that it had about 10 masts in there already – so rather than tack again and take another hour to arrive it was engine on to grab a spot. Which we thankfully managed to get the 3rd last space at 1pm! Despite the rest of the archipelago being empty – Oja was clearly a top destination but given that it was a bank holiday and stunning weather we shouldn’t have surprised. We were able to hire a bike for Jo and cycled the 3.5km south to the village centre through woods that were carpeted with white wood anemones as far as the eye could see. A typical quaint village full of red houses built around the rocks – which still has 20 permanent residents. We cycled up to the Landsort Lighthouse and then back to a café and rewarded ourselves after an arduous passage (not) a beer overlooking the village.
fter lunch so that we can eat it in the peace and quiet. The wind then filled in and we were able to have a cracking sail tacking amongst the rock till we couldn’t quite make it safely past one rock under sail. But by that point we were so close to Arkosund we were going to motor soon anyway. The harbour was empty so we were just getting ready to come alongside when Jo decided to try walking on air only she thought it was solid and fell badly twisting her ankle painfully. So we headed back out to sea. Got the ice pack out of the fridge and had her ankle elevated as Mags and I brought the boat in. Safely tied up we considered amputation but decided it would make too much mess – so applied more ice till Jo was squeaking that it was too cold. Judging by the swelling it was definitely sprained. I strapped it up – later refined my technique with the help of YouTube! She decided a shower was medicinal and so hobbled to the showers.
near the spot that we had anchored there were submerged rocks that are now marked but weren’t before – one of which we had found on leaving so it rather put me off getting to close in. Also the harbour was more exposed than I wanted to that wind direction. So we motored to a much more sheltered harbour with a rather skinny entrance and found a lovely spot.
unity – yes I am afraid another sleeply village but this one was still to wake from its winter slumber.
hooks to small little crevices to tie the ropes to.
wimming was rejected by the mutinous crew. But having 3 onboard makes such a difference and we got Mags off the rocks with plan A and we were soon on our way to Vastervik. We attempted to sail but there really was no wind and so we had a long old motor. We arrived at the Gasthamn and were met by a friendly harbour master – a first this season. Another first was that the facilitiess included a swimming pool but as it wasn’t heated yet – there was no chance of me getting in. Once showered we had a wander round town sussing out where the bus stop was. Jo by this stage was hobbling less but the bruising was beginning to come out.
ankee (the big front sail) was unfurled and we wafted gently away from the Marina. We managed to sail for an hour before needing to motor as we were going directly into the wind plus we had a date with some bridges. Our destination was an inland fresh water lake which is accessed through a canal through the centre of Stockholm but it is crossed by 3 bridges and a lock that need to open to allow us passage through. With the last bridge opening at 15:30, it meant that we had to be at the first bridge at 14:30. We arrived 30 mins early which afforded us enough time to take a spin around Gamla Stad (Old town) which is the heart of Stockholm. This is the first of our 6 Baltic Capitals that we will be visiting on our cruise. Soon we were into the canal system – passing through a city in Carra was a slightly surreal experience. Busy central city life seems at odd with being on a boat. Once through the lock we were into Lake Malaren – which is Sweden’s third largest lake spanning 120km from east to west and the reaches 64m depth in some places.
odd commercial vessel we were the only people out cruising. We arrived at our next anchorage about 30 mins too late as the rain had started. Our anchorage for the night was a sheltered bay is over looked by the Baroque Malsakers Castle. It was still shut for the winter – which is common here until June.
tles. We were met on the quay by a former work colleague of mine Heribert and his 20 month old son Gabriel. We tied up and invited them on board. Later on in the evening Heribert, Inga and Gabriel came onboard for pre dinner drinks. A winch and winch handle being a very good child entertainment centre.
to see their house which stands in the grounds of Ulf and Cynthia’s Castle. We also went to see the Orangery which they are having converted now that Gabriel is on the scene. Ulf and Cynthia invited us for tea on their terrace, which has a beautiful view of the Royal Castle and the Lake as far as the eye can see. Descendi
ng from the terrace are 2 grand stone staircases leading down to the waters edge and a jetty. Cynthia insisted that next time we come we moor Carra there. I was keen to know the depth, though I needn’t worry as she replied “ the King of Sweden used to moor his sailing vessels there”.
We felt that we had got this bridge opening and lock business sorted – so we were expecting a very routine passage. But little did we know this lock out of the lake is the route that all the large commercial vessels use. As required, we contacted the bridge who informed us it was a busy day. En- route there was a yacht that we had passed that was well and truly aground on a rock, we called over a rib and he went and rescued them. We arrived on time for the bridge opening and waited and waited. The bridge then told us as soon as the bridge opened to go throug
h on red as there was another vessel coming that was 18m wide. As the bridge opened, we ended up reversing as a very large vessel appeared much sooner than expected and there definitely wasn’t room for the both of us. As soon as the tanker passed we went under but just as we arrived at the bridge the light went red, and the bridge closing process started. Throttle down and we made a speedy passage under the bridge before it closed. We arrived at the lock and went onto the waiting pontoon as several tankers went through in both directions. Finally ourselves and 3 other leisure boats got passage through the lock and out of the lake.
Carra Tidings 