Sat. July 20, 2019: When I visited these waters in 2018 I was lucky enough to strike up a conversation with Christian Juslin, a leading Finnish operatic tenor, through a chance meeting at the harbormaster’s office in Rodhamn, a charming little island just a few hours sail from Mariehamn.
Christian was a very friendly fellow and fascinated at the notion of an Englishman sailing an American boat in Finnish waters, and had come aboard Arcturus and shared some invaluable locations for off-the-grid bows-to anchorages nearby.
We had stayed in contact on social media and he invited me to meet for a drink when I had visited two weeks previously. I couldn’t make it work then, which worked out gloriously to my favor this time around. Turns out Christian was celebrating his 50th birthday on Saturday out on Rodhamn with friends and family and would I like to attend?
Is the Pope a Catholic?
On Friday we decamped to Björkör which was as wonderful as usual, but given its many mentions in these pages I will move on. Suffice it to say Mark and Richard were blown away by its charms. On Saturday we cast off around 10am for the easy 5nm journey to Rodhamn and tied up in its capacious but well sheltered harbor. The harbor master took our payment and directed us to walk ‘just up and over the hill’ where we’d find the party, which started at 2pm.
Donning our best summer party clothes the three of us headed up there and were charmed by what we found. A marquee in jaunty red with two long tables, covered in white linen with fine silverware and china. Plenty of wine and Brannvin, the local aquavit, and some excellent food to follow. But most impressive were the people; warm, welcoming Finns of all ages who spoke perfect English and made us feel most at home. Christian even seated me at the head of the table next to his mother and a leading Finnish soprano. What followed was one of the most amazing days of my life. Imagine a perfect summer day with blue skies and a sky dotted with fluffy clouds. The most gorgeous alfresco setting among the granite outcroppings, covered with lichen and heather, with wildflowers dancing in the gentle summer breeze. First came some toasts and drinking songs. Now I’ve heard those songs before, sung at the summer home of a very dear Swedish friend, but when they are sung, at length, with alternating choruses and harmonies from a chorus of full-throated Finnish opera singers, it is a very different beast.
Then came the speeches. Heartfelt, deeply personal reflections from Christian’s friends and family before the birthday boy himself rose, speaking of the love and support from his family and his early mentors and teachers. All of these words were interspersed with music, arias from operas both classic and obscure, while an electric organ, harnessed to a small gas-powered generator, played along. It was simply sublime. Every now and then Richard and Mark would catch my eye with their jaws agape as if to say: can you believe what we are experiencing?
Yes, it was that kind of day.
I’m an emotional fellow at the best of times and I’m also an opera lover. A couple of the arias I heard that day brought tears to my eyes. And as this glorious afternoon reached its conclusion, one of Christian’s boyhood music teachers, a huge bear of a man probably in his mid-70s but with a glint in his eye of a man half his age, gave an unforgettable rendition (in English) of “What A Wonderful World”.
At that moment, it most certainly it was.
As the party broke up around 9pm Mark, Richard and I wandered back to the boat, processing and retelling what we had just experienced. We had an 11pm sauna date so after a couple of drinks Mark and I changed and wandered back to the waterfront hut that is probably my favorite sauna in this part of the world. For perhaps half an hour we roasted in there, neither of us saying much, just absorbing how wonderful life can be if you open yourself up to new experiences. Once we went outside to dive into the chilly water and savor the sun setting over the fir trees on the far shore, we got a little more voluble. We were both ready to hit our bunks by then, secure in the knowledge that this was a day neither of us would ever forget.
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