Monday 7/08/19
Dep. 11.39. Arrive 9.50pm. 47.7nm. 10hr 11 mins
For a higher-resolution map of this route, click HERE:
Because we had pulled in late and tired to the Old Town Marina the night before and because they were still battling jet lag, Knut and Grace were happy to forgo a visit to Old Town Talinn until Monday morning, so we spent a couple of hours sightseeing, enjoying the street performers and visiting the city’s oldest coffee house for some caffeine and pastries.
The cobbled stones and authentic Baltic feel of the Old Town is really a special experience, but we didn’t linger, heading back to the boat to cast off our lines shortly after 11.30. Within a few minutes of leaving the harbor we had plenty of wind and so raised sail, enjoying a lively beam reach in 10-12 knots heading NNW for about 5 hours.
But somewhere in the middle of the Gulf of Finland the capricious wind decided to ease. We tried hoisting the mizzen, which mitigated the easing wind a little but we were still forced to fire up the engine around 4.30pm. As evening approached so did the first islands of Finland, and the last two hours saw us motoring in a glassy calm between rocks, skerries and forested islands as Knut and Grace marveled at the beauty. Turning up towards towards Jussaro shortly after 9pm we saw a worrying sign: two boats at anchor outside the compact harbor – which could only mean it was full.
But the silver lining was that the shore on the far side – barely 400m from the harbor, looked very promising as a bows-to anchorage. With the skies darkening with imminent rain I outlined the sequence of actions the crew needed to take and took a quick recce to finalize our spot. I then circled back out, put Grace on the helm and made our approach, dropping the stern anchor four boats lengths out in 30 feet of water. I then gave clear instructions from the bow to the helm for the approach, and we tied off to three separate points without incident. Just in time, as the heavens opened and we quickly scurried below for a glass of wine and some music while I made a butternut squash curry with jasmine rice. The only slight fly in the ointment was that in my haste to get out of the rain I had not quite secured the bowlines tightly enough, causing a couple of bumps on the keel. After dinner I bit the bullet and went topside in the rain to tighten the lines properly, ensuring we all had a peaceful sleep while the rain pitter-pattered on our cabin roof.
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