Pics from our summer cruise

scubaman

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Hello Everyone,

As some may remember we moved our boat to the sea for the summer and with our holidays finally started, we’ve now gotten to do our first proper cruising around the Finnish southern coastline with the whole family. Here are some shots from our first days. I’m trying to update this thread with fresh pics when I get a change (ála Henry), so feel free to check back if you’re interested.

Midsummer marks the beginning of the ‘proper’ summer for the Finns. We got invited to our friends place close to Porvoo. They have a really tiny but cosy cabin just a few meters away from the sea, there is a fantastic view from the dining table.

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We were joined by a friend of theirs, who spends all his free time fishing in the archipelago. Not your average angling though, he has an ex-fishing boat that he uses for trawling. He looks the part too and our boats couldn’t have been further from each other in terms of genres but the love of sea and boating immediately put us on the same page and we had a great time inspecting each other’s vessels and chatting in to the small hours.

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My son trying out his new wetsuit in 11 C water.

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The weather was rubbish compared to what it was earlier and the gusty winds meant that I didn’t get too much sleep on the first night worrying that the anchor won’t hold. As we were moored stern-to to the fishing boat, dragging could have meant damage.

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I needn’t have worried though because as we decided to do a little cruise in a slightly better weather that we were supposed to have for the afternoon, we were struggling to get the anchor up from the clay sea bed…

Tove Jansson, the mother of the Moomin children’s charachters (you most probably haven’t heard of them but they are very popular locally), produced a big part of her life’s work on a tiny cabin, on a tiny skerry not far from our friend’s place. Kid’s being big fans, we thought it would make a great destination for an afternoon’s cruise.

Ladies helming…

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The weather was pretty nice on our way out with moderate winds and the sun shining. This suited me perfectly because the kids were a bit scared of the slight waves we had on our way to our friends place and I wanted to give them a soft landing. However, as we got further out, it got windier and windier making approaching the above mentioned skerry (the outmost in the area) impossible. So instead of mooring up for a look see we did a drive by and turned back. A big rain cloud making it’s way towards us strengthened the wind up to F7, gusting F8 as it later turned out. It was getting quite wet as we were pushing our way back in head seas and the boat was bouncing quite a bit. Kids loved it though, which was nice.

We then bid farewell to our friends and headed to Porvoo where we are now. It’s a nice little city situated on the mouth of the Porvoo river. The speciality is the well preserved old town with nice restaurants and an endless array of interior design shops which keep my wife busy.

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More to follow…
 
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Thanks for posting SM, I like the cottage by the sea, looks fabulous. Interesting roof gutter arrangement over the front door ;) and the "holiday life" going on inside.

Keep them coming please! :)
 
You wouldn't have happened to tinker with the colour saturation on some of these pics? The green looks ultra vivid.

Thanks for posting though.

Hi Everyone!

Thank you for the kind comments!

The grass looks a bit odd as it's brand new and still a bit 'green', also the evening light makes the colours look different. I haven't actually touched the saturation but did very slightly adjust the vibrance (in Lightroom terms). It's seem to have a negligible effect on the way green looks though.
 
Fantastic and I'm very much looking forward to the rest of your holiday! :D (Next best thing to actually being there.) I'd love to see more of the route there too when you go back - I was very impressed with the delivery trip and scenery. In the meanwhile, enjoy your summer on the coast.
 
Great photos and lovely details to your cruise Scubaman, thanks for taking the time and trouble to post, I think we all want that little cabin & that view! Looking forward to the next few days report..

Cheers

James
 
Hello again,

Weather on our stay at Porvoo ( https://goo.gl/maps/Ptk5K ) wasn’t the greatest but started to get better on Tuesday as we headed out again.

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After refuelling at the mouth of Porvoo River we got to enjoy flat calm seas on our way to the next destination, one of the outermost islands called Kaunissaari in Sipoo ( https://goo.gl/maps/Ix2Nj ). There is a very well protected marina on the southern tip of the island. Entrance is via a gap in the breakwater which will keep the waves out but will let the southern winds howl in the masts when the winds pick up. Not this time though, very quiet through the night.

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Right next to the marina there is also a small sauna that we booked for the following morning.

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Plan for the day was to cruise quite a bit west, past Helsinki to a place called Ramsjö.

Söderskär lighthouse was a pretty sight in the morning sun. Just feel sorry for the poor bugger who was sent to live on the remotest cottage.

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My wife just received her “coastal skipper” certificate (not sure what is the equivalent certification in RYA terms but that’s what it’s called in Finnish) so we did the route planning together and she got to do the helming. Weather was kind and the only excitement came from the passenger ferries leaving Helsinki. We also had a coffee break pootling at 8 knots. The tiny spec in the horizon is the Porkkala lighthouse.

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50 odd miles later we arrived at our destination, a pretty little restaurant called Jakobramsjö on an island called Ramsjö ( https://goo.gl/maps/MXsVk ). The location is nice, just by the open sea with enough shelter from a few adjacent islands. The restaurant built partially on stilts and the long pontoon is the only source of customers for them.

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Kids messed around in the water for a while with the new water toy, after which we cast off with a plan to go to Tammisaari. We took the inland route this time, a narrow and sheltered waterway between the islands. The scenery was very similar to that around the Lake Saimaa.

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Clearly we were on the heartlands of the Targa boats as I quickly lost count of them, there seemed to be one by every other cottage.

One of the bigger ones.

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The local Red dot bay on the way to Tammisaari ( https://goo.gl/maps/qrZZx ), where we have now spent two days.

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Weather is not going to be nice tomorrow so we are staying put for maybe two more nights. Pleasures of being on holiday is not having to plan too far ahead…

:)
 
Thanks again SM. I'm recognising the southern Finnish coastal towns from your google map references over your years of posting on the forum, starting to feel like I know the place now :)

Finland seems to have as many coastal islands as it does lakes, and most of them named. That would have kept somebody busy for a long time ;)
 
Hi K, great pics and report indeed, thanks again for posting.
I just looove the mirror-like water surface in the first of your pics, and also some others.
Looks like with some care you might get a coin floating on it, thanks to surface tension!
Aren't there any waterski clubs around? I can't think of any better surface for some slalom.
...Not to mention the sauna which you called "small".... :eek:
As a sauna lover, I'm very much looking forward to trying the real thing in Finland! :cool:
 
Hi K, great pics and report indeed, thanks again for posting.
I just looove the mirror-like water surface in the first of your pics, and also some others.
Looks like with some care you might get a coin floating on it, thanks to surface tension!
Aren't there any waterski clubs around? I can't think of any better surface for some slalom.
...Not to mention the sauna which you called "small".... :eek:
As a sauna lover, I'm very much looking forward to trying the real thing in Finland! :cool:

The water skiing -scene tends to be concentrated on the more stable small muddy ponds a bit inland.

Don't worry, I'll make sure to include a sauna or two on our route! :)

@AndieMac: I think the names have come out of the necessity to be able to reference them in different contexts. Names are often very pragmatic as the Säderskär (South Island) and Kaunissaari (Beautiful Island) mentioned here. But sometimes they also have very interesting tales to tell...
 
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