Some wintery pics of our boating environment

[scubaman]

Last couple of days have been really chilly here and whilst enjoying the outdoors in -26 degrees means your toes and fingers start to feel the cold sooner than you like, in return you are rewarded with a very pretty scenery.

Yesterday we had a stroll at the lake Päijänne close to our home and I took some pics of the local boating environment in a very wintery disguise. Nothing much boaty happening here at the mo, but I thought I’d share these.

Thanks!

 

[longjohnsilver]

Great photos, love the mooring buoys. I guess the owner of the boat in the 2nd last pic knows exactly how to winterise his boat. The consequences of not doing so would be catastrophic!

 

[rafiki_]

Great pics, many thanks. Beautiful crisp winter scenes are gorgeous. It must be quite unusual to get a bright sunny day at this time of year? Temps down to -25 and beyond can feel a tad sharp. I used to test cars on ice lakes in Sweden. At this time of year we had about 2 hours of gloomy light, and we never really had proper daylight. We would test when the conditions were right, and ski when we weren't testing. We were never focussed on the time of day, as it was always dark. We just maximised the testing all hours of the day and night, and grabbed a couple of hours on the floodlit slopes when we could. Beautiful scenery, trees and snow.

 

[alt]

Excellent pics! Plenty of mooring bouys available

 

[vas]

nice pics scuba, confused as I thought all boats are indoors during your winter!

-2 today (coldest this year in Volos), snowing a bit, just back from MiToS checking and running the engines for 20mins just in case. Water temp 12C but a bit windy...

cheers

V.

 

[AllanG]

Fantastic photos, Kivikari.....the scenery looks as beautiful in Winter as it does in Summer!

 

[baylabayla3288]

Great pictures! Here is a picture of Helsinki harbour a few days ago

https://goo.gl/images/8fhoXw

We had -21 C and the sea was still open. It provided for some spectacular sea smoke

 

[Portofino]

Was -11 yesterday am here -there's been a big dump -no boating going on have not even since Oct -plenty of winter sports instead until April
View from kitchen window

 

[baylabayla3288]

Was -11 yesterday am here -there's been a big dump -no boating going on have not even since Oct -plenty of winter sports instead until April
View from kitchen window

Cortina? I've ben skiing there during a combined winter holiday with a stay in Venice, Unforgettable truly

 

[Portofino]

Cortina? I've ben skiing there during a combined winter holiday with a stay in Venice, Unforgettable truly

SW-Switzerland
Lunch time today

 

[baylabayla3288]

Absolutely stunning, thats the place to be! And it makes boating feel so good again after a few months of contrasting winter break

 

[Hurricane]

We were in Helsinki for Christmas and the New Year.
Got out last Monday - just before that cold and snowy spell was forecast.

 

[baylabayla3288]

We were in Helsinki for Christmas and the New Year.
Got out last Monday - just before that cold and snowy spell was forecast.

Then you still saw green grass and +10C, the contrast was hughe a few day's days later. Actually the -21C was mild compared to Lapland with -41C a few days ago . Without the Gulfsteam and westerly low pressures there would not be any boating up here.

 

[scubaman]

Thank you for the kind words everybody.

Plenty of boats spend their winter outdoors and it's not as bad is it might first appear. Our first boat was stored outside throughout our ownership and as long as you took some precautions to keep the moisture at bay, the everything was ok. It has to be said though that you don't usually see boats left uncovered, even if the process of rigging the supports for the covers and covers flapping in the wind chafing the gelcoat are the things that usually cause the most damage. Storing the boat indoors is of course infinitely more convenient and gentle for the boat (and more expensive).

@Raf: in the midst of winter (jan/feb) when the weather is the coldest, it's not unusual to have nice, if chilly, winter days with blue skies. On our latitudes the daylight lasts about six hours so it's bearable. By the sounds of it, you were considerably further up north.

@Portofino: that's a pretty decent view to wake up to! Nice. We spent the New Year skiing but unfortunately the slopes were not quite as impressive.

@Hurricane: a shame that you missed the winter weather which does make a difference compared to the wet, grey snow (as shown in the pic baylabayla linked to above). Hope you got a change to try out the Sea Pool? You might recognize the church in the background of this pic which I took from the marina we keep our boat in, just around the corner from the market square.

 

[baylabayla3288]

One more "sea smoke" link. I hope the link works for u.

http://www.iltasanomat.fi/kotimaa/art-2000005036652.html?cs=email

The sudden drop in temperature to below - 20C with 15 - 20 m/s northern winds created some very exeptional weather phenomens. The cloud wall you can see further away at sea is actually a local blizzard. Later in the evening the winds shifted and it drifted ashore and we got a massive amount of snow along a limited costal area where I live. Appologies If the link does not work by clicking, then pls just copy past it into the browser's address field. If you scroll down there is a picture of northern lights wisible on the south coast at last week as well.

 

[gordmac]

Nice pictures, a bit of cold and snow would be nice. Rather wet here and I have daises appearing on my lawn!

 

[MapisM]

Great photos, love the mooring buoys.

Positively +1, and also the other pics are beautiful.
As much as I prefer warm weather, it's hard to deny the magic atmosphere of these winter landscapes.
Thanks for sharing them with us! :encouragement:

 

[Hardmy]

Thanks for the nice pics, Scuba! Two questions a little bit OT, is the ice now enough thick to drive with your car on the lake? I guess, you save of lot of time then when travelling from A to B? Must be fun to drive on such huge icy surfaces! In Savonlinna I saw some boxes which at first I thought were parking meters. But they must be some electric sockets to hook your car on, so it doesn't freeze. Correct? I just came back from E-Bohemia, beautiful weather but very cold. Some diesel cars parked outside wouldn't start with -20°...

@Portofino, looks we are almost neighbours. Since when do you leave there?
Pic #1 its probably Chaux cable car in the background. Pic has been shot from la Barboleusaz?
Pic #2 view from the Chamossaire looking towards Miroirs d'Argentine.

 

[scubaman]

Positively +1, and also the other pics are beautiful.
As much as I prefer warm weather, it's hard to deny the magic atmosphere of these winter landscapes.
Thanks for sharing them with us! :encouragement:

To add to the magic, over the holidays aurea borealis were spotted in southern Finland. Also, my colleague spent the new year in Levi, Kittilä and saw them many times. Great area to view them .

 

[scubaman]

Thanks for the nice pics, Scuba! Two questions a little bit OT, is the ice now enough thick to drive with your car on the lake? I guess, you save of lot of time then when travelling from A to B? Must be fun to drive on such huge icy surfaces! In Savonlinna I saw some boxes which at first I thought were parking meters. But they must be some electric sockets to hook your car on, so it doesn't freeze. Correct? I just came back from E-Bohemia, beautiful weather but very cold. Some diesel cars parked outside wouldn't start with -20°...

@Portofino, looks we are almost neighbours. Since when do you leave there?
Pic #1 its probably Chaux cable car in the background. Pic has been shot from la Barboleusaz?
Pic #2 view from the Chamossaire looking towards Miroirs d'Argentine.

Hi V,

For the most part the ice is thick enough for driving with a car. Otoh, the larger open bodies of water tend to freeze properly quite late, so the trouble is knowing precisely which parts are thick enough... personally I wouldn't go out in a car just yet, but maybe in a few weeks.

You're right, it is a lot of fun to drive on ice when there isn't much snow. You can spin a 360 from road speeds...Typically though there is so much snow that you can only drive on ploughed ice roads, which also serve a practical purpose as you mentioned. There is one road in the lake Pielinen in particular, that cuts the distance between two villages by 62 km's. Mostly, however, they are used to reach the summer cottages and go fishing.

Those boxes would indeed contain an electrical socket for car heaters. A coil of sort is inserted into the cooling circuit which will then warm up the engine. This makes cold starts so much less violent for the engines in low temps. Some also have fan heaters inside the car.

Edit: this is no fun...