AndieMac
Well-Known Member
You are making good progress K, you'll be there (Santio) in half an hour!
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The final leg of the delivery
- Thread starter scubaman
- Start date
scubaman
Well-Known Member
Made it to Lappeenranta!
A stiff F7 gave a pretty hairy ride but fortunately we were going downwind. I must admit feeling a bit hesitant when going out from Santio as the sea was full of white caps. Boat felt really solid and gave no reason for concern, but boy do you feel alive after good passage! The other thing was that the wasn't a single buoy on the russian side...
Everything went smoothly at russian border control and I was in Lappeenranta at around 9 pm to meet my family...
I'll post pics when I get back to my pc. Thanks and good night.
A stiff F7 gave a pretty hairy ride but fortunately we were going downwind. I must admit feeling a bit hesitant when going out from Santio as the sea was full of white caps. Boat felt really solid and gave no reason for concern, but boy do you feel alive after good passage! The other thing was that the wasn't a single buoy on the russian side...
Everything went smoothly at russian border control and I was in Lappeenranta at around 9 pm to meet my family...
I'll post pics when I get back to my pc. Thanks and good night.
AndieMac
Well-Known Member
Good to hear it went well. I enjoyed watching your progress on marine traffic.
Harpsden
Well-Known Member
Congratulations on a successful passage. Really interesting to follow your progress live.
Harpsden
Harpsden
scubaman
Well-Known Member
Hi,
A pictorial report of the delivery trip. As said earlier, it was very misty on Friday and very windy on Saturday so pics were either grey or non-presentable...
We left Turku in fair weather. I can imagine the Archipelago there being fantastic on a sunny day.
The fog thickened as we went along.
Arriving in Hanko, where we had a short break and worked out our next waypoints to Helsinki.
The sea is littered with rocks such as this. The routes are well buoyed but you really don't want to pass one from the wrong side...
Had to slow down every once in a while to go through the narrow parts. Despite the poor visibility we were able to keep good 24 knots on open the stretches of water.
Navigator hard at work.
It started raining heavily when we were arriving at Kotka and we had to put the canopies up and helm from below. It was interesting to watch the rain catch up on the radar.
The wide angle lens doesn't do justice on how close we passed the bow of this ship
The numerous small islands can easily hide a big ship and when you spot one on the radar you need to act fast.
When we arrived in Kotka on Friday evening it was pouring down. We saw some bright lights in the direction of the town and thought a steak would be well deserved.
Saturday morning looked completely different. The forecast was for F7 winds from south-west which meant that the coastal islands wouldn't provide much shelter on the last part to Vyborg. We decided to take the inshore route to Santio on the Finland/Russia -border and see how the conditions would look there.
Once in Santio with all the formalities handled, we decided to press on to Vyborg. I was a pretty hairy ride but the boat took it well.
We arrived at Vysotsk some time later. It's an old harbor and has a certain soviet era feel to it.
A pictorial report of the delivery trip. As said earlier, it was very misty on Friday and very windy on Saturday so pics were either grey or non-presentable...
We left Turku in fair weather. I can imagine the Archipelago there being fantastic on a sunny day.
The fog thickened as we went along.
Arriving in Hanko, where we had a short break and worked out our next waypoints to Helsinki.
The sea is littered with rocks such as this. The routes are well buoyed but you really don't want to pass one from the wrong side...
Had to slow down every once in a while to go through the narrow parts. Despite the poor visibility we were able to keep good 24 knots on open the stretches of water.
Navigator hard at work.
It started raining heavily when we were arriving at Kotka and we had to put the canopies up and helm from below. It was interesting to watch the rain catch up on the radar.
The wide angle lens doesn't do justice on how close we passed the bow of this ship
The numerous small islands can easily hide a big ship and when you spot one on the radar you need to act fast.
When we arrived in Kotka on Friday evening it was pouring down. We saw some bright lights in the direction of the town and thought a steak would be well deserved.
Saturday morning looked completely different. The forecast was for F7 winds from south-west which meant that the coastal islands wouldn't provide much shelter on the last part to Vyborg. We decided to take the inshore route to Santio on the Finland/Russia -border and see how the conditions would look there.
Once in Santio with all the formalities handled, we decided to press on to Vyborg. I was a pretty hairy ride but the boat took it well.
We arrived at Vysotsk some time later. It's an old harbor and has a certain soviet era feel to it.
scubaman
Well-Known Member
Vyborg from the sea. There were some really posh villas a bit further on into the canal. But also many left-overs from an era gone by.
The Russian customs is at the first lock at Brusnetcshnoe. No big changes there, the official was fishing (as was on our previous trip in 2007)
Once past the lock we decided to fill up at the fuel pontoon. Diesel was 0,8 eur/ltr.
Locks themselves are quite deep at around 8 - 10 meters and have floating bollards on the sides.
The Finnish passport control takes place at lake Nuijamaa after which it's a few more locks and you're on the Lake Saimaa.
I met the wife and kids in Lappeenranta where we spent the mother's day Sunday. We left the boat there and are heading back tomorrow. 24 C forecasted for Friday
All in all, despite the weather trying to complicate things everything went well. Actually, the varying conditions added to the adventure and made it all the more fun
Thanks for following my progress on the marinetraffic.com and for your kind wishes.
The Russian customs is at the first lock at Brusnetcshnoe. No big changes there, the official was fishing (as was on our previous trip in 2007)
Once past the lock we decided to fill up at the fuel pontoon. Diesel was 0,8 eur/ltr.
Locks themselves are quite deep at around 8 - 10 meters and have floating bollards on the sides.
The Finnish passport control takes place at lake Nuijamaa after which it's a few more locks and you're on the Lake Saimaa.
I met the wife and kids in Lappeenranta where we spent the mother's day Sunday. We left the boat there and are heading back tomorrow. 24 C forecasted for Friday
All in all, despite the weather trying to complicate things everything went well. Actually, the varying conditions added to the adventure and made it all the more fun
Thanks for following my progress on the marinetraffic.com and for your kind wishes.
volvopaul
Well-Known Member
Hi kivi, great to hear your safe and sound, great pics those nasty little islands come up quick! I'd hate to be wedged on top of one.
Thanks for a great report.
Thanks for a great report.
jimmy_the_builder
Well-Known Member
Good pics and report, thanks for posting. It's interesting to see the pics of the places (eg Hanko) that you reported from during your 'real time' posting from the boat.
Cheers
Jimmy
Cheers
Jimmy
rafiki_
Well-Known Member
Again, nice pics Scuby. I guess you had a few hearstopping moments in the fog and rain!..How well are the rocks and hazards marked on the charts?
AndieMac
Well-Known Member
Nice report SM, good to see the waterways from sea level.
The many islands on a good vis day would be spectacular, but a horror in the fog, especially trying to cover a reasonable distance.
The Russian side looks bleak, but just as I would have imagined it to be. I reckon it to quite interesting to explore though.
Where will your home port/berth be?
The many islands on a good vis day would be spectacular, but a horror in the fog, especially trying to cover a reasonable distance.
The Russian side looks bleak, but just as I would have imagined it to be. I reckon it to quite interesting to explore though.
Where will your home port/berth be?
scubaman
Well-Known Member
They are well marked and you're fine on the marked routes but people also explore extensively outside them. Though I'd be treading carefully as there are just so many rocks out there.
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scubaman
Well-Known Member
I just confirmed a new place to keep our boat the coming summer. It's in Sahanlahti. It's a good place as you can go to many different directions and there are some nice islands with facilities such as pontoons, fireplaces and saunas within easy reach. This being one of our favorites. There are also many places to drop the hook and islands you can claim for yourself for the weekend.
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EME
Well-Known Member
Brilliant post and pics .. Thank You
vas
Well-Known Member
could we have more pics of the Russian part/canals/cities/etc please!
Remind me to an extent the images I captured on a longish trip along coastal Georgia (road trip to be exact!) They are extremely interesting and I'd really like to visit such areas again!
second Q, are these lakes deep or do they freeze over winter?
I guess you liftout and store in a heated depot...
cheers
V.
Remind me to an extent the images I captured on a longish trip along coastal Georgia (road trip to be exact!) They are extremely interesting and I'd really like to visit such areas again!
second Q, are these lakes deep or do they freeze over winter?
I guess you liftout and store in a heated depot...
cheers
V.
DTIM
Well-Known Member
Great report and pics as usual and I have to agree the Russian ports looked a little bleak but interesting all the same.
AndieMac
Well-Known Member
You wouldn't have a problem claiming one sm......there must be at least one island for each person in the country
scubaman
Well-Known Member
You wouldn't have a problem claiming one sm......there must be at least one island for each person in the country
That's true. But the nice thing is that even though if the land in question is privately owned, you are by law allowed to exercise your "every man's right" and explore it at your will (as long as you don't do it at the immediate surroundings of someone's cottage).
scubaman
Well-Known Member
That's true, they are interesting. And made all the more exciting by the fact that if you run into a spot of trouble it's a bit of wild wild east to sort things out. We did a three-day trip to Vyborg some years ago. I'll post pics of the trip when I get back from the boat (sunday/monday).
The deepest point is around 100 meters, but obviously varies hugely from area to area. Lakes do freeze a meter thick over winter. I have a nice warm shed lined up for the autumn. As said before, there are over 3000 km's of charted navigable routes in Lake Saimaa and probably thousands more off the beaten track so there's a lot to explore.
BartW
Well-Known Member
Interesting report Scubaman, and nice pics.
and apreciate that you have a huge area to explore,
Delivery trip almost fished, good luch with the (easy ?) last leg.
thanks for posting
and apreciate that you have a huge area to explore,
Delivery trip almost fished, good luch with the (easy ?) last leg.
thanks for posting
scubaman
Well-Known Member
Final report of the final stage of the delivery, which actually wasn't so much a delivery but an extended weekend outing. We went to Lappeenranta on Wednesday night. I was amazed to see so many boats still on the hard. Summer is short as it is, the boats should be out on the water, IMHO.
We spent Thursday there doing some final cleaning. Weather was fab with 25 C and a gentle breeze from south. On Friday the gas man came and fitted a new gas hose and a regulator. We then drove to the nearby Satamon saari for the weekend. It's a lagoon shaped island with very sheltered pontoons at either end of the lagoon and two saunas, ofcourse.
Saturday went by walking in the forest, preparing deer sausages on the fire, etc. I changed new fender ropes (I should have gotten thicker). Kids had a go at fishing but the catch was poor, probably due to lack of decent bait (left over sausages carved in the shape of a worm...).
A police Targa came by to check things out on Saturday night.
On Sunday I dropped the wife and kids back to Lappeenranta to pick up our car. I drove the boat to Puumala and met them there. A few pics from the trip.
These pics are from the open waters of greater Saimaa.
A flag and a wake shot
Approaching Kyläniemi
Puumala was awakening from hibernation.
Stig's waterborne cousin... from Puumala?
The marina lies on the right, under the bridge.
We left the boat there for a fortnight.
There wasn't many boats around, but interestingly the sail boat in the picture was from Portsmouth. I regret not taking the time to go and say hello and wish him welcome to Saimaa. I hope to get another change later.
Her new berth is a few miles away at Sahanlahti, but I'm not going to do a report on moving her there, so this concludes my report on getting the boat the her new home.
Thank's for sharing the trip with me
We spent Thursday there doing some final cleaning. Weather was fab with 25 C and a gentle breeze from south. On Friday the gas man came and fitted a new gas hose and a regulator. We then drove to the nearby Satamon saari for the weekend. It's a lagoon shaped island with very sheltered pontoons at either end of the lagoon and two saunas, ofcourse.
Saturday went by walking in the forest, preparing deer sausages on the fire, etc. I changed new fender ropes (I should have gotten thicker). Kids had a go at fishing but the catch was poor, probably due to lack of decent bait (left over sausages carved in the shape of a worm...).
A police Targa came by to check things out on Saturday night.
On Sunday I dropped the wife and kids back to Lappeenranta to pick up our car. I drove the boat to Puumala and met them there. A few pics from the trip.
These pics are from the open waters of greater Saimaa.
A flag and a wake shot
Approaching Kyläniemi
Puumala was awakening from hibernation.
Stig's waterborne cousin... from Puumala?
The marina lies on the right, under the bridge.
We left the boat there for a fortnight.
There wasn't many boats around, but interestingly the sail boat in the picture was from Portsmouth. I regret not taking the time to go and say hello and wish him welcome to Saimaa. I hope to get another change later.
Her new berth is a few miles away at Sahanlahti, but I'm not going to do a report on moving her there, so this concludes my report on getting the boat the her new home.
Thank's for sharing the trip with me
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