Finland – Fi & Adrian

By Adrian

We left Anemis in the anchorage a few hours after the crack of dawn and mostly motored out through the archipelago. The summer houses got smaller and the motor boats more utilitarian until finally we reached open sea.

We didn’t know where we were going. The autopilot was set to head comfortably high into the wind so we would reach one of the thousands of anchorages in Aland before dark. The wind gradually shifted north so it wasn’t until the last few miles that we were able to choose an anchorage for the night.

We had barely dropped the anchor before a group of intimidating men dressed in black in a high powered black rib approached us. We have never been sure why customs people don’t wear something a little more jolly. After an extensive grilling (How many people are you, and where are you from?) they left us as quickly as they had appeared and we were officially cleared in.

Aland is an autonomous region of Finland with its own courtesy flag.

Over the next few days Bernie, Tara and I explored the islands by dinghy and paddle board while Fi recovered from a bout of covid.

We found a very *shallow* narrow gap between two islands. We were considering whether we could fit through when a local rowed through from the other direction. We asked if the passage was navigable and it turned out it was, he was off to set his fish trap for dinner and his father had sailed grain from Australia on the square riggers.

No contest in the coolest sunnies competition…and I have a cool hat too!

We were only a few miles from Mariehamn, the main town in the Alands. In this marina you grab a buoy and quickly attach it the stern/bow as you crash into the dock. It was our first one of this type so we decided to make it more difficult by reversing in with a cross wind. No-one died.

This ship is parked at Mariehamn and used to go to Australia to pick up supplies. The museum plotted the history of the region from the earliest settlement to the conflicts of the last century.

After a few days looking round Mariehamn we set sail for Rodhamn, an island 10 miles away. Along the way we confirmed the depth between two rocky outcrops was less than 2.8m. Fi took the honours confirming the depth by leaving the marked channel and running over a rock which made quite a fun scraping and banging noise as the lifting centreboard bashed over it. Fi said Covid Brain did it…

Rodhamn had a small museum, a sauna with a view and they delivered fresh bread to the boat each morning. If it didn’t ice over in winter we might never have left.

Fi was clearly still suffering a fever as she braved the Baltic waters

Sauna with a view. Before plunging into the Baltic it is advisable to channel ones inner Viking, or sit in a sauna until the water looks inviting.

The harbour masters office and place of fresh cinnamon scrolls.

After a couple of nights we reluctantly headed east. The big red sail scared the light wind away and we motored most of the way. Finding an island to ourselves is not hard in this part of the world.

We tied up to the rocks and set about exploring

Fi climbed the mast for a better view, and to change the faulty wind instruments

And we contemplated our windless anchorage

The winds for the next few days only gave one opportunity for a trip back to Sweden. It seemed appropriate that our last trip in the Alands, like all the others, was upwind.

Our chosen anchorage was full of boats, but a quiet bay around the corner was empty.

There is always an empty bay not too far Away

There were blueberries and raspberries in the woods

The wind changed direction as we finished our walk around the island so we hurried back to the boat and left as we were now uncomfortably on a lee shore. We sailed through the archipelago towards a possible restaurant for lunch.

As lunch ended, the band started. Lunch quickly turned into dinner, and dinner into an overnight stay. Funny how that happens.

The next morning as we headed around the corner to find a spot for breakfast we discovered we were booked in a Stockholm marina that day. Our short breakfast trip turned into a full day sail back into Stockholm.

It was strangely familiar arriving at the marina and hearing the screams of a thousand tortured teenagers emanating from the rides next door.

Next time in Stockholm, we find a very old boat, then Bernie and I go for a walk while Fi and Tara go for a ride.

By Fi

When we last left you, we had just moored up in the convenient Wasahamnen marina in Stockholm, which funnily enough had the rollercoasters of Gröna Lund right next door, complete with 10am-10pm screams every day of the week. To be fair, hearing thousands of people having so much fun simply added to the atmosphere of the place, and made me desperate to ride on the rollercoasters. BUT – first stop was the ABBA museum! Big city life!

The museum is a short walk (past the rollercoasters) from the marina and we decided to not waste a minute, and went straight down there after docking the boat and giving Bernie a bit of a sniff around.

These were exceptional wax statues of the band.

My favourite Frida and Agnetha costumes.

There was a large area with a number of their original costumes behind glass being preserved.

These puppets were used in an advertisement. They are Jim Henson’s designs.

One of the biggest reasons we are in Stockholm is because we are picking up our first visitor from Australia who is flying in to Stockholm to spend some time with us. Tara is Adrian’s daughter and Adrian met her at the airport for her first sailing holiday!

The best way to get over jet lag is to keep moving while there is day light. Or in this case, because its day light till midnight, just keep moving until you stop. We wandered around to keep Tara moving and saw this cool old tram.

Nordica museum close to the marina was a spectacular building.

I’m certain that Bernie thinks he looks similar to this

Our plan from Stockholm is to sail to the Åland islands, which is an autonomous part of Finland, so we needed to do a little provisioning, get Bernie vaccinated, and make a sail plan. We also had friends in another Garcia Exploration 45 that we wanted to meet up with too. So unfortunately, not a lot of jet lag recovery time for Tara or much big city exploring for us yet, as we were on the move again. I didn’t get to do the rollercoasters this time but we plan to be back in Stockholm in a few weeks.

Until next time you crazy rollercoasters with all your screaming fans.

We left Stockholm on a sunny afternoon and navigated through the archipelago mostly successfully. We only had to navigate through about a dozen fast moving ferries, plus the gigantic passenger liners that frequent the area, and only got beeped once by a chain ferry who popped out at the last minute (those things are pretty scary), but otherwise an uneventful passage to a beautiful anchorage where our friends on Anemis were waiting for us!