The rain eventually let go and we continued towards Taalintehdas. It was a short paddling day. We made camp some kilometers south of Taalintehdas at sn island called Granholmen.
Day 13: Rest continued until rain storms pass…
Month: June 2016
Day 12: Gustavsörarna – Sandvik .. and some rest!
Our previous days paddle lasted til midnight. We landed at Gustavsörarna. An island in the middle of a big bit of water. Weather forecast had a highwinds storms approaching sometime today.. so we broke camp around 0500 and continued to a better camp location at Sandvik. The rest of the day was spent washing, fixing eating and sleeping..
Day 11: Lilla Mistö -Fladalandet – Gränskär – Hanko – Gustavsörarnä
Day 10: Stora Fagerö – Bärösund – Tallholmen – Lilla Mistö
Sunny day. Winds SW @ approx 10 m/s.. = headwind. After 19 km of trying to ho on, we made ashore st Tallholmen had an afternoon nap ( 4 hrs) before continuing after thr wind speed dropped to sbout 5-6 m/s.. paddled till 2300.
Day 9: Skorvan – Porkkala – Stora Fagerö
The days biggest event would be crossing Porkkala bay/ fjord! Notorious for choppy seas the bay can be annoying to cross. For once we were lucky! As we approached Porkkala peninsula the Northwind simmered down and the waters were readonably wave free. Piece of piss! Never been this easy!
Day 8: Vuosaari – Suomenlinna – Hernesaari – Pihlajasaari – Skorvan
A saturday. For the first time we had a tailwindforecast for our intended route.. NE @ possibly 14+ m/s! The direction was ok but the numbers were a bit hairy!
Another issue was that it was a saturday AND we had to cross Helsinki waters laterally east to west… Not fun! I really cannot recommend it to anyone.. who values their sanity in any way. Ofcourse there the the commercial traffic which behaves and is predictable although is ALOT of it!!
The there is the normal smallboat traffic.. which is mostly harmless stuff in itself. But when you add to the mix random big yachties, a couple classes of sailing competitions (100+ optimist dingies plus support boats) and the usual mix of sailboats and sightseeing tour boats doing their thing ghen a couple sea kayaks really have no space to be in! Its a bit like trying to crawl across a six-lane freeway during rush hour and expecting not to get hit… not going to happen!
We did survive Helsinki crossing .. not going to do that again anytime soon in this life..
The rest of the days paddling went well.. we had a tailwind which gave a nicepush southwest along the coast. I believe this was the first fullday of tailwind during this trip.
We visited Skorvan isle’ where we were invited to stay the night by our hosts, Helsinki based sea kayaking club Merimelojat ry.
Day 7: Norrholmen – Onaslandet – Kaunissaari – Kallahti
We woke up to a near freezing chilly morning atop a cold rock at Norrholmen isle. We skipped breakfast, took down camp snd set off paddling in a cloudy overcast but still calm weather to round the southern tip of Emäsalo.
After paddling some 9 kms we stopped for a quick breakfast at the western point of Onaslandet. At this point the clouds removed themselves towards the south and the sun came out!
At this stage the wind was from the S @ approx 3-4 m/s. This was the first time I dared to use the SeaDog Commander sail unreefed. The help from the sail was minimal but noticeable!
We made good time to Kaunissaari in hopes for a cafe.. there was a cafe but it wouldn’t open for another 2 hours.. slightly annoyed by this we settled for our thermos teas and a couple handfuls of trailmix before continuing to the days final destination: Kallahti , Natura Viva Paddling center.
Just as we were leaving Kaunissaari thunderstorm in the north near Vuosaari port looked like it might turn south as the winds were gusting up and blowing from the north!! A quick route replan and we headed south thru the safety of a group of isles before turning back west again towards Hattusaari and Natura Viva. Enroute had to play ‘wait and see’ with another dark thundercell before crossing over 4 shipping lanes to Hattusaari… almost there!
After a quick Snickers chocolate bar “lunch”, we made it to the NaturaViva oadfling center quite easily.
