Friday afternoon, after work, we depart from Nynäshamn for the first segment of the vacation, from Nynäshamn to Hanko at the southwest tip of Finland. A 165 mile ride directly through the Baltic. Weather 4D was clear that leaving Friday evening with significant northern winds was the best way to get through this. The routage from the app indicated a 24 hour cruise. It took us 25. Not bad app!
Hanko marina, the largest in Finland!
Here is on a map the route that we followed.
A night sailing at this time of the year is fascinating as during the 6 hour night, the sun remains very close under the horizon, illuminating the clouds for hours from above.
Passing Muskö, with light side winds.
Typical impression of midnight sailing in the Stockholm archipelago.
The rise of the moon, just after the full moon.
A short video around midnight
Reaching the open sea provides even more light in the night.
One hour before the sunrise, the venus belt does appear. I presented it in a post last year when we sailed southwards around midsummer. Interestingly, this time we observed it before the sunrise. It results from the sun still behind the horizon starting to colour the upper layers of the sky while the shadow of earth is visible as a band of "colder" blueish colour right on the horizon.
One hour before sunrise...
In fact, the sailing during the night was tough, with strong winds between 12 to 14 m/s (24 to 28 knots), requiring the trinquette and two and at times three reefs. A lot of exercise to keep the speed of the boat optimised so as to make it in the planned duration.
The reward in Hanko was to get a nice berth along side at the extremity of the centre pier on the picture.
Belisama in Hanko marina
Even better...
On a sad point, when arriving on Friday in Nynäshamn, we discovered that the catway had not been able to cope with the lateral wind and bended to the extent that the right back of the hull touched the pier and created some bad scratches to the paint! See the bending of the bars! I had to leave the berth in quite an emergency! And the catway did not get back straight when I left.
How the wind on the hull can strain a catway!
This one now for François. I have just tested the new anchor sail that I designed and assembled last week using an old sail from my previous boat, in prevision of the anchoring in heavy winds that could happen during this summer trip along the Finish coast. This was the first trial raising it while moored along side in Hanko. It fitted perfectly. Looking forward testing it in our anchorage tomorrow as we approach from Helsinki.
thank you for the picture. You did it! we keep contact for the try!Have a nice trip in Finland.
ReplyDelete