Men are rewarded and punished not for what they do,
but rather for how their acts are defined.
This is why men are more interested in better justifying themselves
than in better behaving themselves.
-Thomas Szasz-


Map: ©Microsoft Encarta World Atlas




DEPARTURE 14.6.2008

IN SICKNESS AND IN HEALTH...

Aliisa's mooring in the YC Sindbad was the most public place and next to the gate that had the most frequent traffic of fellow sailors and their visitors. In addition, I had - perhaps foolishly and definitely egoistically - put a large Aussie flag up. Concentrating on all the work to be done onboard was not always easy, particularly after "homeward bound, part 1" had been published in the Finnish VENE magazine. The problem was exasperated by my own eagerness to talk, talk and talk. Half the day was easily spent chit-chatting with passers by about our departure.


The dawn is breaking and we're heading south, at last! A little rum with my coffe. The temperature is barely above 5C, water 10C. The steering pedestal is full of new toys.


I was quite nervous about the departure. Annina - despite having sailed across the Atlantic in a 51ft training schooner with 8 crew - was totally green. Perhaps she was not as green as she made herself be, she just defaulted to the "I can't do it" rather than "I can do it". Many people do and while I am often annoyed by the fact that she's not more able, I am also pleased that she is careful, cautious and not cocky. (Unlike me...)

We had planned for a champagne brekkie, but then cancelled it. "I don't really feel like champagne" were words that I thought I will never hear my dear wife say. I didn't get it at first, but when she crawled down to the saloon bunk, I realised that she was a little sick. We had less than 10kn of wind and an old 0.7m swell. I had killed the engine and hoisted the sails and Aliisa was nodding and rolling over the little waves and less than 3 knots, making the motion, not too bad, but a little irregular and annoying.

The wind picked up soon and while Ansku returned to the aft cabin fully clothed and completely under the covers, waiting for our arrival in the tropics, I made another coffe with rum and turned on the old Tom Waits album (In the heart of Saturday night). I could not have been happier. Aliisa was plowing the sea and getting closer to the equator by the hour. (By now the wind was a good 15kn on the beam and the equator was nearing at about 154 meters or 0.08 miles every minute. Bugger about the compulsory detours)


"I don't feel like champagne" were the words I thought I would never hear her say. She came alive at 10 am. The adjustment period was only 6 hours. Very good! (Champagne on arrival)


Shipping is very busy in the Baltic. Without a radar or AIS, my biggest concern is the bastard fog, too common in these waters.


After passing my Ham exam, I took some time on the first day at sea to study the regulations and frown at the nerd-lingo. Nevertheless, I'm proud to have my licence and will be more radioactive with my SSB than ever before!


The passage was a non-event. The new Simrad WP32 - unfortunately no longer in production - was doing a fantastic job. Unlike the old Raymarine ST3000, the new Simrad was very quiet and easy to engage. The only dark cloud over the passage was my health. I had come down with a flu almost a month earlier, already gone through a 10-day course of antibiotics for a sinus infection and just a few days before departure, developed a bronchitis. I got the strongest antibiotics for seven days. The dry cough and tiredness did not abate and the bloddy acid pills I was forced to take made my stomach a boiling couldron of pea soup. Oh, and it had to be emptied every two hours. (Nice to squirt yellow liquid out of your ass all day long..)

Still, I was very happy. I was back where I belong! My wife Annina was the best thing that ever happened to me. Aliisa was full of new toys. Her interior was better then ever before, despite my own amateur installations. Most importantly, Aliisa was at sea.

LOHUSALU, ESTONIA

Late afternoon rain put a bit of a damper on things, but the harbourmaster's welcome at Lohusalu was warm. The sauna was on and Aliisa back on shore power. Before we had time to hang our rainjackets to dry, we had opened the small bottle of champagne. The one we skipped in the morning. As the rain eased the day morning, we were firmly glued to our laptops. Pity the wlan only worked in the cockpit. How can one live without the internet?

Lohusalu is an outpost. Or that's what it seems. Apart from the modern harbour and its facilities, there are only old buildings, small farms and lots of countryside. There is a shop 3km away, but we never walked that far. There is also a bus the the bustling Tallinn but we never bothered either. Okay, the harbour had the most beautiful and super-clean sauna, fast wlan internet and a very decent restaurant. Bu we were on the move, and the weather gave us a chance to push down to Gotland.


Welcome to Lohusalu. Aliisa's circumnavigation is on the move again. We got away from Finland!

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