Arrival in Helsinki
Aquila
Alan and Sarah Bennett
Tue 4 Jul 2017 14:03
60:10.2N 24:57.7E
Once the power boats piped down we had a very calm and quiet night at anchorage, preceded by attempts at fly fishing with a "wee dram" in hand. Skipper caught the spinnaker line, Pips got the guard rail and Sebastian showed us how it should be done. He had a fish nearby, but just not quite near enough...
This morning we set off through the remainder of the Finnish archipelago before joining the fairway of other yachts heading NE. A sudden curtain of fog meant navigation became somewhat challenging, with Sebastian doing a cracking job identifying our course for us.
Soup and baked beans warmed us up as a following breeze sped us on the way towards Helsinki, where the fun began! Talk about navigational hazards! We had cardinal marks up the ying yang, leading lines, reverse leading lines, channel markers - and if all that wasn't hard enough throw in huge cruise ships, other yachts, little racing dinghies...you name it, we had it. We finally crept around the corner and are alongside in the city centre beneath the Orthodox cathedral, and Aquila has made it above 60 degrees latitude for the first time! Quite a milestone. Today's "crew of the day" award most definitely goes to Sebastian, whose navigation was absolutely first rate. Aquila awaits the arrival of her mistress tomorrow!