Our position is 60:10.448N 21.33.374E

Distance covered 26.6 Nm

The morning brought a scare when Ted observed that there seemed to be black contamination in the fuel filter. In 2014 the engine had stopped while we were going into Salcombe, due to contaminated fuel, and the work involved in cleaning the tank over a Bank Holiday, while stuck out on the outermost visitors mooring didn’t bear repeating. On this occasion a change of fuel filter and a session on the internet reading about the effect of the additive we have been using since then, calmed our fears, particularly as running the fuel through a coffee filter paper didn’t leave a residue.

We had planned to go to Lappo after Sottunga but partly because of the extra day for Midsummer and partly because the wind seemed set in the South and although that would have been good for getting to Lappo it would have made it more difficult to get back to the island of Korppoo, so we decided to miss out Lappo and leave the Aland islands, going straight to Verkan on Korppoo in the Turku archipelago.

In the event we didn’t have to worry too much about the engine as it was a glorious sail, with a full spectrum of points of sailing but predominately close hauled. Even seemingly open stretches of water require quite a bit of rock dodging though.

 Tricky navigation between islands as we sail West

This ferry only went from one island to another but it managed many crossings a day by minimising its waiting time

and we still had to contend with the larger ferries

When we arrived there were quite a few young people wearing orange shirts labelled ‘crew’ directing boats to berths and taking warps. The harbour seemed quite full but we squeezed in on the outer end of the pontoon and when we went ashore discovered that there was a big party in a tent on the quay planned for the evening. As there had also been a 90s night the day before I guess not many boats had left in the morning.

A relaxed atmosphere in the harbour and boats were decorated in honour of Midsummer

  and so was the harbour

  An official patrol boat motored slowly back and forth early in the evening , making his presence felt. Drink boating laws in Finland are very strict.

 This tern kept finding most unlikely perches but had an eagle eye for the fish in the water

Although we were given tickets to the party as part of the harbour fees, we chose instead to go to bed, thinking we would probably hear the music anyway. In the event we went straight to sleep and heard nothing. However the next morning we knew a good time must have been had by all as the harbour was still and silent, with no movement on most boats and the only sign of life was the harbour crew fishing beer cans out of the water with nets.

Post party detritus

We had decided to stay another day and catch up on laundry, but when people started emerging around midday most of them left straight away, presumably because they had to get to work on Monday. This was certainly true for the people on the boat next to ours, who had come from Turku, but before they left they passed on some recommendations of good places to visit in the archipelago, which we were very grateful for as our information was quite limited once we left the Aland Islands.

The harbour empties

The laundry proved more difficult than expected as I couldn’t work out how to get the machine to open and neither could the expert summoned by the cleaner. In consequence I was instructed to use the staff machine, situated in a small room that seemed to be suffering from a minor flood. I was told I could use their dryer as well but when I returned to empty the machine it seemed to be in use already so I took our washing to the visitors’ dryer, which did work although it took a while.

Laundry successfully completed we rewarded ourselves with a meal at the on-site restaurant (a lot less busy than the previous night) and enjoyed excellent ribs, recommended by the people on the  boat next to us. We hadn’t seen much of the island but we had completed some useful tasks.

  A good dinner