Jun 20, 2002
I finally got around creating our e-mailing list, so here comes the first
message via the Iridium satellite phone.
Everything is going great, we have enjoyed the great hospitality of the
Siltala Yachts' owners and the Jarvelainens while staying in Turku. The
boat is great, and the kids are excited about the new adventures. We have
had mostly sunny days, and got a chance to try the sauna and go swimming a
couple of times.
We left on our voyage on Saturday last week. Currently we are in Stockholm,
Sweden, right next to the Wasa-ship museum. We have seen some good winds,
yesterday we sailed with a triple reef on the main and the storm staysail
beating into a 25kt wind. The archipelagos outside of Turku, Ahvenanmaa,
and Stockholm are really beautiful. We wish we had more time to spend
around here.
We are really happy with the boat. It sure feels like a "big boat" around
the marinas here, we're glad we have a bowthruster. The mainsail is huge,
but we're learning to tame the beast, while getting good light air
performance off wind. The extra space compared to our old 35-footer makes a
big difference, we really feel very comfortable in our new home.
Nikki has been really good in keeping the boys busy, while I've been
fiddling with the boat. The boys have rotating chores for every day, and
they are filling in their journals and logbooks. We have also slowly
started with home schooling, although we have been quite busy doing other
things. The most peculiar wildlife spectacle was a moose swimming right
across our bow near Turku.
Jun 26, 2002
Greetings from the beautiful city of Visby in Gotland! The sail to Gotland
was quite variable with the wind on our starboard quarter anywhere between
calm and fresh. We were being threatened by some really mean looking
thunderstorms, but luckily they seemed to lose most of their punch over the
sea. It feels a bit unnerving having a 66ft metal stick (the mast) with
nothing else around where the lightning could strike. We did have our wind
meter knocked out of operation by an electric pulse, but luckily we didn't
suffer a direct hit. Our mast is grounded, but nevertheless we are always
putting our critical instruments (handheld GPS, handheld VHF radio, EPIRB)
in the microwave oven, which serves as a convenient Faraday's cage. We also
tell the kids to stay clear of the mast, which runs through the lower salon.
When the wind was fresh (20 kts) we were sailing beautifully at up to 8 kts.
Gotland is a big island in the Baltic Sea that has a very long history. It
belongs to Sweden these days, but it is an island that was coveted by many
nations in the past. Visby wasn't exactly on our way, and we knew that we'd
have to bash upwind to get back to the mainland, but it sure was worth the
visit. We spent the whole day yesterday walking around the old hansa town
surrounded by a 30ft tall stone wall: we saw all the main historical
attractions and visited the excellent museum. Luckily we were there just
before the main tourist/yachting season, so we had plenty of space in the
main guest harbor, which can get really crowded with a Mediterranean style
atmosphere and lots of boats from many countries .
Actually, we are back to mainland Sweden already, in a small idyllic Swedish
village called Figeholm in southern Sweden. There are a couple dozen German
yachts here, one Dutch yacht and us Americans. There's a Swedish accordion
player trying to play German music (sounds almost passable), and old Germans
partying and dancing around him. We are getting the hang of catching the
stern buoy, tying bow to, and fixing the bow ladder to climb down on the
dock. It sure is a high jump before the ladder is down: makes us realize
that we aren't that young any more. The buoys are a bit too close to the
dock for us (being longer than most boats), so we sometimes catch two buoys
and pull them to the sides of the boat.
The ride today was a bit rough: bashing into big seas with the wind straight
on our nose for 10 hours. We were too lazy/didn't have enough time to tack
into the wind, so we just motored instead. The boys were first really
excited (especially Antti) about the free roller coaster ride, until they
all got seasick. They cuddled up in the aft cabin and took a long nap, and
then watched a movie, and slowly gained their sea legs again. They didn't
eat anything the whole day, but then we had an extra big dinner with juicy
steaks and potato salad in the harbor. Nikki ate some smelly rotten fish
that was forgotten in a corner of the fridge that nobody else would have
gone near. If your stomach can take that, then there's nothing that the
seas can do!
We have some problems with some of our electronic toys (not a big surprise I
guess), so Siltala Yachts is trying to arrange an electrician to come and
look at them in Kalmar, which is our next destination. The GPS throws in
the towel on occasion, the TV-antenna reception isn't good, and the Navtex
instrument doesn't seem to work. None of these are really hampering our
voyage, but we sure look forward to having them fixed. Other than that the
boat has worked really great, and we were impressed about the smooth and
relatively dry ride despite the big seas today. We have seen many other
Nauticats around here as well.
We enjoy very much hearing back from you. Since we have a very slow
satellite connection (2,400 baud), we'd like to request that you delete all
this text if you reply. Also, please no pictures or any other attachments.
Jul 1, 2002
Today (Sunday) we hit our first nasty gale. The Baltic Sea is no lake, it's
a very large body of water with big waves. We left Kalmar this morning at 5:30
am,
and got a gale warning on the VHF-radio at about 9:30 am. Well, it didn't
look too bad yet (despite the dark clouds), and there was no convenient
harbor for shelter close by, so we decided to just keep going. Once we got
in the open offshore waters the waves started getting nastier, but the wind
wasn't that strong yet. Once we rounded the southeastern corner of Sweden,
the wind started blowing gale force (30+ kts, highest gust to 37.4 kts), but
now it didn't make sense turning back any more. The waves were quite
confused, big, and steep around the cape that we had to round. We didn't
have any sail up, since we had been going straight upwind between Oland and
Sweden, but luckily the boat is quite steady even without sails. Once we
had to turn sidewind we were too scared to go wrestle with the sails, so we
kept motoring and dodging the breakers. I missed a couple of them, which
crashed on the topsides and washed right over the boat with a lot of noise
(yes, I forgot to lock down the hatch on top of the pilothouse, so I got
soaked). I decided to go and steer from outside instead, even though Nikki
was reluctant to let me go (I was wearing a harness and buckled up of
course). I wanted to put on a rain coat and pants, but in the confusion put
on two coats with no pants, yay. Anyway, what a difference! Now I had a
commanding view of the big waves and developing breakers around us, so
I could steer around/into them. After a while we were
able to turn downwind towards Karlskrona. Ahh, what a relief: surfing down
big waves is actually fun!
Well, we were a bit shaken, but we know very well that the boat can take a
lot more punishment than that. Antti and Thomas were actually having a
blast (as usual), but Matti was staring at the waves with awe. Luckily
nobody got seasick this time. In retrospect it was a good and educational
experience, but next time we'll stay in port, at least if the course is
upwind.
It seems to get cooler the farther south we go. The temperature barely reac
hes 60F, and nobody has mentioned swimming for a few days. Looks like this
weather system will continue for a while, but it's good for touring around
the towns and visiting museums. It's a bit frustrating to have the wind
constantly on our nose, and have dark clouds with the occasional
thunderstorm and gales looming around us. But we are still in very good
spirits, and we are sure the real summer will return.
Jul 5, 2002
Yesterday we decided that we had seen enough of Sweden. Sweden didn't treat
us with very good weather, but the villages were very idyllic and clean.
The archipelago around Stockholm was definitely the best. By now the boys
probably know more about the Swedish naval history than the average Swede,
so the "field trip" has been educational, too.
Yesterday morning we started a long passage over the southwestern Baltic to
Denmark. First we had to make a stop at a fuel station which was open only
from 8:00 to 8:30 am! We were there half an our early to get in a good
position on line. Umm, the diesel had no color, and was fizzling and
bubbling like carbonated water. Well, the engine still runs. While backing
out of the fuel dock the boat suddenly stopped to a halt: we had hit a crane
with our mast; luckily we didn't suffer any visible damage.
We are now on the Island of Moen at a small resort called Klinthamn. We got
hit by a gale again, but this time we made it into the harbor (at 9 pm
yesterday) before it started. The wind was howling at up to 38kts, and we
had a very rocky night at the dock with no shelter from the wind and swell
rolling into the harbor. In the midst of it we didn't forget to celebrate
4th of July. Once the boat looked reasonably well secured, we dug out some
good old American junkfood, did a toast, Matti played "My country this of
thee" on the recorder, and the boys read the Declaration of Independence
aloud. All this in a noisy, rocking boat with howling wind, pouring rain,
and darkness around. Maybe just a gentle reminder for the fight for
independence! Luckily today the weather has been nice, and we have been
enjoying the resort.
For tomorrow the Danish forecast calls for north wind and the German
forecast for south wind. Either one would work for us, but they may just as
well both be wrong! In southern Sweden we had one day of great sailing
between Karlskrona and Karlshamn, otherwise the wind has been either
non-existent or straight on our nose (SW). We want to find a nice place to
anchor so that we can heat up the sauna and go swimming, which we haven't
done for a while.
Greetings,
Juha, Nikki, Matti, Thomas, and Antti
S/Y Amati
Here's from Matti:
June 20, 2002
Hi! Stockholm was great. We saw the Kings castle and old buildings. This was
also a big place to go food shopping. Stockholm had even an underground
city. There were many museums. We went to the most famous museum, called the
Vasa museum, where we saw a real ship built in 1628. This ship was built to
defeat the Polands. When this ship started its first trip, it tipped to one
side, then the other. Then back to the other. This happened for 2 hours
until it accually sunk. It had many carvings and lots of gold painted on it.
It had 64 cannons. It sank because the hull wasn't heavy enough, so its
cannons on each side where heavier which made the boat capsize and sink.
This museum has the oldest ship in the world. We also celebrated midsummer
and saw hot air balloons.We then had to leave for our next harbor.
June 22, 2002
During the sailing trip, we ran into our first storm for the trip. That was
also the time when I lost a tooth. My surprise was a bottle ship of the Vasa
ship, a T-shirt of it, and a pen. When we reached the place, the storm
stopped. We took a hike on land. When we got back to the boat. It started to
storm again. Then stopped. Then stormed. Then stopped. Then stormed. Then
stopped.
June 24, 2002
This was a very long passage in a storm, across the Baltic sea to Gotland.
When we got there, we went to sleep. The next day, we took a walk in town in
Visby, Gotland. Walls surrounded Visby and you could not drive a car. It was
sort of a village in the early 1800s. We went to a museum in Visby and
learned about Gotland. I learned that Gotland is and was a famous island.
Visby had also ruins and really good views to the endless Baltic sea.
June 26, 2002
We had to face the Baltic sea again in a storm. My brothers got seasick.
When we reached Eigaholm, we took a rest. We then took a walk. We saw a
barbaque and went to a really small museum.
June 27, 2002
We reached Kalmar. There we ate at American jank food "Mc Donalds." Not to
mention, we saw also a burger named Mc Thomas. Thomas ordered it and same
with Antti. We saw a castle and walked there. We were hanging on the
cannons. This castle was called the Kalmar castle. We then started heading
home. We saw a huge chess board and Antti and me were playing on it. Then we
walked back to the boat. The next day, we went to the Kronan museum. Another
sunken ship in 1676. We saw the Artifacts but not the ship because it is
still trying to be lift. This ship was built to retake Gotland. On June 1,
1676, The Kronan tacked with full sail, capsized, and blew up because a
candle caught the boat on fire which reached the gunpowder. It was twice as
big as the Vasa ship and it lost 800 men, while the Vasa only lost 50. After
going to the museum, we went back to the castle and accually went inside the
castle. It was cool. My mom bought me an old game and same with Antti, that
the used to play back then. Thomas got a pencil. We then went shopping and
straight to the boat. The next day, we went to the Kalmar castle again. But
this time, they had a show. They showed how knights battle back then and how
they lived. It was really cool to see the knights battling each other. My
mom bought Antti a toy sword. We then went to the Marytime museum. It was
really small. Then we went to the boat. Antti and I went scootering to the
chessboard and we played chess. Then went to the castle, and back to the
Chess board and played chess. Then we went home. I lost a tooth and got
another bottle ship.
June 30, 2002
This trip was in a storm with 5 foot waves. When we got there, we went
shopping and we kids played on the playground. Then we went back to the
boat. Juha still went biking. The next day, we went to a navy museum,
whiched talked about World War II in Sweden. Then we went shopping and
straight to the boat.
July 2, 2002
Our trip was to Karlshamn. There, a guy fixed our antennae.
July 3, 2002
Sinrishamn was the next. We took a walk and went shopping. When we got back,
another boat parked next to us. They were Germans. Then, the customs came
and we had to show our passports.
July 4, 2002
Klintholm was a nice quiet place. But when we just docked at the worst spot
in the harbor, a really bad storm came. 38 knts of wind. We had to make sure
our fenders didn't pop, and that we don't hit with the front. A guy came in
the rain and told us that it is okay to go to the motorboat harbor. We
refused. We also celebrated Independence in the storm. We just ate American
junk food, and I played an american song on the recorder which included, In
the jungle, My country tis of thee, and The wheels on the bus go round and
round. I was a night guard for that night. The next day, we met an awesome
playground. My brothers played on it all day. I went food shopping with my
dad and mom. We also walked. Then I played a little with my brothers on the
playground. Then my brothers went rowing, and then Antti and me played on
the playground. Then we went back to the boat. Right now, my mom and dad are
trying to figure out our next place to stay.
from Matti
Jun 9, 2002
We're in Kiel (or more accurately in Laboe), Germany. This will be our last
harbor in the Baltic Sea before taking the Kiel Canal across northern
Germany to the North Sea. The North Sea sailors call the Baltic a "lake":
well, at least the water isn't quite as salty here (only about 1/10th of the
salt of the ocean water).
The small towns we visited in Denmark (Troense, Svendborg, Aeroskobing) were
like from a fairy tale: very colorful and idyllic, with a lot of buildings
from the 18th century and older. The old parts of the town are very
carefully preserved to retain their original character, so you really feel
like stepping back in history. Only the occasional automobile rumbling
along the cobble stones spoils the image. People must have been quite a bit
shorter back then, even in Scandinavia, because the houses and doorways are
very low and small. In Denmark practically all the buildings are from
stone, whereas in Sweden they were of wood. Many roofs are made of a very
thick layer of straw with skillfully sculpted openings for windows.
We had an absolutely gorgeous sail today from Denmark (Aeroskobing) to
Germany (Laboe). We were reaching in 10-15 kts of wind with almost flat
seas
and blue skies for 40 miles: the boat was just quietly gliding over the
water instead of
the brutal bashing we have been accustomed to. With some tuning the
autopilot didn't even need to steer. I was lying in my swimming pants on
top of the bagged storm jib, and occasionally lifting my head to look out
for the sailboats crossing over from Germany on starboard tack. In the
afternoon a bottle of cool Danish brew sure tasted good. The kids were
inside playing games as usual, for them the "empty" sea and sky don't
provide enough stimulus. There's an incredible number of sailboats in the
Baltic Sea: it seems that the sail to power ratio is about 9:1 in the guest
harbors that we have stayed. The waters
are quite shallow with a lot of dredged and buoyed channels that we have to
carefully follow. I really love the electronic chart plotter, even
though Nikki keeps telling me that I'm just playing video games instead of
using my own eyes. Nikki prefers the traditional paper charts and steering
by compass, but I can't tell red from green, so I'd soon be stuck in the
sand here with just paper charts. I did teach the kids how to take bearings
and measure distances on the chart, they are quite eager to do things like
that. Thomas knows all the electrical systems of the boat to almost the
last detail: he's the first one to notice if something isn't right in the
boat (and
calls the offending person a "blockhead"). Antti is very interested in what
is going on in the galley, and Matti is planning his future on all the
interesting places that we visit. He seems to be interested in history
(doesn't come from his dad for sure).
In Laboe there's a long sandy beach, where we just spent a couple of hours,
until a thunderstorm rolled in. The very busy beach had people with
clothing
from skimpy to none. It's hot here, it looks and feels like in Florida:
everything is big and fancy, quite American style. Now we also don't feel
like a "superyacht" any more: we blend in easily with the much bigger boats,
and could easily find moorage to accommodate us. We have been so far quite
wary of the jellyfish that populate the waters everywhere in the south
Baltic, but the little German kids weren't the least bit scared of them: in
fact they were throwing them at each other. So they probably don't sting
that bad after all...
My mom just called and said that the forecast calls for continued good
weather.
The summer has arrived!
We just had the most spectacular night lightning show around us in the
harbor with winds climbing to over 50 kts (25 m/s) a few times. Glad we are
in
the harbor with taller targets around us! Antti wanted to be back in
Washington.
Jul 16, 2002
We have sunken below sea level! That's right, a few hours ago we entered
the locks down into the Netherlands, a somewhat strange experience. We are
planning to take a long canal through the country, but so far we have heard
somewhat conflicting stories as to how well a 2 meter (6 foot) deep keel can
make it. The harbomaster here says to just hit the throttle when we get
stuck, and our guide book says a 6ft draft can *probably* scrape the way
through. We don't have detail charts, either, but I figure it's hard to get
lost when following a canal.
Our travel through Germany was a little hurried: we really didn't have
enough time to look around that much. The journey through Kiel Canal was
rather uneventful: the overnight stop in the middle at the medieval town of
Rendsburg was very nice. The next day we arrived at a scene of a ship
collision in the canal, where one of the ships had capsized and sunk with
one sailor lost. At the North Sea end at Cuxhaven Nikki's parents and
relatives from former East Germany came to visit, and spent two days with
us.
Nikki's mom brought us a huge bucket full of her famous potato salad that we
have been enjoying until today. I think Antti misses it already.
From Cuxhaven we took an offshore passage to the island of Helgoland, which
is a tax free haven (and a former pirate hangout), out in the North Sea. A
tame pigeon "hitch-hiked" part of the way with us sitting on top of the
dodger. The kids tried to do their best to entertain the bird. Helgoland
is definitely my kind of a place (and I'm not even talking about the
tax-free booze). Geologically a very interesting tall island with large
colonies of birds, and no other land in sight. We took a long and
exhausting walk around the whole island, and the kids really enjoyed
watching the noisy bird colonies nesting on the tall vertical red sand stone
banks, and the goats that were roaming free. Coming back close to mainland
(the island of Nordeney), we were unexpectedly boarded by the German
customs: they really just wanted to see what kind of goodies we bought at
Helgoland. Well, it was tough to find them all ...
Sailing in the North Sea has been just awesome. We have had fresh northerly
winds and have done all the offshore passages under sail only with great
speed. The waves tend to be rather large because of the long fetch, and
they are getting steeper along the very shallow sandy shores, with tidal
streams cooking them up even more. But it doesn't matter all that much when
you are going downwind. The charts (paper and electronic) are not accurate
here, because the coast guard keeps moving the buoys all the time as the
sand banks are shifting. The weather will supposedly stay the same (fresh
northerlies, mostly sunny) for the next few days.
It's amazing how good the boys are at walking for miles with hardly a
complaint. Back in the U.S. we hardly ever walked much. They do have their
portable scooters, but traveling with them is more effort than walking.
I've used our foldable bicycle just once, but I'm expecting to use it more
if we ever get to settle in one harbor for more than a day or two. The
dinghy
is getting much more use.
July 23, 2002
The journey through the Dutch canals was very different kind of cruising.
The canals were a lot more intimate than I would have thought: they were
typically about 100 feet wide, and 8 feet deep. On the countryside we
were "racing" with tractors, and watching the farm animals. We also drove
right through several villages with beautiful old houses close by on both
sides. The canals are very much an integral part of the Dutch villages and
towns. We had a couple dozen bridges opened for us: in the towns there was
usually a bridge attendant collecting a fee with the Dutch wooden shoe
(clog) hung from a fishing rod. The kids then took turns dropping money in
the shoe while we passed under the bridge (amazingly no coins were dropped
in the water). Then the bridge attendant would take his/her scooter and
drive to the next bridge to open it for us, and so on.
We had set our depth alarm at 8 ft, but quickly got tired of the constant
beeping. Soon we could just feel it when it got shallow (less than 7 feet),
and the boat nodded forward and slowed down. I compensated for this by
increasing the throttle. Through Dokkum it was really shallow, and we
surely left our mark in the mud through the whole town. Luckily the mud was
very soft and smooth, so we never ran out of horsepower to push our way
through. I must say that this made me very nervous, but we weren't going to
turn back, either. When the night came, we had a problem: the canal was too
shallow to tie up anywhere on the side, so we just drove into the mud until
we got stuck, left our navigation lights on, and went to bed. The boat
stood very quiet and motionless, but somehow I slept better rocking around
in a gale in Denmark. The next day in Harlingen we got accidentally dumped
into the ocean as the lock was open all the way through (I suppose because
the canal water level happened to match the low tide level): oh well, a
quick
change in plans and on to IJsselmeer.
The Dutch are clearly very proud of their heritage. There's an amazing
amount of classic wooden sailing craft ('tjalks', 'botters', ...) cruising
around, purposely designed for the local conditions, with a hull shape that
looks quite like the wooden shoe. The dams, canals, towers, bridges, and
locks: all very fascinating. The brick houses tilt forward to gain more
living space above ground level. This is clearly not earthquake country.
Antti is wearing his new wooden shoes even to bed.
In Enkhuizen at the IJsselmeer Nikki's parents, brother and family came to
visit us. The plan was to sail with them together to Hoorn. Just as I had
started the engine, a squall started pouring rain and blasting wind up to
gale force. With in-laws on board and six kids we came to our senses, shut
off the engine, and went below for shelter (now even the weather office woke
up and issued a gale warning). Well, we had a very pleasant visit
nevertheless: our kids got a chance to play with their German cousins and
practice their German, and we were swapping stories and showing pictures.
Nikki's brother, Roland, will join us for the Atlantic crossing, so this
gave him a good chance to familiarize himself with the boat.
The next day Nikki had a bad migraine, and I sailed the boat single handed
to
Hoorn. We had a stiff breeze (20+ kts) blowing on our nose, but I was
determined to tack my way upwind double reefed and genoa rolled half way in.
This kind of sailing usually makes Nikki nervous, but it gave me a chance to
practice my skills in reefing and tuning the sails to make maximum progress
into stiff head wind. The boat really does quite well when properly set up
and with enough speed to let the fin keel 'dig in'. We don't like to ask
the boys for help in stronger winds, because the forces in play are
enormous: we just rather want to keep them as safe as possible. With the
autopilot steering, a boat like Amati is quite easy to sail alone: just
need to use a winch for everything.
Tomorrow, if the weather is reasonable, we will sail to Amsterdam.
From Matti:
July 17, 2002 Lauwersoog
The canal was very shallow. We also had to go through a lot of bridges. Most
of the bridges gave you a shoe on a fishing rod so that you can put the
money inside the shoe. Some bridge took a while. We came across a bridge
where we have to wait till tomorrow. We just got stuck in the mud as
docking.
July 18, 2002 Makkum
We drove through many bridges, and out to the sea. We drove in a stormy day
to Mackholm where we rested. We took a short walk.
July 19, 2002 Enkhuizen. This is where we docked. We had to drive to the end
of the dock where the harbor master would tell you where you dock. It was
funny. We took a long walk and found a museum. In the evening, we ate at a
restaurant. I ate spinach soup, fries, and a meat stick.
July 20, 2002 Enkhuizen. I woke up and took a walk to the museum and we
learned about the problems in the Netherlands. Then, mom and I took a walk
and had icecream. We were looking for my uncle and the family. We found him,
in the rain, on our boat, with a lot of stuff. We took the stuff inside. I
just played with my cousins memory, and watched a movie.
July 21, 2002 Enkhuizen
Today my cousins, and my grandparents came. I got a couple of presents, and
played with my cousins on the playground, TV, and a couple of board games.
This was a fun day. We also got a Christmas picture of all of us. Then, they
had to leave.
July 22, 2002 Hoorn
We drove through the locks and sailed to Hoorn. We then took a long walk of
the city, and ate icecream. We ran back to where our boat is, and there was
a playground, we played on it.
July 23, 2002 Hoorn
We took a walk to a museum and looked around. It was for free. After that,
we went food shopping and back to the boat where I read a lot.