LIBERTA – A Boat To Freedom

THE summer holiday trip. At last it was time for the long awaited summer holiday and time for a real sailing trip. We were going to be off for four weeks in a row.

In the boat’s to do lists I had moved from the monthly lists during the winter into weekly lists and to a daily level for the past two months. There seemed to be endlessly things to do and as always, everything took twice as long as one had thought in the beginning. From April to July I was at the boat every night until 10-11 pushing the envelope.

From April to July I was at the boat every night until 10-11 pushing the envelope.

The most important electrics jobs and installing the chart plotter and AIS was completed before the midsummer. But a huge number of important and seemingly important tasks were to be done. The most important of them were done before the trip, thanks to Timo’s BIG help.

We had planned to do a four week trip with Kaisu. For the first week we’d get my best friend Ville to help us out. During the two weeks prior to our trip the winds were optimal for our plan to sail directly to Gotland, while Ville is giving us a hand. But as our holiday began, winds had changed to direct headwind, at times pretty frisky. So we ended up going through Gotland. We went the route Sinbad – Lähteelä – Lohusalu –Rohuküla – Abruka – Mõntu. On the way there were only a few good sailing days. The best being already in the beginning crossing the Gulf of Finland to Lohusalu, Estonia. Otherwise the wind was mostly calm or direct headwind.

The food was delicious in Haapsalu…

We went over to Gotland from Mõntu, where it was almost the shortest route. The weather was as forecasted prior during the week and the timing was perfect! We headed out before four am. heading to a beautiful moon bridge. The crossing went nicely in a nearly crosswind. We arrived right as the night fell after 20 hours on the sea. To our gladness, our “pet spider” Risto, living in the targa arch, survived the trip.

The fantastic sailing weather gave reason for a spontanious celebrations! Yes! 🙂 One of the best sailing days of my life said Ville.

Cycling trip to the island of Fårö revealed the beautiful nature of Gotland.

Right after arriving to Fårösund in Gotland it was time for Ville to head back home with a plane. From Fårösund we went to Herrvik, where it was the shortest route over the Baltic Sea to Latvia. The rocky beaches of Herrvik also offers magnificent views.

Also here we found some nice places by bike

From Herrvik we continued towards Latvia with the help of a good southeast wind. When we left I didn’t dream of getting to Liepaja, but as the wind direction a bit more from south than in the forecast, we were able to head there. Our previous plan was to also visit Lithuania. So, maybe now we could go there as well.

Again we were on our way early in the morning. And again the sunrise was just spectacular.

As the number of hand reduced to four, we took out our friend Simppa (tillerpilot Simrad), who was given the responsibility to steer us to Liepaja. And that’s what he did, giving us the possibility to take turns resting. As the wind direction remained the same we were able to sail all the way to Liepaja without tacking too much.

The trip continues Liepaja – Ventspils – Kuressaare – Kuivastu – Dirhami – Tallinna – Sinbad HERE

Jussi