LIBERTA – A Boat To Freedom

Liepaja – Ventspils – Kuressaare – Kuivastu – Dirhami – Tallinna – Sindbad

We spent a few days in exotic marina of Liepaja. As in Gotland we also rented a car and visited Riga.

The services included in the guest marina’s services was the possibility to use the toilets and the Turkish spa. The outlook of the place awoke curiosity regarding the vastness of services they might provide…

The length of the breakwater outside the harbor was pretty modest, only 1,8 kilometers!

The map and our calendar were both talking in favor of continuing north and leaving a visit to Lithuania for the next time. We continued to Venstpils and to Kuresaare, Estonia after that. The first leg went motoring in a mirror calm sea. The trip to Kuresaare went in nice winds. On Irbe Strait there happened to be quite a lot of traffic at the same time and we needed to keep our eyes open. But with the help of AIS it was easy to see where and how fast the ships were going, so getting out of the way wasn’t an issue.

On the way to Venstpils we were already getting used to giving the wheel to Simppa…

Ventspils offer more nice beaches. The cold weather ate way the desire to swim though.

A bunch of traffic at the Irbe Strait. Otherwise the leg went in a nice wind that was circling around the cape of Saaremaa.

The route selection on “the second Estonian trip” was going through Kuressaare – Kuivastu – Dirhami – Tallinna. To our frustration the wind kept being against us and too often we had to rely on the help of our beloved Yanmar.

Not so nice sailing wise, but as a view it was as beautiful as it gets.

One of the nicest places of the trip was the island of Muhu, where we rented a car for two days. Kaisu (& me too!) got her riding lessons and we drove around the islands of Muhu and Saaremaa.

The roughest gusts of the trip were met at the end on the way from Dirhami to Tallinn. When entering the harbor the wind was blowing more than 14 m/s plus the gusts.

The trip culminated in Tallinn, where we spent the last night eating and drinking before heading home to Helsinki.

The trip was a success in every way. The world got a lot smaller. At the beginning crossing the Gulf of Finland seemed like journey, but on the way back it was a short swing compared with the normal day trips on the way. Our trust to the boat and to ourselves grew a lot. The feeling on top is that we can do this anywhere.

The boat was working fine. The new gear was working fine. The biggest worries were the water tank that got broken at first days of the trip and Profurl reefing system that had its issues on the way. Also on the relationship scale the trip went better than I dared to expect. The three weeks love vacation in a small boat can be held as an ultimate test for a couple. But our relationship only grew stronger and we are looking for a common roof over our heads also on the hard.

Jussi

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