Longbow of Argyll - Longbow in the Baltic; Helsinki .

Longbow in the Baltic; Helsinki .Arriving at the very central Nylandska Jaktklubben with its wonderful view across the harbour to the city was a delight. The clubhouse and its marina occupy the small island of Blekholmen with a dedicated ferry service to the city. We had one of our more difficult instances of getting Longbow stern to on a corner of the pontoon, but were then grateful that Clupea moored next to us and allowed us to board using their stern deck. The skyline is dominated by the beautiful Helsinki Cathedral which Ted and I enjoyed visiting on Thursday.We were pleased to welcome Hilary, Ted's cousin and her husband Rusty in time for the dinner in the historic clubhouse of the NJK. A beautifully Scandiavian wood clad building in muted white and green, it made us think of the. read more...

Longbow of Argyll - Longbow in the Baltic; St Petersburg to Helsinki.

Longbow in the Baltic; St Petersburg to Helsinki.Motoring out of St Petersburg on Sunday morning proved much quieter than our busy entrance and we enjoyed catching a glimpse of the Summer Palace at Peterhof. Clearing customs at Kronstadt went smoothly as did the long trail out to the "rotary" from which one was permitted to branch off in a north westerly direction towards Finnish waters. It wasn't too long before we swopped the Russian courtesy flag for the Finnish flag, not without a little relief.It was 2315 when we tied up at the Customs quay on the quiet island of Haapasari. There the Border guards " welcomed us back to Europe ". The skipper was breathalysed! After clearance we had to creep into the anchorage aided by a powerful torch - we were glad of a dram and our beds after 92. read more...

Longbow of Argyll - Longbow in the Baltic; Tallinn to St Petersburg.

Longbow in the Baltic; Tallinn to St Petersburg.We lost our blog writer,Clare, when she and Felix left us in Tallinn so now, two busy weeks later, the first mate will summarise.Leaving Tallinn, we enjoyed a wonderful afternoon of sailing along the Estonian coastline.Dick and Budgie had joined Longbow and seemed delighted that their adventure had begun. By the following morning we had to enter the strict shipping channel that takes one 85nm to the Russian border control at Kronstadt, although one enters Russian waters a lot further west. Apart from a little sailing this leg was a long slog with the iron topsailthrough very featureless surroundings. Even when within a few miles of Saint Petersburg the skyline revealed industrial outlines only and a couple of vast cruise liners.We settled. read more...

Longbow of Argyll - Longbow in the Baltic: the Tallinn interlude

We're moored stern-to in the Olympic marina in Pirita, about 3.5 km east of the centre of town. Like Visby, Tallinn has a medieval walled Old Town with narrow cobbled streets and wonderfully quirky buildings. Tallinn provides a somewhat eccentric mixture of old and new: huge modern supermarkets with ever possible choice of food and grocery item, clean and efficient buses on which you can pay by mobile phone, ancient medieval buildings with hefty wooden doors, lots of people dressed in national dress and blaring house music to top it all off.Huge ferries from Finland disgorge hundreds of passengers looking to stock up on cheap booze (the "Super Alco" supermarket is right at the arrivals gate); next door in the harbour a tall ship from Sweden was offering tours up the rigging.Stalls. read more...

Longbow of Argyll - Baltic Rally 6: Gotland to Tallin

We had an "interesting" departure out of Visby: strongish winds, lots of simultaneously-departing yachts, a huge tall ship coming into dock and a high speed ferry trying to depart all at roughly the same time! Ted and Jane did an admirable job of steering us in circles in the inner harbour until we spotted our chance to duck under the stern of the "Sea Cloud II". We'd just pulled the main up in the outer harbour when we noticed the ferry starting to move... But after a few tense moments the ferry rapidly pulled away well ahead of us and off we sailed.We had a wonderful 50 mile spinnaker-up sail north to Gotska Sandon, an island national park with a large seal population. We anchored off to NE point at around 5 pm for a few hours to explore a bit of the island and go for a swim (Jane and. read more...