Since leaving Rostock, Germany on
4th July, we have sailed over 550 nm arriving in Tallinn, Estonia on
Friday 17th July, after motor sailing nearly all the way from Gotska
Sandon (Sweden) the wind and rain whipped up as we arrived with a 30 knot gust
knocking us sideways; which was a bit of a shock but we rapidly got the sail
down and headed into the marina – it was a bit like taming a wild horse trying
to berth. The weather has ranged from
Caribbean temperatures to gale force winds and rain – happily more sun than
rain. The evenings are cool and thermals
are definitely required for night watches. The sea state has varied from wild
to mini ‘Atlantic’ rollers to mirror like.
The sea state calms amazingly quickly though. At it’s wildest we were
marooned in Ronne, Bornholm (Denmark) for an extra day but caught up to be back
on schedule by the time we arrived in Visby, Gotland (Sweden). We visited Hammershus (Gotland), the largest
castle remains in Northern Europe and took a walking tour of Visby surrounded by
Ferraris and other very expensive cars; which the boys enjoyed looking at. We are having a super time, we have
barbequed, sat on a beach, taken bus tours and walked the streets of the towns
we have visited. Yesterday we had a
lovely lunch high up on the castle wall ramparts of the Maiden Tower in
Tallinn, and a good evening in the main square where the whole fleet met for a
crew dinner. Today we will head back
into town before preparing to sail to St Petersburg, Russia tomorrow where we
are looking forward to meeting Phill and Jane.