A long day

I changed my mind again.  The weather has been pretty bad the last few days with strong winds from the south, the direction in which I wanted to sail to Riga.  But I’d had enough of my enforced stay in Tallinn so I slipped moorings this morning and headed for Hanko on the extreme SW tip of Finland.  It’s a long way and it took 11 ¾ hours at sea before I finally tied up.  And guess what, the strong southerly winds, which would have brought me to Hanko in no time, had a day off.  Instead I had gentle breezes but on the nose, so I motored and motor sailed ALL DAY.  Bloody boring I can tell you.  I could have shortened the day by 2 or 3 hours by heading further north but I stuck at it and covered the 66 miles to Hanko.  Pleased when I got here because I am left with 3 relatively easy days (there I go tempting the Gods again!) to get to Mariehamn in the Aland Isles where I shall lay up again for the winter. 

Hanko looks to be a nice little town so I might explore in the morning, unless the wind is in the  east, or anywhere abaft the beam, which will be perfect!

A serious question

I had plenty of time to think today during my second crossing of the Baltic.  And I found the courage to ask myself a serious question, and to give a truthful answer.  The question was ‘Have I enjoyed my time sailing the Baltic this year, alone except for when I had lacklustre crew for three weeks?’  The answer?  ‘No, not really’  There have been many highs of course, like the opera in Savonlinna, the Hermitage in St Petersburg and the ballet in Tallinn.  The glorious two days I spent at anchor in the Finnish Lakes with only the sun and Mother Nature for company.  But the sailing, the reason I am here, has been disappointing.  Bad weather and poor winds have played a large part of course.  But so has something else.  I’m still trying to put my finger on it. No, who am I kidding?  This ‘idyllic’ existence I lead would indeed be idyllic  …….. if I had someone, someone special, to share it with. 

G’night.