Two Wayfarers at Ilkonsaaret
Has it ever have happened that on Lake Saimaa there are two Wayfarers anchored next to each other? Well, as the answer is likely negative it was time to make that change!
Tim and his friend had a three-day sailing trip to Saimaa. We had agreed to meet somewhere on the lake, and eventually a suitable time was found. We both headed for Ilkonsaaret which provided a sheltered bay during the predicted moderate southwesterly breeze. As our offspring had other commitments only my wife sailed as crew. The journey there was quite fast as the wind blowed at 9 knots.
We arrived in the empty sandy bay of the northern Ilkonsaari. I scoped the northern waters with binoculars but couldn’t see any sailboat from neither the western or the eastern shore of the island. So, we started to have our simple picnic. However, in five minutes a vessel with a W-symbol on its mainsail glided to the bay. Soon Fram had anchored next to Sarastus.
Tim’s friend had caught an admirably big fish. Even if fishing is a fine hobby, my own fish identifying skills are poor, but the fish probably was a trout. The crew of Fram prepared a nice lunch of it.
We chatted with Tim and his friend for couple of hours and naturally had a closer look on each other’s boats. Fram represents the early Wayfarer Mk1 generation and was in an excellent condition considering its age. Tim had refitted it a bit by replacing the aft deck, installing a furling genoa and added the second reef line on the mainsail. It was interesting to compare the variations of one of the world’s best sailing dinghies.
Until then, during our trips, Sarastus had been the only Wayfarer at the island destinations, and actually with one exception the only sailing dinghy too. It was refreshing to see a boat of the same type by Sarastus on the Finnish waters.
Time flew and we had to start the return journey. The wind had built up to around 18 knots. My estimate is that the gusts were close to 30 knots considering their aggressiveness on Päihänniemiselkä despite of the reefing.
It was nice to meet Tim, his friend and Fram. I hope we can have a chance to sail together with Tim somewhere in Finland, although the weather could be bit more restful.