Pullikainen

In August, sailing had been limited due to other commitments and bad weather. However, the last weekend of the month seemed to be a good time to get out on the water, perhaps for the last time this summer. We chose Pullikainen because we had limited time available.

We chose Likosenlahti as our starting point. The only good thing about it in this case was that the harbour area is lit up at night, which would be advantageous at the end of the trip. As expected, the wind there was gusty and swirling at the start of the trip. This, of course, made it more difficult to navigate upwind in the narrow strait in some places in the midst of other traffic.

Likosenlahti has not been our favourite bay because of its narrow and very windy straits. It also stresses the fact that, on waters, not all boaters can be relied upon to know their obligations to give way to sailing vessels under the COLREGS and to predict situations in which the rules have to be applied.

The wind on the open waters was around 13 knots at times, which at best increased the speed to 7.1 knots when beam reached near Hiekkapakka. It only took us an hour and a half to reach Pullikainen.

On Pullikainen we admired the beautiful and warm day. My wife even dared to swim in 17-degree water, a feat worthy of admiration.

A picnic is always a highlight when visiting an island. It didn’t disappoint this time either.

The golden hour before sunset was at its most beautiful as we weighed anchor and headed back to our starting point. We saw a great sunset on the way. The wind was a little calmer than on the way in, which was noticeable in the speed. By the time we reached the turn in Likosenlahti, the wind had completely died down, so the rest of the trip was about exercise.

We had a wonderful and successful day. The moon didn’t rise until 9:40pm, so we didn’t see it until the car ride home, where we arrived closer to 11pm.

Looking at the weather forecasts, it could be that the season ends here if there is no warm breeze like last September. If this was the last sailing of the year, it was a very fine one.