Blog
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Wayfarer Worlds in Canada
· SarastusWhat kind of operation is it to transport a sailing dinghy over the Atlantic Ocean to Canada, where Wayfarer Worlds sailing race is held? I’m not considering such an operation, because I’m more into cruising than racing, but one of Sarastus’ earlier owners (Peter Morse) took the boat there in 1995. A [report] of the race can be found in the Wayfarer International website. It’s quite incredible, that Sarastus has been sailing at two continents already! And who knows, what the future has prepared for her.
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Päihänniemi
· Suur-Saimaa · Sarastus · 8 MWho said, that the sailing season was over? Even if the weekends have been busy recently, we decided to have another cruise to celebrate the warm autumn weather. We launched Sarastus and headed for Päihänniemi peninsula through small islets. A light breeze was blowing. Beaching was a quick one, as we kept main sail raised until the sand. Päihänniemi peninsula Even if the prevailing temperature was just 17°C, the weather at the beach felt warm. Maybe the local climate heated it more. I managed in a T-shirt only and didn’t need to wear the jacket.
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Autumn Thoughts
Even if sailing is a wonderful way of enjoying of the Finnish nature, from time to time weather and other chores change priorities. Since the end of my summer holiday, Sarastus has been on the trailer. According to Finland’s Environmental Administration, surface water temperature at Saimaa is still 17.6°C, that’s an acceptable temperature still, even if a wetsuit might not be a bad idea soon. During the summer, the waters were so warm, that you could even swim for several hours in middle of the lake without any significant risk of hypothermia. As the autumn progresses, the effect of cold water has to be acknowledged, especially because often there are children aboard.
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Bilberry Sail
· Suur-Saimaa · Sarastus · 15 MWhat’s common between the waves of Lake Saimaa and bilberries? Well, the color, of course! For some time we had planned a “blue” sailing trip to an island. Our destination ended up to be Hietasaari, because it was one of the few places, where I had seen bilberries this year. For some reason bilberry crop is very modest this year, but fortunately there are places, that have them abundantly still.
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Mitinhiekka
· Pihlajavesi · Sarastus · 18 MOne of the advantages of the boats, that can be moved on trailer, is that you can choose your starting point quite freely. If the waters in front of your home marina start to feel too familiar, you can look for a new launching place bit further and start sailing from there. We decided to choose this approach at this time. We towed Sarastus to Ahvionsalmi strait, where there is a sandy boat ramp near the ferry line. The ramp wasn’t perfect, because of gently sloping shore, power line and a tall bushy birch, but despite of them the launching was a fairly straightforward job.
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Ilkonsaaret
· Suur-Saimaa · Sarastus · 31 MRecently Taipalsaari local council published a [change plan draft] for general master plan of Great Saimaa. The change plan is related to Ilkonsaaret and Myhkiönsaari islands. Its objective is to develop the area so, that it could be profiled as a peaceful trip destination. To reach these goals, building piers and more Greek Orthodox builds were proposed. We headed for Ilkonsaari by boat. The weather is good and the wind bloding from the northwest was mild. Two cargo ships (Cristina and Nina) and a wood barge bypassed us. You can find detailed information about big cargo ships in [MarineTraffic] service, which can be used with smartphone applications too. In addition to AIS information, the service has pictures of most of the ships tracked.
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Circumnavigation of Kyläniemi
· Suur-Saimaa · Sarastus · 31 MThe Lake Saimaa fleet of the Russian Empire had a problem after end of the Russo-Swedish War (1741-1743). Most of the waters between Lappeenranta and Savonlinna belonged to Russian Empire, but the strategic Puumala strait was controlled by Sweden. After some decades there was a new war and both of the powers tried to expand their territories, but the war ended without any changes to the border lines.
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The Bolt-Hole
Recently Wall Street Journal nominated the great five lakes of the world, that was noticed by Finnish press too. Here are WSJ’s choices: Morskie Oko (Poland/Slovakia) Lake Powell (United States) Lake Nakuru (Kenya) Lake Lucerne (Switzerland) Lake Saimaa (Finland) Sarviniemi Seeing “our lake” among all the famous lakes around the world is quite stunning! But why wouldn’t Lake Saimaa be such a unique place? It has clear waters, large area, many many islands, wild nature and great sailing destinations. Also, the Freedom to Roam makes it a fantastic area for camping and spending time with your family. Here is what WSJ said about it:
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Hietasaari
· Suur-Saimaa · Sarastus · 7 MWe chose to sail in the northern part of Saimaa (counting Saimaa as the water area south of Puumala). Nice crosswind took is to Hietasaari, where our time was used for eating, swimming and exploring the island. Name “Hietasaari” can be translated as Sandy Island, that represents the island well, because it consists of many beaches but also of big rocks. During the afternoon it was thundering far, but fortunately Hietasaari area didn’t get any rain or lightning, although wind was stormy for some time.
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Pullikainen
· Suur-Saimaa · Sarastus · 19 MOur journey began with east wind of 3-4 m/s (5 knots, Force 3), that allowed us reaching most of the time. Our destination was Pullikainen island, which is one of the most popular destinations in the southern Lake Saimaa. The island has an interesting lagoon, which is accessible by keelboats too, even if the route there is very narrow. We chose the southwestern beach for beaching instead of the lagoon, because sand is a more convenient place to beach for a dinghy. East wind also made the shore very sheltered. We looked around and saw several boats in the lagoon.