Lähteelä

Lähteelä
Originally uploaded by Greygriffin.

We’re at Lähteelä, run by Helsinki’s park service although it’s in Porkkala, west of Helsinki. It’s a very sheltered harbour amidst beautiful Finnish coastal countryside, and unlike Elisaari from which we departed this morning, there aren’t many mosquitoes.

Our day’s sailing began gently enough as we ran down Barosund, and as we passed Vörmö we were going very well, over six knots (and Kittiwake’s ‘hull speed’, her theoretical top speed, is a little over 6 knots). Then as we started to reach across Porkkalan Selkä, the wind just kept increasing. Soon the GPS unit was reporting seven knots, and as we came to Porkkala peninsula it reported 8.4 knots. The boat was sailing right at the limit of controllability, and we had to head into wind and remove the jib (me crawling out on the unprotected foredeck, toes hooked over the weather rail for safety as Kittiwake tossed in the five foot waves). Luckily we got through the narrow channel safely and there was Lähteelä ahead.