From Kirkenes to Helsinki on "Your own keel"

 

The intention is to travel with Targa 31 by sea from Kirkenes westwards around Norway and Sweden to Helsinki. The total distance is calculated to be 2300-2400 nautical miles. Passengers: Caroline Segercrantz & Derek Breitenstein

 

Targa 31 "True North" loading in Turku 8.7.2007

10.7.2007 Targa 31 launched into the water in Kirkenes

11.7.2007 Leaving Kirkenes to visit a small fishing village NE from Kirkenes called ”Ytterhamna”, 69 51 050 30 18 420

12.7.2007 Waking up in Bugöynes NW from Kirkenes, fueling in Vardö

12.7.2007 The Northern-most position on this trip was 71 12 700 27 31 000 accompanied by a few fishing vessels

12.7.2007 Approaching Honningsvåg/Nordkapp at 1700 hours and visiting Nordkapp

13.7.2007 arriving to Hammerfest in the afternoon

14.7.2007 Approaching Tromsö at 15.00 hours

16.7.2007 Departing Tromsö after having changed the impeller of the port engine

16.7.2007 Approaching Lofoten through the famous Raftsundet.

16.7.2007 At Lofoten a small village called Kabelvåg with a famous Restaurant Nyvågar Rorbuer

17.7.2007 A guite long “leg” from Lofoten to Brönnöysund which is situated in “the middle of Norway”

18.7.2007 Dinner at Stocksund and overnighting in Kongsvoll in the area of Trondheim

19.7.2007 Arriving to the beatiful city of Ålesund which is rebuilt in 1920 in a very distinctive “Jugend”/Art Nouveau style and has a famous Restaurant “Sjöbua” very close to the guest harbour.

20.7.2007 Arriving to Bergen with a very crowded and quite noisy guest harbour.

21.7.2007 arriving to Egersund, a village between Stavanger and Kristiansand

22.7.2007 arriving to Risör

23.7.2007 arriving to Laser Masters sailor Petter Fjellstad Hankö/nr. Oslo, 12 mR yacht Vema III built in 1933 and a steap cliff outside Hankö

24.7.2007 Passing the border between Norway and Sweden and a classic “GKSS-eka” in Valfjäll immediately after passing the border

24.7.2007 Arriving to Marstrand and Ringens Varv for engine oil change and the Marstrand guest harbour with the more than 300 year old Carlsten Fortress in the background

25.7.2007 Departing Marstrand after complete engine service at the very professional Volvo service Ringens Varv. Arriving to Varberg to meet “Nappi & Krisu” who were about to sail the 8 mR s/y Silja to Hankö

26.7.2007 The shortest leg (3,5 NM) on this trip from Varberg to Träslövsläge becuase of the strong wind and very big vawes from a not so favorable direction (SSW). At 23.00 hours in the night we decided to proceed anyway because the wind did not show any signs to drop. By using AIS =(Automatic Identification System, a system that continuously transmits a ship's identification and position to other nearby vessels) we could tail different cargo ships to minimize the quite rough sea.

27.7.2007 At 4.00 hours in the morning we reached the quite small island of (H)ven between Rungsted in Denmark and Landskrona in Sweden.

Ven about 100 years ago and today

Deprting from Ven at midday in very rough conditions. We saw the second finnish pleasure boat on this trip W from Bornholm s/y HAIRI. We decided not to go to Rönne but chose to go to a small village Allinge by recommendation of Nappi & Krisu. They recommended also to visit Christiansö, a very small island 10 NM NE from Bornholm with a population of only 100 permanent residents. The fortress of Christiansö is built by the Danish navy in 1684.

Allinge 200 years ago, early 1940 and today

28.7.2007 Bicycle tour in Bornholm

Arriving to Christansö Island in the evening of 28.7

29.7.2007 One problem buying petrol both in Norway and Denmark (Bornholm) was that most filling stations are unattended and they accept ONLY DOMESTIC bank- & creditcards. Not very “touristfriendly””.

In Christiansö we could buy diesel in 10 liter canisters to be sure to reach the Swedish mainland with enough fuel.

After fuelling the boat and the crew in Karlskrona we ended up on a very nice island called Idö NE from Västervik.

Idön was a very pleasant stopover and at 5.00 in the morning of 30.7 we departed to reach Stocholm at 13.00 hours.

The Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) – Merimetso – Skarv is doing a lot of visual damage also in the Stockholm Archipelago

Spending the night in Mariehamn. Fuelling diesel & food at Korpoström on the 31st.

High water level in the Rosala archipelago. Returning to Helsinki on the 1st of August. The trip took 3 weeks – 160 engine hours – average speed of 15 knots.