Sailing to the Sunset

The captain got poetic about sailing to the sunset and wanted to have this pic posted. It is worth to mention that the other boat, the only boat during the day so far, turned out to be from Oulu too.  

Personally I would like to add that this particular sailing was quite pleasant as we sailed smoothly in tailwind and I was able to relax and recharge for my night watch duty.

Cape of the Giants

I will tell you now about a recent tough mission. We arrived to a new harbor, Vatunginnokka. After the good sailing I started my watch as usual. However, this was not your usual watch session: the harbour was surrounded by giants with wildly rotating , huge heads.  I had to take the highest risk level practices in use.  

In this picture  perform check on the boat aft by listening via the crew toiled window, sitting on top of a crew toilet seat (imagine how unpleasant this was but one must stretch to perform his duty).

Here I check the cockpit. Usually I climb to top of the stairs, and perform my walkarounds on the deck frequently, but now I must limit to the very lowest of the steps. 

With most careful security procedures I captured a photo showing three of those.

And what my crew did? Well, at least one of them was with me all the time in the vessel. However, the first mate had careless attitude; she was mostly interested the excellent quest sauna facilities... 

... and photographing the flora.

Daily responsibilities

I post today few pics on one of my evening routines, checking that everything is OK on the deck and outside. This was in Kellon Kiviniemi, a very nice fishing harbor and leisure marina north of Oulu.

I took the captain with me, its good for him to get out after dinner and have him relax a bit after tough day of sailing. Here, I detect something in my perimeter that needs to be more closely analyzed. 

In situations with unknown elements one must proceed with caution... (I would like to remind my crew that ropes shall be neatly arranged and put to their designated storage area immediately after use. In other words not to be left on deck to disturb the activities.) 

The situation sounded alarming but it turned out to be voice of water movements in the aft of the boat and caused by the wind. However I still kept a watch for a while to make sure this is the case.

The concept of Kesäloma, the Summer Vacation

Yesterday I was satisfied with my crew. First, they woke up at 6.00 which is the time I prefer to do my morning check on the deck. Second, once started our way to next harbor we actually sailed and motored only to approach the target marina. I prefer the transportation by the wind and find the motoring a bit noisy and disturbing my daily nap routine.

I would like to discuss the concept of Kesäloma, the Summer Vacation shortly. The summer vacation is something my crew has been talking over and over during the winter months. I have understood that it is something wonderful, relaxing, a warm weather activity at the Sea. This is contradictory to my observations so far. I will elaborate.

It all started when they returned from the daily food hunting and gathering round on a Friday evening bubbling that this is unbelievable, this is the best day of the year, now It starts... This atmosphere of amazement lasted only for this one evening and after that they started to collect all kind of stuff at home and pack them into big sacks. Those containers were carried to the car and then they took off saying that this will not take long as this is just a short visit to the boat. And alone was I left. Well, at least I could nap in quietness. Next, the crew returned with empty sacs and this all started from the beginning. I could notice that the captain and the first mate started to feel more and more charged as days passed. Finally, the fist mate declared that this is the final load, all the items on the check lists are done. This was the moment for me to join them.

It was a cloudy night as we left the home marina, only to reach Varjakka. This harbor I have visited quite many times already. To train the sea cat, they say. As we left the home berth they immediately seemed to relax.

I add a pic from Varjakka here to show you that the weather conditions were not bad but not blue skies and such what were so many times discussed during the winter.

However, I have started to notice hints of elements that have been talking about. I will share my observations as the vacation progresses.

Me and my home marina

This is me, looking after the boat in my home marina.

Managing the vessel requires uninterrupted attention.

That attention continues trough the night. During one of my night shifts I took this pic on view to my home city, Oulu.