Swim around Viikinsaari - island

At start line

Viikinsaari - island in the middle of Pyhäjärvi - lake is roughly 1 km long. Thus swimming around the island makes approximately 2.1 km.

First 100 meter

The traditional Viikinsaari-island swimming was held 75th time. For me this was 1st time to swim around the island.

The weather couldn't be better, +20 degrees and practically no wind at all. Altogether 91 swimmers jumped onto a water at 17:55 on Friday evening. There were many triathlonists and swimmers participating and competing against each others. For me it was competing against myself and I indeed successfully finished the event and reached finish line at the boat deck of the island.

On the way

All of us had the possibility to enjoy sauna and sausages after the event.

Helsinki by sea

Kayak trip to Helsinki archipelago... Hmm, it was an idea during the winter time and finally it realized. The starting point was Suomenoja guest harbor at Espoo and the trip headed towards Helsinki. Unfortunately the length of the trip was only two days, which on the other hand limited the number of places to visit. Therefore there are lots of places still to be seen and visited for other trips to Helsnki area in the future...

Suvisaaristo, Espoo

I have to admit Helsinki is beautiful city from the sea. Small islands make the paddling interesting and there's always protection against the wind. On the other hand there are lots of boats, ships and other vessels on the sea, which makes the paddling a bit more challenging.

Swimming snake

It's amazing how many kayaking clubs have their premises just in the center of Helsinki. Merimelojat (MeMe), Helsingin Kanoottiklubi (HKK), Helsingin Melojat (HeMe) and Melaveikot (MeVe). Plus few more in Espoo... The possibilities for kayaking in Helsinki area are extremely good.

Camping shore

This wasn't my last kayak trip on Helsinki area...

Wet, wet, wet

Waiting for the start

There's nothin' new under the sky. Wet, wet and wet! This weekend sport exercise was 3 km open water swim at Vansbro, Sweden. At the beginning I knew already I'm going to be wet when swimming, but like on every sport event earlier this year I have had a chance to enjoy rainfall, Vansbrosimningen was not an exception.

Onto water

I jumped onto a Vanån - river at 12:00 local time and felt the coolness of the water, plus 17 degrees. Immediately after start my body was getting warm and swimming felt OK with wetsuit. However it was a bit strange to swim in a big group of other swimmers and having occasional contact to others.

On a start

Soon after half-way it started to rain heavily and raindrops hit the surface of the water powerfully. Fortunately visibility was still sufficient and rainfall didn't hamper swimming.

1 km behind, 2 km still to go

The last few hundred meters fighting against upstream were long and tough, but I slapped my hand onto a finish line at faster time than I had imagined. Now 3/4 of Svensk Klassiker is behind. It's time to switch cycling and swimming onto running exercises...

At finish!