Paddling course at Kristiinankaupunki and 26th & 27th daymark

Participants for the paddling course for beginners

The first weekend of July was booked for leading a paddling course for beginners at the western coast of Finland, in a small town called Kristiinankaupunki. The local paddling club ksf contacted our company and asked for a teacher for their course.

Finally the high pressure has conquered Finland and it was sunny and hot weekend. The Baltic Sea was totally calm and beautiful. Therefore we had extremely good conditions to lead the 2 day - course near Kristiinankaupunki center.

Calm waters

At the same time when I was at western coast, I had a chance to visit on a couple of daymarks nearby. On Friday I drove to Merikarvia camping area and headed towards Oura - archipelago and Oura - daymark 10 km away from shoreline. It was moderate headwind when paddling towards west, but on the other hand return trip was easy when coming back to mainland in a tailwind.

Oura - daymark

On Saturday evening I drove from Kristiinankaupunki to Närpiö and visited on a Rövargrund - daymark very near the shoreline. Rövargrund was my 27th daymark, still 10 daymarks left to be visited...

Rövargrund - daymark

Goals for 2014 achieved

I had set only two objectives for this year. The first one was to successfully orienteer in a Jukola-relay mid-June at Kuopio. The week before Jukola I was sailing at Croatia and couldn't exercise or run at all. Therefore I had a bit uncertainty how would I manage the 5th leg of the relay.

All in all my performance was quite OK, the biggest problems I had in the very end. The 2nd last control point was slower in the slope than I expected and I lost minutes when searching it. Otherwise when I wasn't in a good running shape, I went on slowly and found control points quite OK.

Finisher of Själland Rundt at Koge central square

Two weeks after Jukola I had Själland Rundt cycling event in Denmark. The distance to be cycled was 300 km. I started at Koge central square at 6 AM. The training for the cycling event was minimum due to other activities during the April-June. The first 100 km went quite OK, but then I had hard time between 110 km and 168 km, when my energy level was going down, there were lot of uphill sections and even moderate headwind. However at service point at 168 km I ate pasta and got my energy level back to normal. The latter half of the race I was feeling surprisingly good.

The last 5 km were tough and long. I crossed finish line after 8 PM and 14 hours drive. I was extremely satisfied, cause this was my most important goal for this year. Yeah!

Road bike for sale

Now I'm having a break from cycling and selling my road bike.

Midsummer paddling at Baltic Sea

It has been extremely cold and rainy summer so far in Finland. Despite of the weather I headed onto Baltic Sea during midsummer. My original plan was to paddle to Haapasaari, but the winds were too strong to try to reach Haapasaari island 20 km out of the sea.

Instead on Friday evening I drove to near Loviisa and started paddling from Söderby towards Orrengrund island. After 1,5 hours paddling I landed on a small beach at the harbor of Orrengrund. The Finnpilots were working at the midsummer Eve and they were leaving with their boat to guide a ship, which was coming closer.

Orrengrund - daymark

I hiked up at the highest point of the island and took the photo of Orrengrund - daymark. Daymark has been built 1858 and it's still standing strong.

On Saturday morning I drove to Pellinki archipelago, near the city of Porvoo. The day was sunnier, but wind was still strong. However I had a sheltered route to paddle to Glosholm island, where I visited Glosholm - daymark. This was my 25th daymark visited by paddling. Glosholm was built 1835, but it was destroyed during the second world war. It has never been built again as it was. However there are ruins of Glosholm still visible in the mid of bushes.

Glosholm - daymark

Sailing in Croatia

On a way

At the beginning of June I had a chance to join a sailing crew of Finnish sailboat on Croatia coast. I flied to Split, where cars were waiting us to drive us to Sibenik. Captain was waiting us on a harbor and we stepped onto a 62 foot sailing boat. Altogether 10 crew members enjoyed one week of sunshine, great food, beautiful scenery and +30 degrees temperatures.

Our boat

During the trip we visited Kornati national park as well as Krka national park with beautiful waterfalls. The days went by sailing, swimming, enjoying local food on tiny villages, etc.

Waterfalls at Krka national park

Our itinerary was following : Sibenik - Zirje island - Kornat island (Vrulje village) - Dugi Otok island (Bozava village) - Ugljan island (Preko village) - Murter island - Sibenik.

Steering turn

The archipelago of Kornati is beautiful and suitable for sailing and paddling trips.