Finally, some fine sailing. They say that cruising in small yachts is great 1% of the time, tolerable in 30% and miserable for the rest. Our 2 day passage from Bornholm to Klaipeda in Lithuania gave us that long-awaited 1% – beam winds steady in strength and direction, dry decks and clear skies. We and the Aries were delighted.
Note the feet – John in the loo!
Klaipeda is the ramshackle post-Soviet port I remember from Tainui’s last visit. Maxine, Pasha and Tatiana, taken on a Soviet walk down memory lane, were amazed and horrified. I rather like it.
Of our marina berth, a picture is worth a thousand words:
Sadly, our fine Russian friends leave us here. We have done quite a number of cheerful sea miles with them and they shall be missed. For me only 2 benefits come with their departure – firstly, I am no longer excluded from that endless and incomprehensible chatter in Russian; secondly, the cockpit is no longer taken up with the complex morning ritual of those insufferable Russian breakfasts. But as always they were prices I was more than willing to pay. We will see them again shortly in Moscow and St Petersburg.
From here, we have a 200 mile bash north against northerlies to Estonia. From Tallinn, I expect the malicious, all-knowing weather god will turn his breeze into an easterly in the Gulf of Finland. There you go.