6.12. Finlandia

A proper start for the independence day of Finland: Sibelius’ Finlandia played at full volume from the cockpit loudspeakers. The crew stands and listens silently to the beautiful and powerful piece of the heart of every Finn. At dinner the occasion was celebrated by singing the national hymn and enjoying a bottle of Pro Secco. Food was decorated with small Finnish flags.

The tropical weather has shown us it’s both sides. Most of the time it is just extremely hot and sunny. In the nights this is accompanied by local showers that are driven by quite aggressive winds. Pasi wrote yesterday about our first experiences. To avoid similar situations we had today a holy sacrifice ceremony where we offered our best delicacies, aged rum and English chocolate biscuits, to Ahti, the old Finnish pagan God of the sea. I guess our offers did not satisfy him, because the next night we were constantly hit by strong squalls. We had decided to drive with main and genoa on the boom (butterfly), so this was not a problem.

What can men do when they start to get bored on a boat. They start gambling. Alberto, Andrea and Paco have played card every day, but now the Finnish team introduced Texas Hold’m. When I collected the money, the jealous put it on my luck. I do have to admit that I have won all lotteries that we have had on boat, but poker is not about luck, right. The most interesting bet we have is about the arrival time. The bet was made when we still had 700 miles left. It was interesting to hear the different approaches people had for ending up with a specific time.

With 200 miles left, peoples mind start to wonder to St. Lucia. I am very much looking forward to seeing Josefin, Luna and Lucas waving at us as we come to the harbour. Our estimated time of arrival is Monday evening. Hopefully not too late for the kids to come and meet us.

- Hannu