Estonia

Getting some work done

June 22, 2019February 17, 2020admin2 Comments

Before arriving in Tallinn, we contacted a young sailmaker, Oleg, who was happy to repair the torn stack pack. It’s not that difficult to remove it once the mainsail is well tied up with a pile of sail ties, but the key thing is to hold on tight to the lazy-jack lines that hold it […]

Banged up in Tallinn

June 20, 2019February 17, 2020admin3 Comments

So, Melodrama made her way into the Port Ops zone of the capital city of Estonia, Tallinn. It’s a beautiful, UNESCO protected medieval city, and one of the big destinations for cruise ships. Combined with the commercial tankers, cargo, and container ships coming and going, it made for very busy waters, closely policed by harbour […]

No Weather for Sailing

June 14, 2019February 17, 2020admin4 Comments

Three days in Kardla, with a strong easterly gale, dramatic lightning and thunder, and torrential rain – what’s not to like! The young harbour master and his staff were very disappointed that they had no Irish flag for our visit, and insisted that we must come back on our way home, and they would definitely […]

Estonia Rocks

June 11, 2019February 17, 2020admin1 Comment

There is a local history museum in Kuressaare Castle, which shows the islands of Estonia emerging from the sea over only the last 10,000 years or so at the end of the ice age. A mere instant in geological time! The new land is therefore low-lying and very flat – great for cycling! But the […]

June 10, 2019February 17, 2020admin7 Comments

So it was, with trepidation, that we made our way into Estonian waters, expecting at any moment to be boarded by officialdom, and marched off to the county court to pay our Ensign fine. The contrast could not be more extreme. Our first call was Kuressaare, where the harbour master had hoisted a huge Irish […]

The Ensign Enigma

June 8, 2019February 17, 2020admin3 Comments

This story began weeks ago in Sweden, but it’s time to go public. We were in Ystad harbour one morning, when a yacht flying the ‘red duster’ standard UK red ensign was leaving port. ‘Ahoy!’ he cried sociably, ‘What’s your yacht club?’ ‘Fahan, Donegal in Ireland’ we replied, sociably. ‘Well’ he said, not so sociably, […]