After four days island-hopping along the Finnish coast reacquainting ourselves with the joys of ‘love hut’ dry toilets, we were all in serious need of a long hot shower as we reached Helsinki.
These huts on Kaunissaari are actually quite upmarket.
The previous days heading west had provided some exhilarating sailing, beating in 20-25 knots, well reefed, round the buoys marking hazards, dodging small rocks and big ships.
We lucked out as we rang round the marinas in Helsinki harbour looking for a berth for Saturday night, and found that the Nyländska Jaktklubben, NJK, had a space free.
NJK is Finland’s oldest and most prestigious yacht club, established in the Czarist era, on its own private island, to promote match racing between Uber-wealthy 19th century Russian oligarchs.
The clubhouse is stunning, and decorated inside with trophies and photographs that illustrate its illustrious heritage. These days it hosts the Finnish national sailing team.
(And yet again, the Irish Tricolour is flying just for us 😀)
A wedding was underway in the posh restaurant, and as we bolted for the showers, there was a sign on the door of the shower block – reserved for a private function until 7.30 pm – well, of course the wedding guests would want a sauna before the ceremony!! We are in Finland, after all.
At 7.30, we joined in, and found the sauna full of champagne glasses and beer and very happy chatty guests, about to head off to the main event. Happily, it also has a good value club restaurant, where we treated ourselves to the dish of the day, washed down with a nice bottle of house wine.
Following your progress (and culinary explorations) with interest! Good luck with the weather.
Some might say – the luck of the Irish – with a berth at that rather elegant looking yacht club on its own private island. So pretty nice that Ian and Mary got lucky too – and clearly enjoyed their dinner after freshening up. Hope you get to explore Helsinki a bit. Mum and I loved it. Rx