Tuesday 12 June
After a long enough sleep to recover tempers and equilibrium, we took the opportunity to fill our water tanks before setting off at lunchtime, to find the wind had already filled in and we began sailing straight away. We soon changed down from the genoa to the staysail, enjoying the sunshine and good visibility.
A coaster, Elena, was converging on our course from astern as we entered the Irbenskiy Strait around the Northern coast of Latvia, and after a radio conversation with Mate, her Watch Captain agreed to alter his course to clear us. We could see the lighthouse on the Southernmost tip of Saaremaa, 15M North of us. This is the ‘first’ of the 2222 Estonian islands.
Mate continued her Watch between 2100-0100 and enjoyed a beautiful show of Nature, as the huge orange sun melted into the sea, leaving the sky never darker than a deep sunset. Two large passenger ferries and a freighter, all heading out of the Gulf of Riga Westwards, provided further entertainment as they, we and a second ship all converged on the light at the NW corner of the Gulf of Riga.
Fortunately, there was plenty of sea room for all of us to continue unimpeded.
It was a night of continuous alterations to our sail combinations in order to accommodate changes in our course and the strength and direction of the wind. At times the iron sail was deployed.