Monday 11 June
Today’s plan was to sail overnight to Roja, well on the way to Latvia’s capital, Riga. However, we left later than we intended, into a flat calm morning. Mate took advantage of my ‘flatness’ to clean the heads and enjoy some sewing in the cabin, out of the heat on deck.
Eventually, by 1500 there was enough wind to set the genoa and give Trevver a rest, but the Southwesterly direction of it set us on a port tack (leaning to the right), which is less comfortable below. We changed to the staysail and altered course slightly to ease the rolling motion, but Mate didn’t feel like we were making much progress.
As the wind eased towards evening we entered a dense fog bank for an hour or so, and as it cleared we were only abeam of Ventspils, the Northern-most port on the West coast of Latvia, it was 2230 and Mate decided enough was enough and we’d turn in here for the night. Inevitably it turned out to be our most difficult berthing this season, requiring us to thread a mooring line through the ring on a stern buoy as we slid into a line of moored yachts in a crosswind. Even with the patient assistance of the harbourmaster and our friend from Olles Wonder (who’d seen our approach on AIS and kindly waited for us, in spite of his intended early start the following morning), it was midnight and five attempts later before we were finally secured bows to the quay.