The Browns' Mantra: Saaremaa Island, Estonia and the Baltic Sea Crossing

I am on watch. The sun rose about an hour ago. Conditions are benign and boring. We set off from Kuressaare, Saaremaa Island, Estonia, two days ago, at 8 a.m. Monday, August 24. It was very calm, so Peter left me sleeping and let Mantra slip off the dock at Kuressaare on his own. I was up by 9 a.m., though. After we motored out of the long, dredged, narrow channel for the harbor, we were able to set sail by 9:15 on a deep broad reach with 18 knots of wind from the northwest and only a slight chop in the sea. The plan was to sail for two days and two nights to reach either southern Sweden or Denmark. It has been 48 hours and we are still heading west on the open sea.

The wind remained steady all day on Monday, and the seas increased up to 5 feet. By mid-afternoon, we were sailing on a close reach and it was just a bit too rolling to play games or read, even for me, and I had to lie down a couple times to counter the early queasiness I felt when I spent more than half a hour reading. Peter also took some breaks during the day. Here is how my watch goes under sail with steady conditions and long distances on the same bearing: Look at the instruments, checking for wind speed and direction, boat speed, depth and other vessels on AIS. Adjust angle to the wind slightly as necessary to maintain course. Listen for luffing, look at the sails and tell-tales, and adjust sails as required. Look all around, seeing only water and sky. Repeat ad nauseam.

I fed us French toast for breakfast, grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch and corn chowder for dinner. After a couple naps during the day, with the rocking of the boat quickly lulling me to sleep, I was ready for night watch again just after midnight. By then, the wind had dropped to 8 knots and continued to lessen over night. Amazingly, I stayed on watch for six hours, until Peter took over after dawn.

Sunrise

On Tuesday morning (August 25), after I slept for a while, I started with household tasks, thoroughly cleaning the forward cabin (even the entire ceiling, which was showing a bit of mold in a few places) and doing five loads of laundry in the washing machine. A sure way to get the bright sunshine to disappear is to hang clothes on the life lines to dry! The atmosphere turned misty at times, but at least the sun broke through for periods of time, allowing the laundry to become less wet. Only a few items were actually dry enough to fold and put away.

Before nightfall, we collected the laundry in a basket before the clothes and towels starting taking in rather than releasing water. After the sun gets higher in the sky and not obscured by low clouds on the eastern horizon, I will hang it all up again and cross my fingers! Right now, there is still condensation on the outside of the pilot house windows on the far side from the sun.

We amused ourselves by mending shoes, watching a little bird who visited, playing games and reading.

Warbler hitching a ride

Peter mending his slippers. I also repaired a pair of shoes.

Now I will go back to our brief time on the island of Saaremaa off the west coast of mainland Estonia. On Saturday, August 22, around 3:30 p.m., with heavy rain and wind gusting to 25 knots, we dropped anchor at Sutu Laht.(Sutu Bay). Bundled up in our full foulies, we kept our inner clothes dry. We closed ourselves inside to ride out the storm, which lasted through the night. The wind howled in the rigging at 35 knots with gusts up to 45. We are not certain of the exact numbers because thunder roared and lighting flashed near us as I was making dinner, and we put the boat's navigational computer, our laptops and a couple handheld electronic instruments in the oven, a Farraday cage, and turned off the main electronics, hoping to avoid a lightning strike.

Peter after anchoring

Sherri is in there

Wind instruments before we turned off the electronics

It was still gloomy and rainy on Sunday morning (August 23) when, after breakfast, we pulled up anchor around 10:20. Once out of the bay, we were sailing at 7 knots with over 20 knots of WNW wind. The wind increased up to 27 knots as we made our way to Kuressaare Marina, and we had to put three reefs in the mainsail. Arriving at Kuressaare, we were met by the dockmaster, who helped us tie up in in the strong wind.

With the days ticking away on our Schengen visas, we tidied up the boat quickly and went off to see the castle, not bothering to have lunch. On the 10-minute walk there, we passed a large and interesting statue depicting a bulky man and woman carrying a dory overflowing with fish. These two legendary characters are guardians for the fishermen on the island. According to the plaque, these heroes "had warm hearts, they were hard-working and righteous as the islanders used to be. The islanders, wherever they stay and whenever they need help, always keep the heroes Töll and Piret in the minds."

Töll and Piret statue

Kuressaare Castle is a plain rectangular stone structure from the outside surrounded by a star-shaped fortification and a sizable moat. All the grounds outside the castle walls are now an attractive public park. Our first destination inside the castle was the cafe at the top of a defensive tower, offering great views and delicious desserts (not the best late lunch, but that was all that was on the menu in the late afternoon). Fortified with food and drinks, we returned to the lowest level of the castle and began our exploration.

Kuressaare Castle and moat

Peter in the cafe

The castle was built before 1380 for the bishops of Saare-Lääne as part of the effort of Catholics to Christianize and gain control of the Estonian islanders, who were understandably resistant. Over the centuries, the island and the castle were controlled by the Germans, Denmark-Norway, Sweden, and the Russian Empire as well as the Nazis and then the Soviets during WWII. Also, much of the castle was destroyed, rebuilt, improved, restored and reconstructed during that time.

Today, the inside of the castle with its extremely thick walls and many staircases, is not furnished as it would have been, except for one room of the bishop's quarters, but serves as a museum displaying a very small portion of the collection of the Saaremaa Museum, revealing the history of the island from as far back as the Bronze Age through the 20th century, including a lot of information and exhibits about life in the 19th century, the occupation during WWII and Estonia during the oppression of the Soviet era. Only some of the signage was in English; most was only in Estonian and Russian. Therefore, we had to discern the significance of the items based on our general historical knowledge (since our understanding of the specifics of the history of the Eastern Baltic States is minimal). Taking in museum displays without explanations is a different and refreshing experience, requiring an intersection in the mind between what is known and what is seen and making inferences and guesses. We particularly appreciated the wry sense of humor displayed on the risers on the steps leading up to cafe regarding Russian communism.

A rural parlor

Traditional Estonian women's clothing

A room in the bishop's quarters

One of several large insignia on a wall with an epitath

Chapel

Gothic passageways

The inner courtyard

Peter by the reconstructed windmill outside the castle walls

Comments on four flights of stairs

The museum/castle closed at 6 p.m., and we walked around the grounds, walls and bastions before heading into the heart of the city. The town center is attractive and colorful, with a fountain from the pavement illuminated in alternating colors. Hungry, we went to the Windmill restaurant, which has excellent reviews, to find it closed for the evening. The next two restaurants we tried could not seat us; one had reservtations for the next hour and the other was hosting a special event. (By this time, Peter was starting to get mildly hangry.) The staff at this establishment recommended another restaurant on the main street. There we were seated promptly in a pleasant atmosphere and enjoyed delicious meals. I asked for ice with my Coke Zero and the young, blond waiter brought a bowl with tongs.