On Sunday evening we moved from the inner harbour at Haapasaari to a berth at the border control point where we could take our leave of the EU. We were visited by three officials and a sniffer dog, which excitedly explored the boat. Finally, papers were stamped and we were told not to leave the boat before our departure early next morning. We wonder if this this how it will be post-Brexit when popping across the English Channel to France?
We sailed at 05:00 with a light westerly wind and had a mostly easy 80nm passage to Kotlin Island outside St Petersburg. For the first half we ran under spinnaker and for much of the second ran with a poled-out genoa. Kotlin Island is part of a barrier protecting St Petersburg from storm surges. Just as we approached the gate it blew up F6 and we had a lumpy entrance through the barrier gate. At Fort Konstantin on Kotlin Island we berthed at the border control point where the boat was searched and papers inspected. The next morning we had a customs inspection.
We then had an 18nm passage onward to St Petersburg across the shallow Nevskaya Guba to our berth at the Central River Yacht Club, where we were met by Vladimir who introduced us to the facilities and gave us some tips for our stay. We will let you know about our time here in due course.
That’s the news for now.
From Russia with love!
Ynskje & Tony