Yachting Monthly - April 2016

APRIL 2016 http://www.yachtingmonthly.com 61

CRUISING GUIDE

■ There is little or no tide to worry about,

but after a storm from the south-west or

west the sea level can rise by a metre.

■ The legal drink-sailing limit for skippers is

50mg/100ml. On Estonian roads, it is zero.

■ Fishing nets and pots are banned from

dredged channels. In the open sea, a single

fl ag marks the landward side of a net and

two fl ags mark the seaward side. Never sail

between the two. There should be a 50m

gap between nets so that yachts can pass.

■ Winds on the Baltic coast are usually

from the south-west or north. East and

northeasterly winds are rare. In the Gulf of

Finland the wind pattern is different. Here,

northeasterly winds are common and west

or southwesterly winds can be strong.

■ There are more than 400 public Internet

access points (regio.delfi .ee/ipunktid/)

and 200 Wi-fi hotspots (www.wifi .ee).

■ Thanks to a law called ‘Everyman’s Right’,

everyone is allowed to spend the night on

public land. If the area is not marked with

clear prohibition signs, it is permitted to

move around on private land from sunrise

until sunset. Individuals may remain

on private lands in order to rest, gather

fruits of nature, fi sh, anchor a boat or run

ashore. If private land is fenced or there

are signs forbidding entry, you must obtain

permission from the landowner to enter or

cross it. Everyman’s Right does not apply

on agricultural land. Shore paths can extend

10m from the waterline. The Estonian

Tips for cruising Estonia

indented, 2,000-mile limestone coast,

fi fty of which are suitable for deep-

draught yachts. Ashore, the through-

the-looking-glass wilderness of forest,

marsh and intact village

life is diffi cult to fi nd

anywhere else.

‘For us, World War II

only fi nished in 1992

when the Soviet Union

collapsed,’ said Kalev

Vapper, 61, commodore

of the Kalev Yacht

Club in the Estonian

capital, Tallinn.

‘Because of that, a

generation has grown

up with a blank space

in their mind where

sailing is concerned. And yet, perversely,

we are left with massive potential to

create a yachting utopia.’

That utopia is well under way with a

major drive to convert fi shing harbours,

ferry ports and reedy backwaters into

yacht marinas. The aim is to make

Estonia a destination for sailing families,

who can cruise from port to port during

daylight hours. I was given a whistlestop

tour by yacht, motor-launch, car and

even bicycle, of the progress so far.

‘World War II ended in

1992, with the collapse

of the Soviet Union’

Kalev Vapper,

commodore of

Kalev Yacht

Club, Tallinn

Approaching Tallinn

with ‘Khrushchev

blocks’ mixed with

new builds

PHOTOS: DICK DURHAM UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE

Cruising Guide (see opposite page) contains

useful information and harbour guides.

■ Ferries connect the mainland with the

islands of Saaremaa, Hiiumaa, Prangli,

Vormsi, Kihnu, Ruhnu and Abruka. There

are also ferries to Helsinki, Stockholm and

Rostock in Germany (www.estravel.ee).

■ All charts use the WGS-84 datum. The

Charts of Estonia small craft folios cover

the whole coast in three volumes (email

[email protected]). Admiralty charts are

available, but offer less local detail.

■ Visual ranges of lighthouses and beacons

assume an observer’s eye height of 5m

above sea level. All bearings of leading

lines and light sectors are from seaward.

■ Swell is negligible in the Baltic, but in

open waters short, steep seas can get

nasty when the wind pipes up. This can be

marked in Estonia’s shoal waters.

Red port buoy, green starboard buoy: all channels

into Estonia’s 157 harbours are well marked

City Marina, Tallinn, in the

heart of a medieval port