Yachting Monthly - April 2016

It’s rare to see a

boat anchored

or moored

anywhere other

than in a marina

CRUISING GUIDE

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

E

stonia’s second biggest island,

Hiiumaa, is believed to be the

oldest in the world, formed 455

million years ago as the result

of a meteorite explosion. Due to a mild

maritime climate and lime-rich soil, it

has a very rich fl ora and fauna. Elk,

moose and lynx inhabit the woods

alongside wolves and bears, which

are now so prolifi c that licenses are

available for hunters. Hiiumaa is also

known for its lighthouses including

Kõpu, one of the oldest in the world

and in continuous use since 1531.

There was just one visiting yacht in

the new marina at Heltermaa, where

I arrived to meet local sailors Heleri

Uus and Lia Rosenberg for a tour of

the island. The prize port is brand

new Kärdla Marina, with all mod

cons and a winter lay-up warehouse

that costs €6/m^2 per month – 721

yachts visited last season.

The ladies drove me out to Tahkuna

Lighthouse, Estonia’s tallest. Interestingly,

parts of it were made by the engineers

who built the Eiffel Tower. We climbed

up and looked down on the haunting bell

tower, which marks the worst peacetime

maritime disaster ever to occur in the

Baltic: the sinking of the Estonia ferry in

1994, which claimed 852 lives including all

of the children on board. The bronze bell is

cast with the faces of children and it tolls

when the wind reaches Force 8, its

strength on that fateful day.

Saaremaa, Estonia’s largest

island, has retained its uniqueness

due to its isolation. In the villages

you can still see stone fences

and houses with thatched roofs.

This is a land of dolomite stone,

windmills and home-brewed beer.

Meeting me here was Meelis

Saarlaid, 52, a harbourmaster

who has sailed around the world,

rounding Cape Horn in 2000 to complete

a lifelong dream in his Finngulf 44,

Lennuk, named after the boat of the epic

hero Kalevipoeg.

We inspected Triigi, where the ferry

docked, and the new yacht harbour of

Soela in the north, which charges only

€5 a night but is tight on depth. Meelis’s

harbour is Roomassaare, where Arcona

Yachts now builds and launches its

smaller models before motoring them

across to Sweden to be rigged and

commissioned. There’s ample depth

here and full facilities.

Next we hopped aboard Meelis’s

six-metre dory for a trip to Abruka, an

island south of Saaremaa known for

its broadleaf forest, and Kuressaare, a

port popular with visitors because of

its harbourmaster Oskar Jõgi, 72,

a Cruising Association port offi cer

well known to British sailors. He had

fi fty visiting yachts last year, with about

ten from the UK. A good place to eat here

is Spa Hotel Meri, just along the quay

from the marina.

Peeter Sääsk, 54, boss of Saare

Yachts, has built thirty-four Saare

boats and 150 Finngulfs here.

Another day, another island –

Muhu, connected to Saaremaa

by a causeway and location of

that rare thing in Estonia: an

anchorage. This one is quite

simply magic, with at least 2.5m

of water off a tiny uninhabited

wooded islet, Love Island. A

dinghy journey leads up a creek through

reeds to the landing jetty of 16th century

Pädaste Manor, whose Alexander

Restaurant is one of the best in the

country. ‘Nuclear rocket launchers aimed

at Sweden once existed on this island,’ the

owner Martin Breuer told me, ‘but they’ve

all gone now and access to the sea has

been restored for almost 25 years.’

Among the islands

Harbourmaster &

circumnavigator

Meelis Saarlaid

Saaremaa, Estonia’s largest island, windmills and thatched homes

Haunting memorial to the Estonia ferry disaster

in which 852 perished, including all the children

Tahkuna Lighthouse;

Estonia’s tallest and

part-built by Eiffel

Tower engineers

Welcome to Estonia

PHOTO: ALAMY