After 2.5 years of waiting for the end of travel bans due to the Coronavirus pandemic, I decided to launch the yacht and ferry it from Kotka to St. Petersburg as soon as possible. The opportunity did not come. The foreign passport was replaced with a new one, and the new one lacked a visa. To get a new one, I did not fit into any of the categories that are allowed to enter Finland. I wrote a letter to the consulate, attached a contract for the storage of the yacht, and from the second visit they allowed me to apply for a visa. I got it and went to get the yacht.
After going through humiliating screening procedures, asking about the purpose of the trip, checking all possible documents at the Russian border, I finally got to Finland. The Finnish border guards were satisfied with my answer to the question about the purpose of the trip and did not ask anything else.
I had notified the yacht storage company in advance of my arrival, so by the time I arrived, the yacht was almost hanging from the slings and ready to launch. After two years of downtime on the shore, she was terribly dirty. I washed it after the descent for 3 hours, but I still couldn't clean some places. But the main thing was that the yacht was on the water, and it was possible to prepare for the crossing. The battery, surprisingly, remained alive, the outboard motor started up quite normally after checking the spark plug and changing the oil, although the old 2-year-old gasoline made itself felt. It was dry inside, although a little dusty. The sails, covers, papers, and so on were all in perfect order. The ropes were almost all stiffened and covered with mud. I had to knead them and wash them as much as possible.
The next day, I armed and checked the yacht. I am very grateful to my fellow neighbors at the pier for their advice and help in preparing. Sven especially helped out by agreeing to help buy a portable walkie-talkie, without which trouble could have happened when crossing the border. I am very grateful to both Sven and Mikhail.
On the third day, I bought groceries (it is not known how much time I had to spend on the boat), filled gasoline into cans and went to the island of Santio for customs clearance. I planned to come there later to spend the night there, and in the morning, after going through customs procedures, go to St. Petersburg.
The journey from Kotka to Santio took 5 and a half hours. The wind was very good (7-10 m/s) and mostly fair. Of course, the path among the islands turns out to be winding, but I didn't have to maneuver anywhere. A sunny evening, white clouds, fresh wind and excellent views of the islands - after almost 3 years of downtime on the shore, I was simply delighted. But I didn't want to rejoice. It was sad to leave Finland and Kotka, which was close to my heart. Passing by the islands, I remembered how we went to them, walked, admired the views, how we spent evenings together in friendly companies...
There was no one on the island. I docked quietly, had dinner, checked the weather forecast for the next day, adjusted the route and went to bed.
The next day, when I woke up, the first thing I did was call the border guards and tell them that I would be going through customs clearance. They arrived by boat half an hour later. We inspected the boat, put seals on the documents. In the process, we had a nice chat with them about the transition, the current political situation, and even yachts. They asked me if I was leaving right away or if I was still standing, and when they heard that I was planning to leave right away, they wished me a good trip.
I left around 9 a.m. The wind was slightly weaker than the day before, but again fair. I followed the wind almost all the way to St. Petersburg. Of course, a backstay would be better. But the fact that it's not against the wind is already good. I must say that, of course, I chose the day of the race in advance so that there would be a suitable wind.
20 minutes after leaving the Depot, I crossed the border with the Russian Federation. They called me on the radio right away (it was very useful). He informed me that I was alone on a yacht, going to St. Petersburg and I didn't have a flag. I was warned that districts 105 and 107 should be bypassed. No one else called after that. Then everything was monotonous. Waves and wind. I stocked up on tea in a thermos, rolls, sandwiches and pies so that I could eat without leaving the tiller. I alternated between tea, cigarettes, and songs to make it more fun.
The Russian coast was slowly approaching. The Birch Islands appeared first, then the northern shore, and then the southern one. It was raining here and there on the horizon, but it was always dry above me. Lucky. I didn't want to get wet. In the afternoon, even the sun seemed to be a little more cheerful.
Finally, I saw the peak of the Lakhta Center on the horizon. We've made a good reference point. But the wind began to subside. The speed dropped to 3 knots. In order not to hang out on the waves at night, I decided to start the engine and finish the crossing as quickly as possible. Although it was noisy with the engine, increasing the speed by 2.5 knots gave me the opportunity to save 3 hours of travel.
https://youtu.be/vGHJOcCQOzE
On the way to Kronstadt, a walkie-talkie sat down. I only worked for the reception. Therefore, he passed through the checkpoints without warning. As they told me later, it's okay, I'm not the only one who's such a blockhead.
The entire journey from Santio to Kronstadt (69 miles on the track) took 16 hours.
I moored at the border landing stage at Fort Konstantin around one o'clock in the morning and the border guards immediately came to me with papers. I didn't even have time to lay the mooring lines properly. The maritime border guards turned out to be much more friendly than the land guards. I was so seasick all day on the waves that I could hardly think straight, but the border guards explained everything to me with understanding, what to write, what to do, etc.
In the morning, I woke up to the sound of a trumpet. It turns out that the Kronstadt Sail Festival was being prepared in the fort on this day. There was a stage not far from the yacht, and the musicians were preparing for the concert, setting up the equipment. I went straight from the ship to the ball. I listened to music during the customs clearance process.
