Canoesailing in Estonia
Two swedish sailingcanoes in the Estonian archipelago. Kapten Johan Sandström on Väring with gast Martin Korpi , Kapten Ditte Hedrenius on Heroine.
Over a hundred years ago, my association colleague, canoeist Herman Lantz, sailed out of FKI's jetty on his way east. He was going to India.
The journey went over the Åland Sea and the Finnish archipelago into St. Petersburg and Lake Ladoga. Then he followed the Volga down to the Caspian Sea.
When, after many hardships, he reached Baku in 1914, he had had enough and returned home. He never set foot in a sailboat again, but instead devoted himself to doing stunts at the movies.
We have heard the story of Herman Lantz, been fascinated and inspired by the journey through Russia, which has basically been closed to visitors since then until today, and by his intrepid canoe sailing spirit. Thoughts began to sprout about repeating his journey.
A first step has been taken. In the summer of 2004, my friend Ditte and I were sailing in Estonia in uncharted waters to get a feel for a longer trip to India in the future. We chose Estonia because I have relatives outside of Pärnu and could have been the rout Lantz could have chosen. There we could put cars and trailers under safe custody while we were out sailing. Estonia also has a nice archipelago, known for its shallow water and many shoals. It should fit our canoes, we thought.
This is the film from that trip.
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