On Saturday, the 31st mail rowing between Björkö in Finland and Holmön. This year, 15 boat teams participated, of which 3 from Sweden (all from Holmön). The Finnish boat teams came from different coastal or island communities in the Ostrobothnia archipelago. The distance traveled is about 36 distance minutes. The mail rowing boats normally maintain a speed of 3 - 5 knots, depending on wind and power in the rowing. It is thus normally 8 - 12 hours at sea. A total of 106 rowers participated this year, of which 15 women and 37 first-time rowers. The boats are of different types - changing boats (used for net fishing) and fishing boats (used for seal hunting) with crews of 5-8 people in the changing boats and 8-10 in the fishing boats.
Included in this year's starting field was also a boat of older design - namely a copy of a Viking ship that was found in southern Finland in 1976, the so-called "Lapuri boat". The copy was originally built in 1995 and was named Heimrus. The Viking ship is twelve meters long and three meters wide. The bow is adorned with a dragon's head and on the mast hangs a checkered raw sail. In its first life, the ship sailed around the shores of Europe to follow the Vikings' route. But after the turn of the millennium, it was taken back to Finland and fell into oblivion. After four years of restoration, the ship became seaworthy again in 2020 and was then renamed Stormøgha.
The start was at 8 local time outside Svedjehamn on Björkö. Out in Kvarken there were only light southerly winds during the day. This meant that this year's rowing became a combination avsegling and rowing.
At the end when they rounded Trappudden, the northern tip of Holmön, the boats got a straight headwind the last bit into the harbor in Byviken. Some tried to sail but most took down the sails and rowed into port. The first boats arrived in Byviken at 15 o'clock local time after about 8 hours at sea.
When the last boat teams approached Holmön, our ancient Nodian god Tor struck with the hammer and the lightning, the rumble and the hailstorm pulled in over Holmöarna. There were really wet rowers in the last boat teams when they arrived in port.
Ulf Rönnblad, rowing manager in the Finnish boat Albertina, carried out his 30th rowing and was presented with a post horn for this feat. Albertina was built in 1945 and is the oldest boat that participated in this year's rowing.
All photos: Åsa Engman, Holmön