Tuletulemine. From Hiieaasa to Reiu.

Morning lessons in Hiieaasa.

First thing I noticed after our landing in Hiieaasa was a ruin of an old watermill just about 50 meters below our landing place. Nothing big, small drop, plenty of stones and small standing wave. Oh boy, our fresh crews will have an interesting morning, I thought. And I was right. Rapids proved fun, high-sitting Tarred Lightning plowed through the waves without taking in a single drop of water and we did a proud face-about to watch others coming and give Aasa directions. Aasa was clumsy and sitting deeper, they managed to knock one stone, but came through nicely. Some smaller boats were in trouble, though. Pigilind, mate of my Tarred Lightning (both were made during the same course) and our smallest haabjas with two big boys paddling was barely above water even in normal conditions. Now, coming through waves she gave decisively up, took in lots of water and sank.

Pigilind. Big boys in a small boat.

Another smaller boat did the same and both had to be dragged into a low water to pour the water out. When we continued, I heard Ain roar that one beer is swimming to my left, in reeds. I got the beer.

Interesting ride continued. There were stones in the river almost everywhere, as well as watermill ruins and I was constantly busy looking for stones and warning Ain who, sitting in the stern of Aasa, was in turn giving orders to Aivar in the back. Well, if you look for something hard enough, you will find it. We found our stones on the Virula watermill before Tori. Couple of boats went in front of us and passed successfully, though bumping stones. These places were immediately out - where others had bumps, Aasa might get stuck badly. I tried standing in the boat to get clearer picture of the rapids, but we had strong tailwind that immediately started to turn me around and I did not want to get in to this mess side or tail first. Right side just under the bank seemed clearest, even though there were also nice waves, time for deciding was short so I sat down, we gathered nice positive speed and in we went. Bang. Stones. And not just stones, but I had managed to sandwitch us nicely between two underwater stones. I knew others would be coming down any seconds so I decided to sit there and deal with Aasa first. Here I had a nice overview of the rapids and it seemed to me that on my left there might be an opening, so I turned and waved Aasa desperately to this direction. They were also coming with nice speed. Bang. Stones. Aasa hit a stone, turned to right and all of this half a ton of a boat and people ran almost perpendicularly into my left board, full tilt. Crack of the wood was terrible. For a second I really thought I had lost a boat. Quick incpection did not show any damage, though. Good girl, well done. But Aasa was sitting tight with all of its crew and strong current pushing it against stones hidden under water. Not good. One of the big haabjas of Jaan tried to pass us from the right and hit us as well. I noticed that the rest of the gang was also planning to come. We would have to go into water fast to get Aasa moving and I really did not want a sharp stern of some next haabjas up my ass while doing this so I gesticulated wildly that they would move back and wait until we get clear. I do hope that noise of the water drowned my words. If not, I apologize to everybody who heard them, adrenalin was high. They did not heed my warnings, though. Instead, Pigilind and one more haabjas attempted to get through few meters to our left, found stones, keeled over and now the river was full of stuck and sunk boats, people and things. Nice. I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did, fine little safe catastrophy as it was. Now saving Aasa was a priority we decided so I jumped in with Ain. Aasa was not too badly stuck and I discovered that we could move it quite easily. But there were more stones below so in the end boys from Pigilind came to our help. We got Aasa swimming. Biggest problem was now getting back to my boat - water was in places up to balls and I could barely move against strong current, but somehow I managed and got us going as well.

Black Hawk Down.

From now on rapids disappeared and river became wide. Soon we reached Tori where lots of people were waiting for us. There were songs, speeches, devils, absolutely delicious nettle soup and the only two visible toilets far away, across the wide river. In a blazing sun everyone had been drinking a lot and for a while we all practiced telekinesis together. I can confirm now, it does not and will never work. Period. Would it be possible, it would have worked there and then.

Tori. Once one of the biggest caves in Estonia, this place is called Tori Hell. Devil himself has come to meet us.

Next leg from Tori to Sindi dam was tough again. We were lucky. In a place where western winds prevail we had strong wind from North-East, or perfect tailwind. Unfortunately it was so strong that at least I had serious problems keeping straight course once again. Just a little after Tori there was a magnificent attraction. Big birch growing on a high riverbank had a big branch above the river and a strong and long rope tied up. I have seen such before, but never so high. Some of us went immediately for jumping and Lauri decided he wanted to try as well. He got his wish, but this delay put us into a chase mode - rest of the group was long gone. This was hard work. We found that group was spreading again, with some swimming, some hoisting their shirts on paddles and doing some stone-age sailing.

Tarred Lightning on Sindi dam.

Portage in Sindi.

We caught Aasa just before Sindi, where big concrete dam blocks the way. Factory that used it is now gone but dam remains. We already knew that portage place would be on the right side but portaging Aasa did not sound like a pleasant task so we went to recon if it would be possible to swim it through fish stairs using ropes. Here I discovered that I had left my belt bag - pipe, documents, bank card - to an unnamed jetty when I changed my clothes just half an hour before. Dammit. To add an insult to injury, as I climbed to high dam, strong gust of wind took my trusty old wide-brimmed hat and carried it straight into main current just below the dam. Gone. Me? Without my pipe and hat?! As Jaan helpfully remarked - totally pointless man...

Progress. Haabjas, Soviet river expeditions workhorse Taimen and modern kayak side by side.

Anyway, fish stairs proved a dead end, portage, even though difficult, went fast, without any damages and soon we were having a quick lunch in a trout farm, single business still making use of the dam. There was still a long way to Reiu where we would meet again with viking boat Turm. We now had an escort again, kayakers from Pärnu. Our arrival to Reiu was actually quite a sight - twelve dugouts of all sizes + about as much kayaks gathered into a rather tight pack but we were still filling the river. To avoid looking like an attacking iroquois war party we sang to Reiu people a our travel song.

Iroquois war party.

Next bad news we got from Viktor - beer reserves were out. All we had was some sweet cider and hangover next morning made me think of the morning in Tänassilma as a rather pleasant one. As if this was not enough, most of us decided to go to concert in Pärnu - on Turm! Lauri said firm No! to this idea, which meant that I would have to stay in Reiu as well. Our lodging was in a different place and my son - even more absent-minded than myself - would probably miss the bus or something. So there were just a few of us sitting in front of Paikuse Youth Center until late night, talking, singing and sipping cider. Ouch. Tomorrow would be the last day and melancholy was settling in.