2007 (our first year)On January 16 all new owners were together at the dock yard for the first time loosening batteries and covering and tidying up Aura. For the first time Aura will now carry the flag of HSS. The applications were sent in the beginning of January. This is where it starts for us new (7th) owners of Aura!During the spring there was a lot of work. It felt like everything had to be repaired. All over we found “surprises”. We found at least four rotten spaces, the engine and the electrical system was in bad shape. Aura had been in the shipyard since autumn 2005. On top of all we started the work too late and we would have needed more hands. I think we will learn for this. The hatches were scraped down to the wood.During the winter we accomplished great and difficult wood work. On starboard side we restored large “soft” areas on the deck and the hull with the professional help of Matti Rinne. Grand job! The water has probably entered by the rigging screws and we could find a lot of soft wood. When I later read more about the adventures of Aura in the Danish Skaw Race in the summer of -66 I understood that there the staarboard shrouds collapsed even if the rig was kept up and then Aura had to break. In the winter we purchased some TackTick instruments to meter the speed, depth and wind.Viaporin Tuoppi was again in August and Aura finished 11. in her class LYS 2, timing hours 3.18.44 (totally 28 boats attending), Lygaia (owned by Antti Herlin, the son of Pekka Herlin) did not attend and Havis Amanda finished 2. in her class LYS 1, timing hours 3.48.40 (totally 31 boats attending).In November 2007 Micke took part in the ARC rally (www.worldcruising.com/arc) from Las Palmas to St Lucia Rodney Bay. The message of Aura was spread with the boat of Olli Pajunen for totally almost 3 500 nautic miles. Micke has a separate story about this. Based on traditional facts which have not been verified a member of the New York Yacht Club who have crossed the Atlantic (with a boat registered at the yacht club) may use red pants at ceremonial occasions of his yacht club. I think that my own yacht club HSS could introduce a similar noble tradition already for the next season in spite of the fact that I crossed the Atlantic with a different boat. I have already looked for suitable red pants! There is a separate story about this in Finnish and Swedish.(written by Mikael Aminoff)
2008 (our second year)
The register of Finnish boats was extended to include also sailing yachts and the new boat register number of Aura is now A-51850. Aura was present at Mickes’s 60th anniversary at Kulosaaren Casino restaurant’s mooring. Inspite of the rain the ceremonial flags were hoisted. In the summer we sailed more that last year and we also sailed Helsinki-Uusikaupunki-Helsinki and many other shorter trips. Viaporin Tuoppi was again in August and Aura finished 19. in its class LYS 1 timing hours 2.37.44 (totally 25 boats attending), Lygaia was 16. timing hours 1.54.43 and Havis Amanda was 24. in its class LYS 2 timing hours 3.36.44 (totally 27 boats attending). In the end of the year Punni gave up his ownership and we were then three owners left to live the life of Aura.
Our experiences from the summer of 2007 let us understand that a new engine could be a good subject and something we should start to make plans for. The old Bukh 10 DV m/73 should make room for a more powerful, smaller and lighter engine. At the same time we will install a new more matching/a little larger propeller? Aura was build without an engine and only later it got an electrical engine and later this Bukh 10. However we did not renew the engine this year and we were content with a new propeller, which later on will fit the new and planned engine. The launching of Aura took place in the beginning of June.
In the beginning of 2008 we scraped the bottom of Aura totally down to the wood in order to see in what shape it was. At the same time we got a possibility to see the traces of the repair of the keel that was accomplished in the autumn of 2002. The bottom of Aura was completely clean in the end of March and then we started impregnate. That did not prove to be a case which is entirely definite! Afterwards we had to listen to all kinds of experts who were for and against.
(written by Mikael Aminoff)