How I built a marina in Haapsalu

Viktor Siilats, the founder of the Grand Holm Marina in Haapsalu, tells us his tragicomical story, how he became a marina-owner.

Text: Viktor Siilats

My first contact with Haapsalu took place in1983. I had just started to work in Estonian State Television and my ex-colleague from the Academy of Sciences gave me a hint about an interesting and also somewhat dangerous issue. Namely, besides his work as scientist Mr Tõnu Karu was the guardian angel of the disabled people and from him that I learned that the issue of disability was not to be touched upon in the Soviet press, since we were living in the “society of happy people”. However, this seemingly preposterous thought proved a harsh truth. Even the architecture was designed in the manner hindering the disabled people from appearing among the others too easily. I was young then and full of action and nothing seemed impossible. Nevertheless, very soon it appeared that the impossible still existed and the whole issue was guarded by the watchful eye of the “organs”, that is, the EKP (Estonian Communist Party) and the KGB. When there’s a will, there’s a way, I thought. And since there was a progressive-minded staff in Estonian TV broadcasting for children and young people, I decided to introduce the issue of the disabilities through disabled children, which seemed to be possible. Making the programme then brought me to Haapsalu, to the rehabilitation centre for the disabled young people, where I learned about several unhappy cases of human fate. Nostalgic and peaceful Haapsalu suited well to my purpose and emphasized the mood I was in while making this programme. The programme got finished, was left for about a year on the shelf as forbidden material, since a tovarish Bachvärk, the director of the pensioners’ department of the Ministry of Social Affairs said first in the studio interview somewhat that like: pig is not a bird and therefore cannot fly too , in order to explain that disabled people do not need to be among other people. After exiting the studio comerade Bachvärk went straight to the EKP headquarters, complaining that some youngster had pushed him against the wall and made him say things that he did not want to say. A year later, when the general manager of the ETV was on holiday, I convinced his deputy, Mr Mart Siimann who later became primeminister of independent Estonia, to broadcast the programme and the warm and supportive reaction of the audience ensured imminent rebroadcast. Tragic life of disabled people in Soviet Estonia became public and authorities started immidiately the dedicated programme for them and also made me a totally persona non grata person in the Estonian TV house.

Therefore it was only natural that on my later boat trips I always tried to stay overnight Haapsalu. The geographic position of Haapsalu is simply superb: only an hour’s drive from Tallinn and at the crossing point of several waterways. The West-Estonian archipelago are also close at hand. In Haapsalu yachtharbour there was always a spot where to park the boat, the people in the yacht club were a friendly and cheerful lot, the food was good, the service was good and the fuel tank was filled whenever necessary. At that time the Haapsalu Maritime Days were an annual event. Everything changed from the day when the yacht club owner decided to sell the club. The buyer was a furniture-manufacturer and roof coverings trader from Tallinn. The yacht club had switched hands several times before, but never so bad as now: first the fuel sale was put to an end, then came some bullies with their BMW-s and close-cropped hair, driving their cars to the very edge of the wharf, playing wildly loud music and jumping into the water between the boats, but often also from the other people boats, yelling loudly as they did. That actually served them right: swimming in the marina is pretty much the same as taking a shower in the sewer. I felt sorry for their young girlfriends who tended to do the same stupidities. I once even asked one of those future mothers, whether she gave the slightest thought to where she swam?!

Keeping the boat in Haapsalu became unsafe and there were less and less reasons to stop by in Haapsalu. The new owner kept walking from one boat to another during the daytime, a beer glass in his hand, talking drunk, and at night or rather, in the morning around five a clock sung very loud and absolutely off the tune into the microphone. Those unhappy Finnish families that came to ask him to keep it quieter because their kids were sleeping in the boats, the performer replied that this was his private marina and if they didn’t like it, they could well sod off. I saw it with my own eyes, how a family with small children set sail early in the morning.

My friends offered to place a bet on whether the yacht club would be sold in one or two years, if things continued the way they were. Unfortunately that bet did not happen and retrospectively it is very difficult to say what date I would have gambled on, but in less than a year the yacht club was on sale. The rock singer-furniture manufacturer’s business was hard up and by selling the yacht club he could have saved the situation, especially that he owed part of the purchase sum to former owner aswell. I was interested and found out that the marina was bought for 2.2 millions and the sales price was 3.2 millions, which meant the prospective buyer had to pay for all the inefficient managing. As I was in no hurry, I started the sales negotiations with the seller, but he simply didn’t appeared to the meetings we agreed. Several times. And he never called nor answered the phone later on and therefore these negotiations came to nothing. By spring 2003 Haapsalu municipality had also realized that the yacht club plot was in the wrong hands and they wanted to know whether I was interested in buying. I explained that I was, but that I never managed to meet the seller and therefore the municipality decided to become a “mediator” and bring us together. The meeting took place and to my big surprise a Kurmet Ossip, that trader of roof coverings, showed up, declaring that this rock star with whome I had preliminary talks was actually noone and that the yacht club belonged to him, Kurmet, and is on sale, but not for 3.2, but 3.5 millions.

Since the aim of the negotiations is usually to lower the price, not to raise it, the deal was off right away. Moreover, it appeared that a substantial part of the yacht club’s 7000 m³ plot was under water and the other, also substantial, was subject to building ban. In addition they tried to sell me among other things the so-called guestharbour, which on a closer inspection proved to be part of the neighboring plot. So practically entire yachtharbour belonged to the neighbours of the yachtclub. When leaving, I still warned Kurmet that there were a good number of seaside plots on sale in Haapsalu and that I had already made up my mind about buying. That I would be glad, if it was him who got my money, but if he did not want that, then there was nothing to do and someone else would have that. Kurmet only gave me a shrug at that ...

Buying of the neighboring plot to the Haapsalu Yacht Club It didn’t take long until the neighboring plot with that yachtharbour or guestharbour came on sale. I expressed my interest and the representative of Lääne Kalur Ltd, Mr. Raine Kaljula, kindly agreed to meet me. It was at the agreed time and at the agreed place, in Mr. Kaljula’s office, that we met for the first time face to face. “Do you have any idea who just left my office?” Raine asked. “No. How should I know that?” Raine showed me a business card: Kurmet Ossip! Somehow, Kurmet had found out about our meeting and my interest in the neighboring plot and demanded a meeting half an hour before my appointment. “He came here, was somewhat nervous-looking, threw me his business card and said I should know him. To be honest, I didn’t. I have heard bits and pieces about you, Viktor, but nothing about him. But now I know what he’s like.” “So, and what did you talk about?” “About these plots at Westmeri street 3 and 6. He also wants to buy. Well, the price is no secret, 2.3 millions. He quickly said that 2 millions is his final offer and at that price he’d take it right away, so I should think about it, and then he left.“ “So, and have you already thought about it?” “Well, no, I would first listen to your offer, too.” My offer was very simple. When the price for the plots is 2.3 millions and Kurmet offered 2 millions, then I offer 2 millions too. And Mr. Kaljula can then decide, would he sell the plots to someone who needs them to protect his sailors unfriendly business also in the future, or to someone who just tells lovely stories about his beautiful plans to build a new yacht club, but who might also prove big-mouthed and might do nothing at all. “Well, I’ve heard about you and I don’t think you’d buy this land to simply let it stand empty. And one has to take risks, so as far as I’m concerned, we might close the deal right here and right now.” And so we did, without any contract or anything just hadshake and our next meeting was to take place at the notary public in a month’s time. We went to the hotel “Promenaad” nearby to celebrate our deal. It appeared from our conversation that Raine Kaljula was an extremely likable and versatile person. A good conversation. We left almost as good friends. “But how are you going to explain to Kurmet Ossip now that he offered two and I offered two – so why did you prefer me all of a sudden?” I asked, worried. That’s the beer that goes straight into your head and makes you softhearted. “Leave it to me, I’ll find a way to explain it,” Raine said.
“But Kurmet said that this two millions was his last and final offer, didn’t he?”
“He did.”
“Fine, then I’ll offer 2.1 millions, that is one hundred thousand more, so you can tell Kurmet that Viktor outbid him.”
“That won’t do, we already closed the deal,” Raine argued.
“Why not, let’s make it 2.1, that’s up to me to decide when I want to pay more,” I insisted.
“We can’t do that, what would people say?”
“What would they have to say, if we closed a new deal? Don’t worry about me; I’ll survive the price just fine.”
“Alright, let’s make it 2.1, then. But we also spoke about another plot too. If we come to an agreement about that, then we’ll cut that one hundred thousand off the price!”
Agreed. A deal again.

I went to the yacht club and Kurmet Ossip was there. He hardly answered my greeting and looked dourly past me. I still tried to make a friendly conversation, with us being neighbours soon and that it would be nice to cooperate and if he still has plans to sell his plot in the future, I would have even more reason to buy now.
For some strange reasons Kurmet told me not to start having any ideas about his finances just because he was driving that kind of modest car. That he actually has enough money and that he had built and developed everything by his own hands, although he was from South-Estonia… I could only stammer that I’d never thought otherwise, but Kurmet was already in his white car – I think it was a Toyota – and speeded off for Tallinn.

A short while later Raine Kaljula calls me, a little anxious: “Do you have any idea who just called me?”
“No.”
“Kurmet, of course, who else!”
“So, and what did he say?”
“He said he’d made the biggest mistake in his life and offered three millions for the plots.”
“Oh. I see. And what did you tell him?”
“Tell you what, I told him that the plot that was on sale for 2.3 millions in the morning could not be bought for 3 millions in the very same afternoon. That this had to be a mistake. Besides, we had already closed the deal with Mr. Siilats.”
It appears, in Haapsalu you can find the kind of people who stay true to their word!

Haapsalu Yacht Club wishes to be a mediator A couple of days have passed and Raine calls me again, worried: “Say, what have you been telling about our deal in the yacht club?”
“Nothing. I told Kurmet that we’d be neighbours soon and we’d start a friendly cooperation. Why?” I stammered to answer. Sometimes I really do talk too much.
“You know, I got a phone call from Sven, that yacht club captain on Kurmet’s payroll. Do you know him well?”
“Yes, I do.”
“And what have you told him about our deal?”
“I-I-I haven’t told him anything at all!”
“But Sven told me you’d called him and asked to contact me. So I asked, why didn’t Siilats himself call me?
Sven said Siilats was too embarrassed to call. That the thing was, Siilats had made a too quick and too emotional decision and offered too much for the plots. That he actually needed the money badly elsewhere. He asked whether it would be possible to lower the price before going to the notary’s.”
“Most interesting, indeed. And what did you tell him, then?”
“I said that when Mr. Siilats has any troubles, he’d call me personally and tell me about his concerns. And if Mr. Siilats wants to negotiate the price, we can talk about that, too, and lower the price, if necessary, but only directly. No mediators needed.”
I assured Raine that I had not asked anyone to be my mediator, that I had no money problems concerning this purchase, the price agreed upon is still in force and I do not wish to bargain for a lower price.
“That’s very good to hear, so we’ll meet at the notary’s!” I heard a cheerful voice say.
And in a month’s time the deal was closed officially.

Preparations for opening the new yacht club

There was very little time left by the summer season of 2004. Barely a few months. But the wish to show what a yacht club in Haapsalu should look like was big. The reconstruction project for the former food-canning factory and later the glass factory buildig was drawn up at lightning speed. The concept of marina building-yacht club was ready for a long time already. What would someone arriving to the marina by sea need? First of all a berth and safe mooring, then straight to the bar for a welcome-drink and a fine meal. For some reason, all the Estonian bars and restaurants in marina are at high places and mainly with a view on the dry land. My restaurant must be as close to the sea as possible, so that the way from the wharf to the restaurant door between the red and the green port/starboard lights would be as easy as it can be. Supplying the stock must be as easy as having a drink or a meal, so there must be a store nearby, because a boat’s fridge and bar may never dry out completely! In addition, toilets and showers facilities, club lounge and a shelf for exchange books, a conference room, sauna, a small laundry and accommodation facilities.
It’s as easy as that! It would be good to have something unique as well. In my marina you can find uniqueness in an original freight hoist that reminds you of the original function of the house, and a solid redwood dance floor with the stage that the skilled carpenters of Haapsalu, led by a long-distance sailor Arne Tuisk, put their heart and soul into. The visitors have also been fascinated by a later addition – the weather stone.
Haapsalu construction company “Ehto“ led by Mr Raivo Raudsepp can work miracles and the house was finished in two months! I guess the man was attracted to sea then already and realized that he was actually building a marina for his own future boat.

However, things did not go smoothly all the time. Kurmet Ossip started several courtcases to demand the visitors pier to himself. His theory was supported by the redicluous argument that the pier was not attached to land! Everyone cean see it was attached to the land by purpose but this fact didn’t stop him. Kurmet continued to argue that it had been a separate stanalone pier , something like in UK where people wait for the tides. However, the municipality of Haapsalu did not share that opinion. The disputes began, leading nowhere, naturally, whereas according to my lawyer the yacht club contested “everything that moves”.
At the same time I was offered again and again to buy the neighbouring yacht club, but my interest in that object had already subsided and the threats from the yachtclub lawyer, an ex-judge Harri Ots to keep contesting everything simply went in at one ear and out at the other.
However, I got a wind, which made me bit careful. Why ex-judge? Mr Harri Ots was a judge during soviet times and to continue his job in independent Estonia he had to ofiicially declare he never coooperated with KGB. Instead he quit the job.
Then the Health Protection Inspectorate and the Rescue Board were sent to check on us. Our ventilation, one of the biggest, the best, the most expensive and the most powerful ventilations in Haapsalu, was allegedly not suitable. We were told, that we wouldn’t get an approval before a private enterprise engaged and paid consultations ordered from them.
All this nonsense was witnessed by an army of officials whose primary task seemed to be making sure that the new marina would not be ready for work by the beginning of the season. Nobody seemed to take any interest in the fact that the ventilation system in the neighboring yacht club consisted of only two holes in the wall: in and out. Yet, there were people who supported the new marina and the deputy mayor of Haapsalu, Mr Jüri Kurba and the city secretary Erko Kalev did everything they could so that on the opening day of the Hanko-Haapsalu Regatta the marina had all the necessary acknowledgments and certificates and the new yacht club was ready to let its opening bells chime! Only few people know that while the cameras were flashing and the guests gathered were listening to the greeting speech, the fireplace makers were hammering in the last nails into the sheet copper fireplace hood and the cleaners were brushing up the club rooms.
Nothing new under this sun. The first Estonian private television channel EVTV was created by myself just in one month and the hosts of the opening programme who were carelessly leaning on a palm tree were actually holding that palm upright on the first broadcating day. To spend two months on building up a marina was actually even too much luxury.

Naming the Marina

Why Grand Holm Marina? To be brief, the Haapsalu Yachtharbour or Haapsalu Marina or Haapsalu Guestharbour existed on that place just de facto and those names were too confusing. I wanted to call it legally Westmer Marina, but that name was not allowed, and the municipality came up with the idea of Suur-Holmi Marina. Then the national names committee appeared in the persons of a Tiit Sepp and his wife, informing us that Suur-Holmi Marina wouldn’t do at all. A much better and prettier name would be the historical Veskiholm ie Mill Peninsula. The Sepp duo even expressed their hopes that one day I might restore the old mill, too. Nonsense, the locals said. There had never been any mills, that was a new land, achieved by filling in the sea. And since all that farce seemed to drag on endlessly, it was easier to give the marina a name in English, rather than keep arguing with the officials about the Estonian one. So instead of Suur Holmi marina the Grand Holm Marina was born and since the time passed by, the national names committee and Mr Sepp family business was closed.

Difficulties with the aquatic area

Applying for the aquatic area for the marina became an issue in itself. I wrote a corresponding application to the Maritime Administration and they replied that this was not under their jurisdiction. That such issues belonged under the local governments. However, as soon as the Haapsalu municipality and the city council had determined the Suur-Holmi aquatic area whitch almost matches the former yahtharbour basin, I got a note that this would not do and the municipality must determine other coordinates altogether. I got the feeling that the old yacht club was trying to hinder me in any way possible. After all, the owners had threatened me that if I didn’t buy it from them, they would cause me endless inconveniences, start numerous legal processes etc. No compromises would help in the meetings with the state representatives, since the task seemed to be to hinder the building of the new marina at any cost, rather than come to any agreements. Thus, fighting on several fronts I discovered not only the dilettante absurdity of the legislation but also a very strange circumstance. Namely the Tallinn-originated owners of the neighboring yacht club, being so highly competent in legislation and having excellent contacts due to the lawyer being an ex-judge, had dedicated all their energy to destructive aims and sadly neglected most of the legal issues concerning their own club. This knowledge game me strength to overcome any obstacles in my way, because the day would come when the cup would be full to the brim and then the checkmate would be the simplest thing on earth.

Strange traders on our yard

There were other weird setbacks, too. On the request of the municipality we concentrated on the opening of Grand Holm Marina to the Hanko-Haapsalu Regatta arrival day. Hanko is the sister town to Haapsalu. The obligatory components of the Regatta included arrival, mooring, awarding prizes, dinner and on the day of departure, buying cheap Estonian alcohol to take it back to Finland. Opening and supplying the alcohol store of the marina was even more important and more difficult than opening the marina itself, but we managed to do that. I was more than surprised when on the closing day of the regatta a big white van arrived on the marina territory and started selling alcohol to the Finnish guests without saying anything. Our own shopkeepers were so intimidated by such egregious action they could not say anything too. It appeared, that citymajor himself sent his friends to do the business on our territory. Friendship is friendship, but business is business! And one has to protect their lessee’s business as if it were his own, so that the lessee would be able to pay the lease in the future as well. But as to the friendship, I’ve seen it in the maritime days of Tallinn’s twin town, Kotka, how your kinsfolk who’d pretended to be your best buddies, refused to sell you beer after the official hours had passed. I’ve also seen how the Finnish police are called for when someone is trying to resell an valid boat ticket at the queue in the port. All in all, a few words and the van vanished from our territory as quickly as it had appeared, and what was most interesting, the Finnish guests seemed to understand everything perfectly or at least they pretended they had.

The cook escapes through the window

Speaking about the lessees I should mention that the original concept of the marina was that the whole place would be run by a capable family from Haapsalu. Such a family, family Tõlk was found surprisingly quickly. The father of the family was working on catering on the big cruising ships and the daughter also had some experiences in service and trade. The corresponding limited company was formed quickly, the team was set up and the goods obtained. Together we racked our brains, putting together the menu and choosing the suitable interior. Our friends and acquaintances helped us to refine our choice of goods and soon our pub and shop offered besides Bulgarian Monastirskaja Izba also the best French, Italian and Spanish wines, which made our Swedish guests very happy. The importer of these wines, the owner of AS Tridens, Mr Juho Ojasoo personally gave us a training course on wines. I, too, took part there and I can’t remember how it ended. The only problem was with cooks. Finally it seemed the right person had been found: an older gentleman in a white uniform who had worked as a ship cook. He went, as it is customary, from table to table every now and then, askingfriendly about the food, but also to just talk. Very soon the cook became aware of my person. Not as simply the owner of the marina, but also as a grateful listener, whome to tell about his craft. And I believed him until I happened to order veal one fateful evening, and discovered to my horror that the cook just didn’t know how to prepare it. By that time he’d become my “good buddy”: “See, look at those two there! Guest artists, ” he commented about some visitors. He continued:“ Well, pickpockets. From Tallinn. The girls came to check the playground earlier in the day already, but those guys arrived in the evening with a sure plan already. Just look at how they’re watching! Obviously professionals! Soon they’ll get down to action, no question there. Let’s keep an eye on them…” Since those visitors was alright and the cook obviously not, the next day, when I went to ask Helen Tõlk whether the cook was alright, she told me she didn’t know, that the cook had just escaped through the kitchen window, leaving all his utensils behind.
We haven’t seen that cook ever since, but family Tõlk managed to quickly find him a replacement and despite the incidents the season could continue well enough. Later, due to the wish to offer something extraordinary in the marina, the family Tõlk was replaced by Carmen Catering from Tallinn and we have worked with them for several years and the gourmet food of whom is widely known to be of high quality. Carmen Catering serves even the annual receptions of the President of Estonia and our restaurant became rated among three of the bestones allover Estonia. Nevertheless the efficient Tõlks have written their name in the history of Grand Holm Marina.

31 anonymous phone calls on Midsummer’s Eve

So, quietly arranging the business matters it was soon Midsummer’s Eve. The first Midsummer’s Eve in the newly opened marina. The whole staff made preparations for the evening grill party, including the marina captain Valdo Kivi, who among other things has obtained experience driving President Lennart Meri’s boat and managing Paslepa marina, which was official summerresidence for the President. Valdo was carefully considering, where to have the fire, because the territory was too small. I was sitting in the marina, on the deck of my boat, enjoying an afternoon drink, when my mobile phone rang. A call from an undisclosed number. A very rare thing these days, but still: sometimes the phone does not show the number of someone calling from abroad. I picked up and heard a weird-sounding voice:
“Pederast! Fuck you!”
And they hung up. After a while a new call and the same words, and then again and again.
For a change, they called my name and then in high-pitched voice: “Fag!” Altogether a couple of dozen times!
I must admit that this kind of expressions usually used by the anonymous commentators on the internet sites, that were as if to test my so-far conservative sexual orientation, sounded pretty vile on the phone. Ever since the Soviet times I’ve hated all the authors of anonymous letters, the informers and such. Who could it be? The calls were very short, but in the background I still heard the same music that was coming from the old yacht club. Even the distorted voice sounded somewhat familiar. And it didn’t take long until the phone all of a sudden started to display the caller’s number. How can someone be so stupid and use their everyday-phone for such things? And here’s a little tip for the anonymous callers: never administer alcohol or drugs when on such a serious mission of anonimous calls, otherwise you’ll simply forget whether the caller’s ID is switched on or off. Altogether my phone registered 31 of these calls.
The next day, which, as we know, is a holiday, my phone rings again and the caller ID shows: Kurmet Ossip, the owner of theyacht club. I hadn’t heard anything from Kurmet ever since he tried to foil the purchase of the Grand Holm Marina plot . Kurmet talked about something and I cannot make anything out of it. He mentions his property and something else as well. Finally I interrupted his speech: “Kurmet, if you wanted to apologize for these thirty one anonymous calls, then say so, but otherwise we have nothing to talk about.“ Kurmet hung up quickly.

Everyday-joys of the marina

The life in the marina went on as it usually does. The boats came and went, some stayed for longer, some guests were a good conversation. With our guests we studied the old sea maps that I had used when sailing far away and that were now hanging on the new yacht club walls to see the routes our visitors had taken. Sometimes doing so brought about a happy realization that we’d been at the same places, perhaps even at the same time, at the same marinas and the same pubs. It’s almost ten years now that I have been pretending to be that Estonian Hemingway spoke about – the one you can meet in all the different ports of the world and all the courtesy flags in Grand Holm Marina ceiling are from my own different boats. Very often they asked me whether an investment like a marina was worth it. Naturally, a block of appartments would be more profitable. But if the person who asked that saw a family arriving form Finland, all cold and shivering and ready to see the sea from a totally different perspective through the sauna window, these questions cease immediately. Once an open RIB-speedboat (inflatable boat) arrived. Ten people on board. After mooring nobody moved for quite some time. Then, after a while their frozen fingers started to move again one by one, until their hands were finally free from the seat handles. If you’ve been in a similar situation, looking for a safe harbour, mooring in the storm, hoping for warmth, then there’s nothing that can compete with the feeling you get from offering people all that which you’ve needed and had yourself at one time or another. Some locals who go sailing have been wondering why our captain is acting funny and going out on his own inflatable boat to meet the guests in order to see them to their mooring spots. But there’s nothing worse than the Estonian sailing culture, where cruising is nearly inexistent. The sportsailor, “The old fish”, who are familiar with the local conditions, can manage their small and primitive sports boats just fine when they’re sober, but many “floating summer cottages” arrive in Estonia with a crew of two only, not having six or seven people on board. These two are so exhausted from the long and bumpy voyage, that they want to see their berth as quickly as possible and also get there safe. Moreover, in the windy Haapsalu Tagalaht (Back Bay) the bow often move in the winds even when the buoy has already been caught. And in most places in the world, except for the big part of Estonia, people get help while mooring. There’s also a practical side to it: in Estonia there is no obligation for the third-party liability insurance and therefore, however capable that person may consider themselves, the marina captain must ensure that the other vessels remain intact. For the same reason it is not allowed to move only by sail in the marina. Again, in the best spots in Europe things have been arranged so that the inflatable boat shows the way, pushes and pulls the bow, passes on and receives the moorings etc, and therefore we have no need to invent the bicycle, we simply need to sail and learn.

Things finally start to work out

The second year of operation also brought along the Estonian name for the marina. I think the family Sepp’s name committee was dissolved and thus another obstacle was removed from the way of Suur-Holmi Marina. Winning the court case over the aquatic area took until the third year. It appeared that there were no waterways or canals in Haapsalu Tagalaht and that the canal which was used in Czar Peter I era and through which the ships accessed Haapsalu through Noarootsi, had collapsed in the 20th or the 19th century. Unfortunately, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications refused to execute the binding judgment. But in the long run even this obstacle was overcome, although it is known that a one-man amendment is planned to the law in order for the old yacht club to still have the upper hand. Neighbours from the yacht club used to sue us, but all the court sessions ended the same way: the opposing party never showed up and always kept the reasons for not showing up to themselves; therefore, the court did not start to review the matter. However, that did not hinder our neighbours from filing a new action, so that they could again not turn up.

Caution, the neighboring yacht club is filming us!

By the fourth season everything seemed to work just fine and there were no problems, until we made an interesting discovery: some boats sailing under German flags simply passed through our basin we had fought for several years, and moored at the neighboring yacht club’s wharf that had no authorization for the usage of their pier. It could not have been about the price that was 100 kroons cheaper, which our neighbor could allow due to illegal operating and the lack of necessary investments. Looking deeper into the matter we found out that Mr Joern Heinrich from Germany had posted a description on his website, characterizing Grand Holm Marina as follows: “In the tastefully furnished office of the harbourmaster you’ll find Herr Kapitän himself: wearing old and worn slippers, a dirty T-shirt, beard unshaved, and proudly shows his guests the security of his marina. He zooms the camera on one of the boats where in the aft a carelessly dressed young woman is having her morning coffee. The zoom is so powerful that even the label on the marmalade jar can be read. Then the camera moves over the bow of the boat, revealing an unmade bed...“ It was really frustrating for me to read this. Of course the captain is given a polite special uniform and of course he can be seen in oily work clothes, when he’s working on the pier or launching a boat. A bad thing that he happened to become the main character in the German travel guide. I should have been more demanding myself! I spoke about it with the captain and he agreed to pay more attention to his appearance in the future. Fine, but is there nothing better to do for him in Haapsalu than playing with the camera, monitoring our female guests and their beds and showing these to our foreign guests? At this point my usually rather calm captain started to justify himself very vehemently. And he did that by giving me a very interesting and also absolutely final argument: our oldfashioned camera doesn’t have a zoom at all and from this hazy big picture it shows you can barely recognize the boats, nothing more. Of course! I should have known it better than anyone else, since it was me who had this used and ancient camera installed. Just for the record, we have a better and more modern one in use today. So I wrote to Mr Heinrich and promised that in the future we’ll have the captain put on the parade uniform for a couple of hours every day so that he can meet the guests and I received the reply that I had got everything the wrong way. That he had described our captain in his brand new clothes, shiny white Helly Hansen T-shirt, while he, a German sailing enthusiast, was dressed in torn jeans and worn slippers, feeling rather uncomfortable. We read the story again together with some specialists, after which I still had to contact Mr Heinrich to say that one had to be Goethe himself in order to understand the story as he’d meant it; besides, what was it about the zoom? First he tries to evade the subject, but then swears that he saw this zooming with his own eyes. Then, having heard that we have no zoom at all, he admits that he might have been wrong and quickly changes his travelogue. But there’s no smoke without fire! Very soon our employees notice that someone from the neighboring yacht club, a former border guard Toivo Rohtla is recording our captain’s activities with a video camera. Nothing to do with such people, the captain is a bit upset, but no big deal. Until one day I notice that Rohtla is filming me, my family, my friends. What we eat and what we drink. Disgusting! And although I hate spies and although this kind of action is a serious offence and although everyone in Haapsalu knows that Rohtla is stalking us and claims to have over three hours of recordings about me, I cannot do anything about the man who allegedly goes fishing with Haapsalu police, nobody can. But at least that zooming-story got all sorted out, because Mr Joern Heinrich stopped at the old yacht club aswell and that’s probably where they demonstrated him the doings of our guests.

What will the future bring?

Jokes aside, a couple of times a week some German boats happened to arrive at our marina, whereas the marina captain and our sailorboys offering their help were often turned down. At best we were simply ignored, at worst called names. That, however, never hindered these yachts from demanding fuel and other services from us the next day. No idea, whether the reasons were the rumors about Grand Holm Marina zooming scandal, the instructions of that German or the fascinating legend the local yachtsmen told about the old soviet yacht club’s “one hundred years of history”, saying it originated from the days of the fishing-kolkhoz and telling stories about their fathers and grandfathers having “for decades” stood front of the yacht club on the boat bridge that was actually set up illegally only three years ago.
Let me hereby remind you that those legendary yachtsmen had throughout the times stood on the pier in front of Grand Holm Marina, just like the yachts visiting Haapsalu. I have personally dived and cleaned the seabed after, or rather – under them and therefore remember it very well. Anyway, since the Maritime Administration had the navigation markings removed at the old yacht club because there was no public waterway, the Germans began to run ashore on mud and stones. Of course nobody blamed the old yacht club and Toivo Rohtla, who were putting the yachts to danger, but Suur-Holmi marina, who tried to warn the yachts trespassing the marina without permission, also making futile attempts to explain the Estonian legislation to them.
Since there was no help to be expected from any of the authorities, we gave up in the end and started to carry out the project that had been approved by the municipality and was now sitting on the desk unused because of our stupid hope to comply with these four or five local yachtsmen and grant them a passageway to our neighbours. The project was magnificent and would after completion offer the marina protection from the waves and add thirty more deep mooring spots to the seventy we already had. The plans include building a hotel, a slipway that would become a theatre or concert hall during the summer and many other things. Having had invested more than million euros into Haapsalu, I’ve recently started to have doubts whether it was a sensible idea after all.
The deputy mayor Toivo Hein, who approved the much-discussed floating piers, has later on said to the media that my activities put Haapsalu to shame in the eyes of our foreign visitors. Never have the remains of a wooden wharf or a rusty electric hoist that ruin the view of Haapsalu nor the dangerous wooden balcony hanging over the water at our neighbor’s yacht club earned such a harsh criticism. Life has shown that it is wiser to do nothing and simply wait until the prices of the cheaply obtained properties go up. Should I, in the light of all this, sell my marina after all? Because by buying or creating something new, one is bound to gain new enemies only. And it seems that these very same Finnish yachtsmen who came to me in Helsinki and Hanko, convincing me that Haapsalu needs quick and radical changes, aren’t actually ready for these changes. It seems they want to see Haapsalu as a cheap, Soviet and decaying backwater, where the toilets stink and the drain at the showers does not work properly. That would provide our visitors long topics for discussion and fun-making and that altogether sums up as a fine and extreme travel experience. Yet, does any of this strike me as news or a surprise? Besides, by doing and creating things one can also gain new friends! Boating in Haapsalu is on the way of revival again, Grand Holm Marina receives more and more local boats every day. It’s about us, no question there. These new yachtsmen may be doing their first miles on the sea, they do not know all the knots or are not very familiar with Neptune yet. But they really go out to the sea every day, rather than cry for the lost kolkhoz-times. But the future belongs to them, because they are real, their eyes sparkle and there is this feeling of solidarity between them. And the skills can be acquired quickly, I know that from my own personal experience.