View from the lake

Finland is the country of thousands of lakes and a few of them are in Ähtäri :) Seems like every cottage has a view over a lake. And of course every cottage must have a boat pier, because you have a boat, at least a rowing boat if not a motorboat. And what more, the lakes in Ähtäri are all very long, so they are perfect for driving a motorboat at full speed for quite a long distance and enjoy the speed.

In April, when I visited Ähtäri for the first time, the lakes were all frozen and we drove snowmobiles on lake Hankavesi. So I decided to experience the same speed on the same lake only this time on a motorboat, on open water and on a warm summer day. 

I've written in my previous posts that Ähtäri has a factory making aluminium motorboats. Well, actually Ähtäri has 2 aluminium boat factories :) One of them is Fiskars Boats producing Buster boats right by the lake Hankavesi and the other is Terhitec producing Silver boats. They arrange free test drives with their newest models every summer. I planned to test drive just one of them, but I ended up trying both companies :)

I registered for a test drive at the zoo camp ground info desk, because they operate the test drives. The boats themselves were at the hotel Mesikämmen boat pier. Our guide was Joona Puntala. He was really good at speeding and doing tricks with the boat. He tried to get the boat flying but fortunately it stayed in the water and we stayed in the boat :) Maybe next time I'll try a floatplane, but not this time. This time I decided to enjoy the view on the water.

our guide Joona

The weather was perfect: it was warm, the sun was shining and the traffic on the lake was virtually non-existent, so we were the kings of the lake :)

First we tested Silver which was faster than Buster because it was a bit smaller, so it took up the speed in no seconds! At first I was sitting on the passenger seat but soon after Joona handed the steering wheel over and asked if I wanted to try. Well, of course! I had driven motorboats before, but this one was extremely easy to navigate and turn. Wow! Absolutely fabulous! Compared to snowmobiles then motorboats are like toys :) You have to be physically fit and strong to drive a snowmobile, while a motorboat requires neither strength nor muscles...well, brains would be useful :)

Silver engine

The second boat we tested was Buster. A bit bigger than Silver but that means also a bit more stable. When the maximum speed for Silver was 38 knots (=68km/h), then Buster wasn't much slower with its 35 knots (=63km/h). As I mentioned before, the lakes in Ähtäri are super long, therefore, it is possible to drive at full speed for quite some time. Of course, you have to be careful not to knock over fishermen boats and pass them at a safe distance :)

Buster engine

The prices of the boats can be found on their webpages, but in general, Busters are a bit more expensive than Silvers: more money for more horse powers :) Hmmm... talking of money. Some people have spent a fortune on building their villa on the shores of Hankavesi:

where is the boat pier?

I've written before about Pytinki manor by lake Hankavesi. Well, the manor is actually being sold at the moment. So if you have a spare 3,3 mln euros, then you can have it :) You'll get 700 sq metres of living space with 130 000 sq metres of plot in total with a wine cellar and all the adjacent buildings. Not to mention the ghosts. They're included in the price :)

beach house (?) by the lake and the manor house in the background

Next to Mesikämmen Hotel, which is located right by the lake, there are beautiful luxurious villas called Naava Resort. They comfortably fit 8 persons per house. One of them has even a terrace jacuzzi and a private boat pier. A weekly stay in one of these villas during high season could cost about 1800€, but it's for 6 nights and 8 (sic!) persons. What a deal! Now look at the villa's big windows, or should I say glass wall :)

On the other side of the hotel there is the zoo campground and it has its own beach with a water slide:

So Ähtäri Zoo offers camp ground for travellers with their caravans (RV-s) and those travelling by car. The latter can stay a night in a tent or a cabin. The whole camp ground is stretched along the lake shore. Nice :) The camp ground has a huge grill house, a kitchen, toilets and showers for the use of the visitors. Not to mention a sauna. How can a Finn live without a mökki sauna? There is even a mini golf course right next to the water slide, a bit run-down but, hey, there are real golf courses less than a kilometre away :)

I've mentioned in one of my first posts that I live in Tuomarniemi which is not very far from Inhaan Tehtaat (that's where the Fiskars Boats operates) and Pytinki (the 3,3 mln € mansion). My apartment can be seen through the trees. Ah no, it's not the boat shed on the shore, but the 2-storeyed building in the back :)

Here you can see, how long the lake (actually, just one of the many lakes in Ähtäri) is and how perfect it is to drive in full speed: