8 Metre Worlds in Helsinki

The 8 Metre Sailing World Championships are held in Helsinki at the moment. Till August 3 boats from all over the world will compete in several races. The main hub of the competition is Liuskasaari.

The organizing sailing club HSS even opened a Sailors Café just for the event. From its terrace you have a wonderful view onto the open sea and can also follow the races. They serve coffee, tea and small snacks for reasonable prices. Especially when the sun is shining it’s a great place to enjoy a fresh sea breeze.

From the mainland you can take the small ferry going to Skiffer and Boathouse to get there.

So many things to do today

No idea yet what you want to do today? Well this Saturday there are lots of options.

First of all today is Ravintolapäivä again. Most of you will already know it. Everyone can open a restaurant, café or snack bar for one day. Over 400 pop-up restaurants will be welcoming visitors today in the center.

Or follow the Kalamaraton. Fishermen from all over Finland will come to Helsinki today to show their fishing skills. From noon till midnight they have 12 hours time to catch as much as possible in the Helsinki waters. If you are interested in fishing you might still be able to learn something from the professionals today.

And in the evening don’t forget to watch the semifinal of the ice hockey championships. It’s a classic: Finland vs. Sweden. That’s the most emotional game you can imagine in Finland. So if you want to have the real experience watch it in one of Helsinki’s sports bars and root for the blue and white lions. The game starts at 16:00 and will also be shown on MTV3.

Another event that involves Finland and Sweden will be the final of the Eurovision Song Contest taking place in Malmö, Sweden today. And Finland’s candidate Krista Siegfrids is considered to have good chances for a high ranking. The event will be broadcasted live on YLE 1 and YLE HD starting from 22:00.

Enjoy the weekend!

Don't miss a single hockey game!

Sadly most hockey games are not shown on free TV. Fortunately with your smart phone you can always stay up-to-date with what happens at the World Championships.

Therefore you just need to download the official IIHF World Championships 2013 smart phone app. It provides you with schedules and scores, background information on teams and players and with everything else that happens at the World Championships. You can also make your own predictions for the games and guess which teams wins.

The app is free. It’s available for WindowsPhone, Android, Blackberry and iPhone.

Let's watch the Hockey Championships!

The Ice Hockey World Championships 2013 start today. As last year the games are partly played in Helsinki and partly in Stockholm with the difference that the last games (starting from semifinal) will be in Sweden this time.

And as last year if you want to see all the games you will have to either get a subscription to MTV3 total (24,95€), buy the games as a whole package (24,95€) or singularly (7€) online at Katsomo or find a nice sports bar that shows the championships.

All Finland games will be shown on MTV3 for free though:

03.05.    20:00     Finland – Germany

04.05.    20:00     Finland – Slovakia

06.05.    20:00     Finland – France

08.05.    20:00     USA – Finland

10.05.    20:00     Russia – Finland

11.05.    16:00     Finland – Austria

14.05.    20:00     Latvia – Finland               

16.05.    18:15     Quarterfinal 3

18.05.    15:45     Semifinal 1

              19:45     Semifinal 2

19.05.    16:45     Bronze Medal Game

              21:15     Final      

The live experience at Elmo

The group phase of the Ice Hockey World Championships is over. Today the quarterfinals start. Most of your probably didn’t buy a ticket for the stadium. But to still get the live experience in a big group with fans around you yelling for their team and celebrating their victories together you sports bar are a good alternative. What about watching the final games at Elmo Bar next to Kamppi? Next to lots of screens showing the games – and during this time you can be sure that they will just show the ice hockey games on every screen – you have a great atmosphere in the medium sized but during the games quite small appearing place. Apart from the mandatory beer they offer quite nice snacks. The prices are average for the center of Helsinki.

If you want to watch one of the Finnish games there you should be early. Elmo gets crowded quite fast on those days.

Support for Suomi!

The Ice Hockey World Championships are still going on till Sunday. Let’s hope the Finnish team makes it as far as last year (which would mean winning the Championships). To show your support for the team you can of course get fan products now everywhere in Helsinki. For the special occasion they also put up a fan shop in front of Kammpi Shopping center. Here you get everything you need to show you are supporting the Finnish lions. Take a look but carefully consider if you really want to buy something there. The prices are really high. You barely get anything for less than 20 Euros. Rather take it to get an idea about what you want to have and try to find those things in the nearby warehouses for a few Euros less.

The dilemma with the World Cup

 

Imagine it’s ice hockey world cup and nobody is watching. That’s pretty much the case at the moment with the championships taking place in Helsinki and Stockholm at the moment. Since the broadcasting rights were too expensive the public TV station YLE doesn’t show any of the games. The private broadcasting company around MTV3 got the rights this time but will only show games of the Finnish national team on free TV (MTV3 and AVA). For everything else you have to buy a pricy subscription for Channel+ or via the online platform Katsomo.

And if you don’t plan on paying ridiculous amounts of money watching a game live in the stadium is also out of question. Prices for games in the first round start from 90 Euros. For a Finland game you have to calculate with at least 150 Euros per ticket. No wonder that the stadiums in Stockholm and Helsinki half full in best case.

The only chance to see the games is going to one of the sports bars.

It’s really a pity how the greed of the organizers made the world cup in one of the most ice hockey crazy countries in the world such a disaster.

For those who want to get at least some world cup feeling into their homes here a list of the games shown in free TV:

05/06    16:00     Finland – Slovakia           MTV3

05/08    19:55     Finland – Switzerland      AVA

05/10    19:55     France – Finland             AVA

05/11    19:55     Finland – Canada             AVA

05/13    16:00     Finland – USA                MTV3

05/14    19:55     Kazakhstan – Finland      AVA

05/17    18:10     Quarterfinal 3                 AVA

05/19    14:15     Semifinal 1                     MTV3

            18:10     Semifinal 2                     AVA

05/20    15:40     third-place game             AVA

            20:15     Final                             AVA

The World Cup starts soon!

And here I don’t speak about football (soccer) but of course the ice hockey world cup that is going to be held in Helsinki and Stockholm this year. It’s going to be a great event. Especially since Finns are crazy about ice hockey. It is their number one sport and way more important than football or even Formula 1. This year Finland starts into the cup as World Champion and if of course eager to defend their title.

The championship will start at May 4^th. But if you want to know it exactly you should take a look at Mannerheimintie on the opposite site of Kiasma. A countdown there tells you exactly how many more hours you have to wait.

So let the games begin…soon!