In the Saturday morning we gathered with a small group of nanbudokas on a small private beach in Hirvensalo, an island in the Archipelagos in South-West Finland. We were only four, but there would been enough space for more. Weather was warm and sunny, nevertheless there were some clouds too.

Training was held in two parts, split by a lunch break. Morning training was for two hours in which we focused in a kata called Ikkyoku. For me it was new and not even a long kata, but because of its fast pace, I had no problems of getting warm before I could remember it through. In the latter training we concentrated more in the techniques to build our inner energy, breathing and concentration with katas such as Genki Nanbu niban and Shihotai ku.

Sun did not seem too burning while training_,_ but as for me, I had burned my face and back of the neck and not even being the worst sun burned of the group. It seems one need some sun lotion even in Finland.

The day felt comfortable and we got good training sessions. Moving on the soft sand was a bit more harder, despite the fact it was only noticeable in the evening.

Marko Haikkola, 7 kyu