The HMS Carlskrona at its home port

The San Jose Mercury News earlier this week published a profile of life aboard the HMS Carlskrona – A Swedish warship currently deployed off the coast of Somalia to help in the battle against the pirates there.

One of the facilities available for the crew to relax in their off-duty hours is the ship’s onboard sauna:

Taking a steam together is an essential way of getting to know someone in much of Scandinavia, said Mika Raunu, a sailor in the Finnish navy. It’s in the same tradition of Scandinavian egalitarianism that sees officers sharing rooms with lower-ranking sailors.

It also has led to a few cultural misunderstandings.

Lt. Cmdr. Carl Sjostrand told of a Swedish captain who invited a U.S. admiral to meet his senior officers after a formal ship’s dinner. The American was led down to the sauna in full dress uniform—only to end up shaking hands with a line of sweaty, smiling and naked Swedish sailors.

Like all facilities, the saunas are used by both men and women, and the Swedish military does not segregate living quarters or bathrooms.

Saunas, massages help Swedish sailors hunt pirates – The San Jose Mercury News

Images by Xiziz on Wikimedia Commons (boat) and Matti Mattilla on Flickr (letters)

Image by Big Ben(Gaijin Bikers) on Flickr

After a good sauna, it’s always nice to cool down naturally, by relaxing and letting the breeze gently take the heat away from your body. Of course, since the sauna is best enjoyed with as little clothing as possible, if you’re enjoying the sauna during the day, you probably want a good sunscreen.

The EWG’s 2010 Sunscreen Guide, their 4th annual, was just published detailing the best and worst sunscreens on the market in the US, and giving detailed analysis of more than 1400 sunscreen products. We’ve embedded their widget in this post so you can check how your preferred sunscreen rates.

Many sunscreens available in the U.S. may be the equivalent of modern-day snake oil, plying customers with claims of broad-spectrum protection but not providing it, while exposing people to potentially hazardous chemicals that can penetrate the skin into the body. When only 8 percent of sunscreens rate high for safety and efficacy, it’s clear that consumers concerned about protecting themselves and their families are left with few good options.

-Jane Houlihan, EWG Senior VP for Research

Their 9 Surprising Truths about Sunscreen are very surprising:

1. Sunscreen alone may not prevent skin cancer.
2. The risk of Melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, may be increased while wearing sunscreen, for some people.
3. High SPF products may be more harmful, suppressing sunburns, while allowing other skin damage to occur.
4. Sunscreen may inhibit the production of Vitamin D.
5. Vitamin A in sunscreen may speed the development of cancer.
6. Free radical damage from UV rays may be worse with sunscreen than it is on bare skin alone.
7. Hormone disruptors or Nanomaterials are present in most US sunscreen formulations.
8. European sunscreens are better than US sunscreens, because
9. The US FDA has lagged approving new compounds, and has spent 33 years developing a sunscreen safety policy.

The Environmental Working Group is a US Non-profit dedicated to educating the public about hidden toxic chemicals and working to change government policy that allow, promote or subsidize the use of these toxins.

[EWG's 2010 Sunscreen Guide] via Business Pundit

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For anyone wondering what SodaHead is, it’s the service that hosts our polls, like the one sitting in the left sidebar there. (If you haven’t already, take a minute to vote and share your opinion on this pressing issue.) Every day, they pick a poll for each of their categories and feature it as the daily “SODASTAR.” From the looks of it, we beat out Phone-Sex Working Moms, Fat Burning Underwear, and The Mom Who Had Her 5-Year Old Arrested. Tough competition indeed!

We’re anxiously waiting for our copy to arrive at the Saunascape kitchens. In the meantime, we’ll rely on Debbie Vanni’s review at The Culinary Cellar:

So what does the sauna have to do with a cookbook , you ask?  It is known that sauna bathing depletes the body of fluids and electrolytes, thus making it necessary to replenish them with a refreshing drink and salty snack.  The sauna and the ensuing drink and treats together provide food for the body and soul, hence the title of the cookbook.  The Finns will cook food inside the sauna as it heats up.  Some of the popular items include sausages and fish.  Sausages are wrapped in foil and placed directly on the sauna rocks.  Others like to have sandwiches or salted salmon ready to eat inside their homes after relaxing in the sauna.  The cookbook has chapters on all the traditional sauna foods, along with wonderful bread recipes, desserts, beverages, sauces and condiments, and even Christmas foods.  Before all the recipes, the first chapter explains the culture of the sauna itself in Finnish life, which is fascinating.  It has been a ritual in Finland for thousands of years, and is an integral part of entertaining and family life.  People will build their sauna before they even build the home alongside it.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen the sauna used for cooking. At Therme Erding near Munich, they have their “Bakery Sauna” where the sauna stove is used as an oven to bake bread while you’re enjoying the heat.

[The Sauna Cookbook: Food for Body and Soul] via The Culinary Cellar

If you can get yourself to Finland this August 5-7, get a note from your doctor, and pay the € 50 entrance fee, you can add to the 137 men and 20 women from 22 countries who competed in 2008.

How hot is it? It’s 110°C / 230°F in there. If that isn’t hot enough, twice a minute an automatic shower dumps a half liter of water on the rocks of these specially constructed saunas.  There’s no high-tech clothing that helps here: The rules allow the competitors to wear only a swimsuit, with strict regulations on the maximum size. The winners have to endure up to 4 qualifying rounds, each requiring the contestants to outlast their other competitors in the heat, taking from 4 to 13 minutes. The 2008  final took 17 minutes to decide the men’s winner.

If you can’t get an idea of what this feels like, American Sports journalist Rick Reilly competed in the 2007 World Sauna Championships, and describes his experience in his new book, Sports from Hell: My Search for the World’s Dumbest Competition. There is an excerpt from it on ESPN.com. In it he describes his experience:

We went in, and it was so instantly, shockingly, insanely hot, my brain just stopped working. It was like walking into a bonfire and pulling up a chair in the middle of it. My strategy was to go in and keep time by the 30-second water splashes, but that plan was scrapped approximately seven seconds in. Thinking literally hurt. I tried to stare at the rocks and not blink, because blinking hurt. I tried to take very few breaths, because breathing hurt. I was sure flames were coming out of my mouth. My back seemed to have ignited. I was convinced my ears were literally on fire, but if I moved even slightly, they hurt more. I tried sitting up higher, but it was even hotter. I tried crouching down more, but then I was nearer to the unforgiving rocks.  Then came the hideous, cruel, pitiless splashes of water, each one lasting three seconds.  I was just about to bolt into the fresh air when — miraculously — the tall, skinny guy next to me ran out. Amazing! I wasn’t last! I had no idea how much time had elapsed — four minutes? Six? I promised myself: When I get to the point where I can no longer stand it, I’ll count 60 seconds and go.

Four seconds later, I decided I could no longer stand it.

So I started counting. One, two, three … It was the longest minute of my life. At 60 I went barreling out. Watching other heats, I’d wondered why even losers came out grinning and raising their hands in victory, but now I knew. The cool air was so beautiful, so redeeming, so life giving. You could French-kiss Osama bin Laden.

I looked at the clock. 3:10? That was it? When did the first guy bolt? “2:40,” I was told. Which meant I’d counted my 60 seconds in 30.

If you just want to watch the proceedings, admission costs € 15 each day.

[Sauna World Championships] via ESPN.com

Most interesting is the post on the Dogo Onsen in Japan. According to Hotsprung, it was the inspiration for the bath house in the excellent movie Spirited Away(which probably deserves its own post here).

Hotsprung also has a very informative post on the Onsen, a style of Japanese Bath, plus some first-hand reviews of several spas in the Seattle and Vancouver area.

Take a trip over and check out Hotsprung.

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Photo of some brave souls swimming in the ice by Lauri Väin on Flickr

Here in the Northeast US, spring is here and this year spring temperatures along with it, but in Finland, the weather is still decidedly winter.  The Helsinki Times recently published an article on ice swimming in Vantaa, a 30-minute bus ride from downtown Helsinki.

Kuusijärvi provides all you might expect from a swim-and-sauna combination. Electric saunas at different temperature levels and a traditional smoke sauna nicely complement the chilly plunges, although roughly one-third of the swimmers choose to skip the hot room altogether and simply resort to the heated or even cold locker-rooms available. To work up a sweat beforehand, you can also opt for a snowshoe hike in the surrounding woods or a walk on the beaten trail network criss-crossing them, depending on the season. Swimsuit or trunks and towel can be rented.

The Kuusijärvi outdoor centre has electric saunas available for € 6 and a smoke sauna available for € 12. Basic information is available on their website.

[Helsinki Times]

NOT a spitoon. Photo by fooishbar on Flickr

The Chicago Tribune’s hip social news outfit, Red Eye Royalty has a post, 5 simple sauna rules. They are rules we can all live by:

1. Don’t SPIT on the sauna rocks!
2. Get permission before you turn up the heat!
3. Hurry up and close the door!
4. Don’t wear street shoes!
5. Never sit bare bottom! (“What makes you think someone wants to sit in a puddle of your booty juice?”)

A commenter adds a 6th: When conversing, be mindful of others there who don’t want to hear about how “Tysheena’s baby daddy’s cousin came in her house a slept with Jerome in her bed.”

[Red Eye Royalty]

Finnish Embassy in Washington DC. Photo by NCinDC on Flickr

The Washington Post today published a piece on the monthly Power Schvitz by the Diplomatic Finnish Sauna Society of D.C. held in the basement of the Finnish Embassy. The Diplomatic Finnish Sauna Society, according to the article is more than 150 members strong, and includes many Washington insiders and the reporters that cover them.

The embassy began the sessions two years ago to compensate for Finland’s predictable reputation and low international profile. The organizer is Kari Mokko, the embassy’s press secretary.The reporter goes on to describe the sauna:

At first blush, the sauna does not feel so blistering. (“It’s got proper airflow so you don’t feel like somebody is putting a blowtorch in your face,” said Erik “Erkki” Lindstrom, who built the embassy sauna in 1994.) Its walls are built from Virginia pine logs, and its benches are made from boards of African obechi wood. (“It’s cool to sit on,” Lindstrom explained in a phone interview.) An electric heater in the corner warms 200 pounds of igneous rocks and, according to a thermometer on the wall, raises the room’s temperature to about 190 degrees.

The sauna is used in two separate sessions. One for the women, one for the men.

Most interesting is the reference to the Swede’s sauna.

[The Washington Post]