Month: April 2018

Saturday 7 April

As often happens, my crew spent all morning preparing me for sailing off. To be fair, there was more to do on this occasion, as it will be the first time I may be able to sail since arriving in Amsterdam some five months ago, and Skipper had taken some measures to ‘winterise’ me, by removing sails and ropes, and stowing un-needed equipment wherever he could find space.

We left our berth at 1300, and motored down the channel, with industrial land to starboard and a low dyke to port, this land cleverly utilised with a row of wind turbines. Eventually we turned North into open water, still well-buoyed and quite busy with ferries, freighters and the occasional fellow yacht – there are others brave (mad?) enough to be out this early in the season. It was a lovely afternoon, albeit without enough wind to sail properly, but we had an easy first sea passage to Borkum, the Westernmost island in the chain of the East Frisians, that are the beads in Northern Germany’s necklace.

Mate observed that it wasn’t really so different from the canals – a clearly marked channel and similar depth of water beneath my keel.
For her, the highlight of the afternoon was to change the courtesy flag: the four we’d been flying in the Netherlands came down, and were replaced by the horizontal black, red and yellow of Germany, still creased from its packaging.

In port, we ended up in a double berth framed by two very short, very bouncy finger pontoons, which Mate found very difficult to balance on in her current state of impaired mobility. Even Skipper practically had to crawl along them to sort my mooring ropes to his satisfaction. Fortunately there was no wind overnight, so nothing disturbed our slumbers.

Tuesday 3 – Friday 6 April

We slipped away from Oostmahorn on Tuesday, motored across Lauwersmeer in a pleasant sailing breeze, and enjoyed a rural potter towards Groningen. Small groups of diminutive deer were spotted in a number of fields, and marsh harriers were prolific on this section. Unfortunately, the skies above were unremittingly grey, grey, grey.

By the time we were nearing Groningen, the bridge keepers had already knocked off for the day, so we tied up to a pontoon meant only as a staging post while waiting for the bridge to open. At this time of year, there is very little leisure traffic around, and technically we were waiting…until the following morning. At least the sun put in a brief appearance, and the road traffic all but disappeared after the rush hour, so a peaceful night was passed.

On Wednesday morning we made our way into the centre of the capital of this province of North Holland. Groningen is picturesque, rather like a mini-Amsterdam, with narrow canals full of houseboats and huge traditional sailing barges, leaving little room between stone walls to manoeuvre me around a couple of tight corners and through slimline bridge openings – thank goodness there was nothing trying to come through the other way. Again we had to stop for lunch, to await the bridge keepers’ return from their midday break.

After another half-a-dozen bridges we were free of the city and into the enormous Eems Canal, wide, straight and much used by barges of the sort we’d encountered on the Nordsee Canal in Amsterdam. The air was still very cool, and the off-watch crew took the opportunity to snuggle into the warmth of my saloon with the latest Kindle blockbuster and regular hot drinks.

Our final port of this section of the journey was Delfzijl, reached through a huge sea lock with a separate, relatively narrow channel for yachts, complete with another lifting bridge. The lockkeeper was busy locking through commercial vessels in the opposite direction, and seemed to keep us waiting much longer than usual. Eventually the high gates swung slowly open and we were able to escape, and follow the marks to the Neptunus Marina, at the inland end of a long channel that leads out to sea.

On Thursday, Skipper made final arrangements to take the liferaft to a local servicing depot, while Mate rested her sore ankle as much as possible, in between dealing with some routine domestic chores. Otto and his fellow harbourmaster made us welcome by being friendly and helpful, although their season has barely begun.

On Friday, Skipper collected the repackaged liferaft, and took the opportunity to fit new winches to my cockpit coamings, to make flying the staysail easier and safer. He also did his best to wash my decks clean of the evidence of this busy, noisy and dirty industrial port, before filling my tanks with clean water, ready for the next few days out in the islands. Mate waded through a huge pile of washing up that was filling my galley. Non-stop glamour, this life afloat…

Good Friday 30 March

The crew familiarised themselves with our new location of the next few days, and walked the three kilometres to Anjum for some food shopping. The paved cycle track cuts straight across the fields, and they managed to fulfil their shopping list at the very good butcher/delicatessen and the Co-op supermarket. The weather was better than forecast, and the Easterly wind seemed to be confined to the marina; the walk felt a lot more sheltered.

Holy Saturday 31 March

…was a day of jobs onboard: Skipper made full use of the newly restored water supply to clean my grubby decks thoroughly with the pressure washer, and completely fill my water tanks. Meanwhile, Mate was busy in the galley, baking loaves of fresh bread and a traybake cake that smelt suspiciously similar to the birthday cake she made the week before.

Easter Day Sunday 1 April

The day dawned a little warmer, dry and with less wind than recently. Mate suggested a short stroll around the perimeter dyke of the marina “to see the view over the other side”. After a luxury breakfast of Skipper’s famous creamy scrambled eggs with smoked salmon and lovely fresh bread, they set off, not dressed or equipped for a hike.

In the end they walked all the way around the Lauwersmeer dyke to the Lauwersoog flood barrier, enjoying the views across mudflats and the Waddenzee channels, of traditional barges in full sail, occasional sunshine spotlighting their progress, and ferries plying their route to Schiermonnikoog, reputedly the prettiest of the Dutch Frisian islands. They found a scratch lunch, a busy fishing port enjoying its day of rest, and a welcome bus ride home.

They covered a total of 18km, over 11 miles! Unfortunately, the last 2km were more of a slow hobble, as Mate stumbled and tore the ligaments in her left ankle (again), resulting in an instant golfball-sized swelling and acute pain. Back at the marina, the friendly waitress at the restaurant very kindly produced a large quantity of ice and a restorative hot chocolate.

Easter Monday 2 April

Mate made the most of a quiet day to rest, in between supervising two loads of laundry a short walk away across the marina, while Skipper investigated the non-functioning autopilot, which resulted in much cursing and heavy sighs. This is a recurrent problem, caused by water ingress in the gearbox of the steering mechanism. It seems likely another call for help from Jefa will soon be necessary, doubtless resulting in another large bill.