Monday 22 August 2011

Sailing Where The Wind Takes You - Epilogue

Mekicevica spent the night at the harbour of the Bruinisse Watersports Club. I returned on Monday morning to have her lifted onto the trailer. The fresh wind was from the NW, which means that the waves on the SE corner of the Grevelingen were surprisingly high for these waters.
The whole process went smoothly, even springing-off on my own went rather well.
Positioning tiny Mekicevica centered under the boat lift on my own was hard work. It involved setting up four lines in such a way that they could be let loose from the dock. Stepping in and out involved down or up more than one meter. But she is now safely on the trailer.
There is a feeling of approaching the end of the season. Unless there is a spell of nice weather, it may well be that the rest of the season will be dedicated only to small repairs and further tweaks of the rigging.

Sunday 21 August 2011

Sailing Where The Wind Takes You - Return To Bruinisse

Sunday morning was fine and bright. We did not rush to start, as the wind had picked-up a bit and was forecast to veer from SW to W. In order to reduce sail area, improve the windward performance and allow a better look-out on these busy waters, we changed from the genoa to the river-jib.
The beating on the channel between the islands of Hompelvoet and Veermansplaat was a bit demanding, but Mekicevica is now in such good shape that it was real fun.

For these guys, the windier the better.
After that we got even more exposed to the wind and we reefed the main sail. The reefing system is another point that benefited from all the experimenting during the season, and it is working really well.
Reefed main, using the set-up developed by yours truly.
As the wind turned more westerly and our course more easterly the exciting sailing turned into relaxed sailing towards Bruinisse.
Skipper at the helm on a relaxing broad reach.
The Bruinisse Watersports Club is really well situated, just in front of the Grevelingen lock and really friendly. Joop, the harbour master is a really nice guy, and all the members are very welcoming to visitors. No wonder that they have a 10-year waiting list for membership...
For a change we finished the weekend well on time to have dinner at home at a respectable time.


Saturday 20 August 2011

Sailing Where The Wind Takes You - Oude-Tonge to Ouddorp

Hoping for the best, we got up at 0630. The wind was indeed weak to moderate, but at least in the Oude-Tonge harbour appeared to be SW. The good news is that the terrible, propeller-eating weeds from last week seem to have a short life span (not enough propellers to eat). We motored out of harbour and sailed the short distance to the Krammer lock.
Yo-Yo Ma took taking us out of the Oude Tonge channel under the encouraging gaze of the many birds. 
At this early hour it was not at all busy and it opened just as we approached. Even though this lock uses a clever system to prevent mixing salt water from the W side with the fresh water on the E side, the passing of the lock was surprisingly fast.
It was now clear that the wind was from the SW, blowing right along the Keteen towards us. We could see a lot of shipping. Two cargo ships even got the yachts very confused by coming on to "our side" of the waters to drop anchor on the N edge of the Kramer. I hope their skippers knew that where they were anchoring would be a sandy beach three hours later.
We could see some yachts beating against the wind and dodging the shipping at the same time. To get to the Oosterschelde we would have either to dare doing the same or motor along the starboard for some four miles.
We took the hard decision to abandon (again) our quest for the Oosterschelde and sail to Ouddorp, on the opposite side of the Grevelingen.
In the Grevelingen lock, there was a young girl on a large yacht behind us who found the size of Mekicevica very amusing.
"Can you sleep in that little boat?" she asked.
"Of course." I answered.
She thought I was lying, so went to get her father to ask him if people could sleep in such a little boat.
"Of course not." said the father.
He was amazed when I told that we had just done a two-week vacation on Ijsselmeer with Mekicevica as our home. Noticing the Belgian flag, he asked if we were returning home via the North Sea. I decided to amaze him further with a lie:
"Yes, we will go out at the Roompot lock and sail to Oostende."
We will never know if he believed, because meanwhile the lock was opening.
At this point, we witnessed a new extreme of the rude behaviour so often displayed by skippers of motor yachts.
On this lock, after the gates open, sailing boats still have to wait for a bridge to lift. Motor yachts can ignore the bridge (and the red light) by going under the bridge as soon as the gates open. This is exactly what this skipper did, despite the fact that he had two sailing boats alongside. He just threw out their lines leaving them adrift in the lock. Is that inconsiderate, or what?
It gets busy on the Grevelingen on a sunny Sunday.
The sailing to Ouddorp was very enjoyable, mostly heading NW on a beam reach. As we approached our destination the wind turned more westerly, and we had a bit of beating into the wind.

The change of wind direction also meant that if we had persisted to go to Zierikzee, after going into the SW wind on the Keeten, we would have reached the Oosterschelde and find W wind, again against us, and against the tide.
We finished the afternoon with a drink on the superbly situated terrace of the clubhouse with a view to the Grevelingen, watching other boats beating the same route we had just done.

End of a sailing day at the clubhouse.
Ouddorp was once an important fishing harbour, before the Grevelingen was closed off from the sea. Now it is mostly a destination for sailing cruisers like us. The old town offers a countless number of restaurants for all tastes and budgets.
Ouddorp town hall.
We finished Saturday with dinner "al fresco" in one of these.


Friday 19 August 2011

Sailing Where The Wind Takes You - Prologue

When sailing a small boat on tidal waters, you seem to be subject to an uncertainty principle: you can determine when you sail, and you can determine where you sail to, but you can't determine both simultaneously.
Last weekend was a demonstration of this rule.
One sailing destination in Zeeland still missing from Mekicevica's log is Zierikzee, on the Oosterschelde. This wide, tidal river is a sailing paradise that keeps calling to us every time we pass over it on the Zeeland bridge, on the way to wherever Mekicevica is. To get to the Oosterschelde sailing from the North you have to negotiate the Keeten: narrow, tidal, and busy with shipping.
(click map for enlarged view)
The weather forecast for this weekend announced sunny, warm weather with moderate SE winds. Low water was about 1400, which meant that with an early-ish start from Oude-Tongue we would be able to get to Zierikzee, with the ebbing tide, on a beam reach to broad reach. Perfect.
It was not to be. By Friday the forecast had changed to maybe-not-so-nice-on-Sunday and S wind, even murmurings of SW wind.

Wednesday 17 August 2011

Photos From Last Weekend

The good people from the Cafe De Klipper in Hellevoetsluis not only prepare delicious mussels, they were also kind enough to keep the camera we forgot.
You can now see a few pictures from last weekend.

Monday 15 August 2011

Hellevoetsluis - Day 3: It's A Long Way Home

Morning: Running Goose-Winged In The Sunshine
Mekicevica and crew spent the night in Hellevoetsluis, under a clear sky with a bright, full moon.
So, we made it here. But now we have 30 nm to Bruinisse, where the car is, and tomorrow is working day. The wind is still westerly, so we are going to sail downwind to the Volrerak lock and from there motor, or motor-sail as far as we can.
We motor out of the marina in a bright morning and turn west towards the Haringvliet Barrier, that separates these waters from the North Sea. Main sail up, turn down-wind, full genoa out, and we start the journey back in a very relaxing way: sunshine and wind around 3 Bf from behind us. Most of the way we were running goose-winged, only putting the genoa and the main on the same tack when the downwind line was taking us too close to either margin.
Running goose-winged on the Haringvliet.
As every sailor knows, straight downwind is one of the most difficult points of sail and requires a lot of attention. Until now we had not really got the knack of it, but practice makes perfect, and we did the whole way back to the Haringvliet bridge mostly goose-winged and without a single accidental jibe.
Fearing the usual strange winds under the bridge, we passed it in a sort of inverted Z-trajectory, with one jibe on either side of the bridge, which took us close to the lock.
It must have been the pleasant journey and the sunshine that prevented me from murdering a skipper that we came across approaching the lock. In my opinion, he was of the most detestable kind of skipper you can come across: big, fat guy in an arrogant-looking motor yacht. As we approach the waiting pontoon he cuts us from the inside, leaving a huge wake behind. As he approaches the pontoon, his crew dropped a fender, so he starts manouvering to recover it. Not understanding his intentions, and since these types like to wait without mooring so they can be the first in, I start going between him and the peer. This provoked an irate whistle and gesticulation from Mr. Fat Arrogant Skipper. Oh, well. It is such a beautiful morning and we just had such great sailing. We just manouvered around him to the place we were going to anyway, well away from his big yacht, as these types also tend to give too much throttle and occasionally make a mess.
On the other end of the spectrum, in the lock we came alongside a motor-sailer, crewed by a very friendly couple that rushed to help with the lines and wished us a pleasant journey.

Afternoon: Motoring Into The Oude-Tongue Water-Gardens
Coming out of the lock, the first couple of miles are out of the shipping lane and the wind was such that we could hoist sails and sail on starboard tack, all on a straight line. After that we had to turn into the wind and the space between the shore and the enormously busy shipping lane got narrower and narrower. A couple of die-hards were still sailing, tacking about every two seconds. We decided to engage the services of Yo-Yo Ma. (That is our little outboard motor; the source of the name is described in an earlier post.) The rest of the journey was much longer than his autonomy on one tank, so we stopped briefly to refuel at the small Galathese harbour (depressing place, by the way). After a while we could get out of the way of the large ships and it would have been enjoyable beating the last few miles. Except that by now it was clear we would not make it back to Bruinisse on time to ask for a mooring for the week and we had adopted plan B: try to make it to Oude-Tongue in time to catch the harbour-master before he goes home, and borrow a bicycle to go and get the car.
We had never motored for such a long stretch, and Yo-Yo Ma was starting to sound even less musical than usual. First trouble: as we were already on the channel leading to Oude-Tongue we ran out of fuel. Oh, well. At least now we know how far we can get on one tank: 4.8 nm. There was not much wind and we had a lot of sandy bottom on our lee side, so it was not a problem to refuel while slowly drifting and get back on our way.
Just past the old lock and into the narrow channel up to town, the much bigger trouble number two stroke: the water was covered with a layer of floating weeds, with long, resistant stalks. I was never good in Botany, so I can only describe them as a cross between water-cress and vines that lives floating on the water and predates on propellers of little boats. It took us forever to cover the last mile, on full power but moving painfully slow, occasionally not moving at all. Drift for a while while freeing the propeller from weeds. Repeat.
It was really embarassing to enter this very peaceful harbour with Yo-Yo Ma screeching his worst solo ever, and moving very slowly, so that each boat we passed had enough opportunity to listen.
Surprisingly, the harbour master did not send us away but was very welcoming, gave us a mooring for the week and lent us a bicycle.

We arrived home late and really tired, but already making plans for next week-end. The weather forecast is brilliant and we have just one more important goal to tick this season: the Oosterschelde and Zierikzee.

Sunday 14 August 2011

Hellevoetsluis - Day 2: A Million Tacks On The Haringvliet

Sunday morning. After the torrential rain during the night the weather gives some signs of clearing. Yesterday we stopped earlier that planned, which means that today we still have to cross the Volkerak lock and cover the ambitious distance of 15 nm. That is, if we were able to sail in a straight line, which we won't because the wind veered more to the west, the direction we will be going. It will be a long day of beating against the wind and the bet is on whether we will reach Hellevoetsluis or not.
After a morning jog and breakfast we motor to the lock. It was not too busy, but there was an old classic boat with such a long mast that they need to lower it to fit under the bridge above the lock. That wooden mast certainly weighs more than the whole of Mekicevica, but a clever combination of a wooden A-frame and old, geared winches allowed the crew lo lower and raise the mast with relative ease. Makes us feel a bit stupid since stepping our 7 m aluminium mast that I can carry with one hand is usually a whole day job.
Out of the lock we start turning west and immediately hoist sails (in the right order) and pass under the bridge under sail, watching a J22 ripping past as if we were anchored. These little Dutch racers are really fast!
The Haringvliet is comfortably broad and beating against the wind would have been easy. Except that sometime around the XVIIth century someone decided that it would be a good idea to put an island right in the middle (Tiengemeten, read Mekicevica's previous adventures here). So to negotiate the narrow channel on the north of the island against the wind is a lot of work. It did not help that at times we had to lose ground to give way to other boats and once had to go back downwind shortly to reef the genoa.
The people going the other way had a much easier job.
The heroes of the day:
  1. First-Mate who did a wonderful, hard work at tacking the genoa, while Skipper just sat there holding the tiller and barking commands.
  2. The new mast trim that allowed us to point a few degrees closer to the wind, especially with the genoa taken in a few rolls and sheeted hard.
At least the weather turned really pleasant and the sun was getting low and shimmering on the waves as we approached our destination. As it often happens here, the wind calmed a bit in the late afternoon and the last tacks in the sunshine with just a tiny pressure on the tiller and not much heeling were pure magic.
Moreover, we finally made it to Hellevoetsluis!

We opted for the comfortable (but pricey) Cap Hellius marina and after (re)visiting the town had a huge pot of mussels at a restaurant by the old harbour.

Saturday 13 August 2011

Hellevoetsluis - Day 1: Volkerak In The Rain

Saturday started with a shy sunshine. The weather is a bit unsettled and metereologists are burning the circuits of their supercomputers trying to produce consistent forecasts.
We motored out to the Grevelingen lock and to the Krammer lock after that. After the Staande Mast Route, passing locks lost all the excitement of early days and everything went smoothly. However it seems to be a rule that it will be raining each time we pass these two locks.
Once on the Volkerak we hoisted sails and kept to the north side, mostly out of the shipping lane. At some point, you can't avoid the lane on this side and either cross to the south side (and cross again later) or follow on the port side of the lane for a little while. As it was quiet, with not much shipping, we decided to take the later option. We even sailed for a while in the middle of the shipping lane giving way to yachts coming the opposite direction. All went smoothly, except for the weather: It just kept on raining! As we were approaching the Volkerak lock, we decided we pretty much had had enough rain for one day. The wind was also picking up, making the sailing a bit more demanding. So we called it a day and headed for the small harbour of Ooltgensplaat.
At this point, the Skipper decided to try a new trick and douse the main before rolling the genoa, instead of the other way round. It turned-out to be a bad idea, with not much water between the yachts coming out of the yacht lock on one side and the large ships coming out of the commercial shipping lock on the other side. So after going to and fro a few times struggling with the manouver, I applied the old rule: if you don't succeed at first, try doing it the way your wife told you.
The entrance to Ooltgensplaat harbour is well hidden, and you feel that you are just sailing into the trees and either your mast will be entangled in the branches, or your keel will be in the reeds, or both. But you take a sharp bend, go through an old lock, and suddenly you are in a fairly spacious harbour with some very large, classic boats around you. How the hell did they come in?
First-Mate perfectly blending with the environment at Ooltgensplaat.
Ooltegensplaat is a typical small town of these parts, with the old harbour as the centre of life. The old town hall, now transformed into a restaurant is very impressive.
A very nautical detail on the old town hall.
The rain persisted and it got even worse during the night. We tried-out a prototype of a cockpit tent made out of a square tarp with bungee cord at the ends. Even this primitive version adds a lot of comfort to life aboard in rainy weather, and served the purpose of finding-out what the final version should look like.


Hellevoetsluis - Prologue

Hellevoetsluis is a delightful town on the north coast of the Haringvliet. It has a rich history as an important harbour, both military and commercially. We first visited the town over one year ago, when we were looking around the harbours in the south of the Netherlands for a small boat that we liked. It was a sunny day, and I remember standing at the end of the harbour looking at the sailing boats on the Haringvliet with dreamy eyes and wondering if I dared to sail a small boat on what seemed for me back then a huge expansion of water.
Entrance of Hellevoetsluis old harbour.
A few weeks ago, Mekicevica failed to reach Hellevoetsluis, due to heavy weather (and insufficiently experienced crew to cope with it). Check that story in an earlier post.
We have a three day weekend ahead of us and the wind is blowing from the SW, so we decided to have another go at Hellevoetsluis. From Bruinisse it is about 30 nm each way, which include three locks. A bit ambitious for Mekicevica and crew.
Friday was spent putting Mekicevica back on the water (with the boat lift again) and readjusting the mast trim. (This is a continuing story. I will post more about this soon, but be warned it will be a voluminous text on tabernacles, shroud tension, mast trim, and related issues.)
We had a drink at the Sailor's Inn and dinner aboard. We are ready to go.