First-Mate was travelling again, so I studied the weather and wind forecast and made a great plan for a cruise. Then the weather forecast changed. There was rain, and heavy showers, and thunderstorms, and all sorts of things. At least it was not cold. Finally as the weekend approached there seemed to be a weather window. I decided to leave on Friday as soon as the rain stopped.
Finally, mid afternoon it was dry enough to ride a motorbike, so off to Bruinisse I go. Quickly prepared Mekicevica and around 5pm I was motoring towards the Grvelingen lock in a cloudy afternoon. After a long wait, we finally went trough and hoisted main and jib to sail towards the Kramer lock, reaching into the moderate northerly wind.
Along the way we crossed the Jouet of the bloke from Den Bosch we had met in the lock a few days earlier. He seemed to recognise Mekicevica as well.
Passing the Kramer lock was really quick and soon we were sailing again, now broad-eeaching on a southeasterly course. With the clouds were descending and the daylight fading, I decided that instead of passing north of the Nordplaat, as we usually do, pass by the south side, following the shipping lane, but just out of it. At least there the red buoys have lights and are in a straight line, making navigation easier if we were caught by darkness. Then it was time to cross the shipping lane towards the Steenbergse vliet. By then the visibility was worse, but not dark enough for the lights of the buoys to come on, or to make our masthead tricolour of much use. It all went well at I felt a great relief when I finally sailed past the green buoy on the other side. Finding the entrance to the Steenbergse vliet was not easy, but with local knowledge and a bit of luck I could spot the red-green buoy that marks the entrance. My plan was to motor to De Heen, but just as I was approaching the little lock, the light turned red. I could not see any boat coming from the other side, neither the bridge over the lock operating, so I thought it might have closed for the night. Never mind, I had a plan B which was to stay at another harbour on the outside of the lock, the WSV De Volkeraak.
It was nearly 10pm when I tied-up, with the friendly help of a girl who just happened to be passing on her way from the showers. The harbour is small, but very neat and all the club members I met were very friendly.
Saturday, 4 of June: Morning Walking, Afternoon Sailing
Saturday morning was still foggy. Not wanting to repeat a crossing of the shipping lane in poor visibility I decided to wait in hope that the fog would clear. To pass the time and do some exercise I went for a walk, looking for an old fort (Fort Hendrick) visible on the map as a star-shape. There and back took me nearly three hours of pretty brisk walking, but from the fort there was not much to see. There is no way to cross the moat, and nothing else remains from the fort.
In fact, while walking around the moat I recognised a spot where we had stopped before during a bike ride, unaware that we were right in front of the old fort.
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| Fort Hendrick. more interesting seen from space than from close by. |
It eventually got sunny, and the feared Volkerak midges descended on us in big, thick clouds. And then the wind completely died. So, I doused the sails and started motoring, but shortly the sea-wind kicked in, and we were able to sail nicely, beating towards the Kramer lock. After passing the lock, I felt too tired to continue the beating, especially since now I would be in narrow waters, so I motored the rest of the way to Bruinisse.
Sunday I will have to leave to meet First-Mate at the airport.
