Grevelingen Round Tour - Part 2: Gusty winds (but reefed sails)

The Scharendijke yacht harbour is smaller and less luxurious than the one in Bruinisse. (Cheaper too.) But the harbour master and the people in the club house were very pleasant. The dinner almost changed my negative opinion about the Dutch food.
The damage to Mekicevica was not as bad as it had appeared and was soon repaired. In fact it would have been avoided if a) I had made the nuts on the bottle screws of the shrouds tighter and b) had assembled the goose-neck properly. Such is cruising in a small boat, you learn sailing and boat-maintenance simultaneously, as you go along...
The weather forecast for Sunday was that the moderate to fresh breeze would ease and veer West. The timing of the change varied, depending on the source of the forecast. So we decided to have a slow start, hoping that the change would come in time to allow us to sail downwind back to Bruinisse. Unfortunately, First-Mate had to be at work Monday early, so eventually we decided to move on, even if it meant beating all the way back.
This time we put a reef in the main before leaving, although I think I did not get it quite right and the boom looked a bit odd. I realized what I did wrong during the trip. Anyway, it did not look very seamanlike, but it worked. The return trip was much more relaxed, even beating against a gusty wind. One minute I would be thinking of shaking-off the reef, the next minute I would be hurriedly easing the main-sheet with Mekicevica on her ear!

Sailing on the Grevelingenmeer you come across some wonderfully-looking boats.

We arrived back to Bruinisse around 4pm, but this time we headed not for the expensive yacht harbour, but for the harbour of the watersports club. We were welcome by a very friendly harbour master. He even came out of his office and on to the pontoon to greet us.
Oh yes, and the wind did veer to West, just as we were tidying-up.
Mekicevica will stay here until Friday, when I plan to take her out of the water to go for a new round of improvements.
On my desk is now the book with the tide tables and the stream atlas. We are ready to venture out of the lock and into tidal waters.