Sailing and the sea have always been an important part of the Dutch culture. A sign of that is how much sailing jargon is used in everyday Dutch language. For example, whenever the Dutch come unstuck they say that they are “aan lager wal” - on a lee shore. Mekicevica has recently come unstuck in exactly this way.
It was a long weekend, and rather than facing again The Slip From Hell, on Wednesday we got Mekicevica put on the water with the boat lift. That was €115 well spent! Quick, safe, no hours of struggle and anxiety, and no burned car clutch.
We left Bruinisse Marina on Thursday late-morning under a blue sky and a NE moderate wind pushing us towards our destination: Brouwershaven, an old harbour on the W side of the Grevelingenmeer. Mekicevica keeps getting better, and on a beam reach we were maintaining 5 kn.
The entrance to Brouwershaven is protected by a small island with the descriptive name of “Dwars in de Weg”, which means more or less “Across in the Way”. Coming from the E, we had to enter a narrow V-shaped channel where we would start the motor and douse sails to enter the harbour.
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| The Grevelingenmeer is mostly used for water sports, but occasionally you come across some professional fishing. |
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Two Kolibris, wonderful and small sailing boats popular in the Netherlands. All wood. |
Into action comes Yo-Yo Ma The Outboard Motor. He got this name because although the name of his manufacturer sounds like the name of the famous cellist. However, the sounds he makes are much less pleasing to the ear. In fact, Yo-Yo Ma did NOT come into action. More than that, he positively refused to come into action and play his cacophonic music, no matter how much we yanked the starting cord. By that time we were passing the entrance to the harbour and going into the other side of the V-channel where we had to make a quick sequence of tacks against a freshening wind in order to have sea-room to check what was wrong with Yo-Yo Ma. We almost made it, but not quite. Close to the exit, tacking just some three meters from the shore, and in our eagerness (I am sure it was not panic) we sheeted the genoa too early, it got backed sending us aground. So there we are, stuck on a lee shore, aan lager wal indeed!
Well at least now I had time to check what was wrong with Yo-Yo Ma: we forgot to open the fuel valve!
Feeling a bit sheepish, we motor towards Brouwershaven.
Lots of learning material here. Obviously, think of the triangle of fire needed for a motor to work:
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| Entrance to Browershaven protected by the island Dwars in de Weg. With fresh winds and a stalled motor, source of much excitement. |
Lots of learning material here. Obviously, think of the triangle of fire needed for a motor to work:
- Fuel: is the fuel-valve open?
- Air: is the air-vent open?
- Ignition: is the clip on the stop button on?
Then, sailing strategy: rather than persisting on the panicky series of tacks we should have just turned downwind, sort-out the motor, douse the genoa, turn up-wind, douse the main, and peacefully enter the harbour.
Always learning…
