Sailing Again At Last

By Monday morning, the wind finally calmed and the day started sunny and bright. Not much wind, though...
Our next goal was Hoorn, ca. 12 nm to the North. We motored out of Monickendam, and struggled to get any wind at all. The first mile, in the Gouwe sea was really slow, and occasionally we had to start the motor to get us out of complete lulls. Once out on the open Marken sea, we got some wind and finally got going. The remarkable thing was the wind was blowing exactly in the direction we wanted to take: 350T. We tried to run goose-winged, but with such weak wind, the genoa was not setting well. (Hey, Santa! A cruising chute would be nice.) We found that taking a course 20 degrees from straight downwind and doing a series of jibes was much more efficient.

First Mate at the helm, trying to keep us moving in light airs by steering not too much downwind.

When we entered the bay in front of Hoorn the wind became weaker again, and we made the slowest approach to a harbour on record. We eventually made it and headed for the Grashaven. Although not right in the town centre, it is more comfortable.