Sunday morning was bright and the wind had calmed further. Mekicevica is heading up the Oude Maas! This romantic-sounding name hides the fact that it is a wide but very busy river, start of the connection between Rotterdam sea port and... well, pretty much the whole of Europe.
We timed the start to have the tide pushing us up-river for most of the journey, and we planned to sail as much as possible. I still don't know how much Yo-Yo Ma the outboard motor can do on his tiny 0.9L tank. Drifting with no wind and no fuel in a river used by huge and fast container ships is not a good idea.
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| They come fast and furious on the Oude Maas. |
For the first four or five miles we had what little wind there was behind us, so we could sail keeping well to the starboard margin and mostly out of the navigation channel. After that, the river narrows and turns S, leaving us on the lee of the trees and constructions on the margin. After a while bobbing in the wake of passing ships with sails going mad, we decided to put the motor on and have our initiation in the dubious practice of motor-sailing. Since I am a pedantic skipper, trained by pedantic instructors, out came the motor-sailing cone.
At Puttershoek (silly name) we made a break in the small "harbour" of the Waterlelie Watersports Club. (More like a handful of home-made pontoons in a small inlet of the river.) To enter it we had to cross the strongest wake of a ship I have ever seen.
After topping-up the fuel tank and a short break (the tide would be turning soon) we continued on motor. Soon we could see the towers of the Dordrecht railway bridge that we would have to pass under.
Before that, we had to cross the entrance to the Dordtsche Kil. It felt a bit like crossing a six-lane motorway: look well left and right and than cross as fast as possible to the starboard margin of the Oude Maas, with the bridge in full view.
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| Motoring up the Noord, towards the Dordrecht bridge. |
With her air-draught of hardly eight meters, Mekicevica can pass under the fixed part of the bridge. (I still checked the air-clearance scale about ten times.) This involves going into the middle of the river, in front of the closed, lifting part of the bridge, with the eyes pinned on it like a bull-fighter in the arena looking at the gates of the corral.
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| Passing under the Dordrecht bridge. |
After the bridge we could return to the starboard margin and motor in front of the impressive city of Dordrecht.
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| Motoring past the Dordrecht belfort. |
One more nerve-wracking crossing of the river and we entered the small harbour of Papendrecht. For a change a trip that went exactly as planned!
