Exploring the Oosterschelde. 3. Six Knots!

On Sunday morning there was a busy sky that let the sun shine at times. It was also rather windy. The anemometer on the yacht club showed 15 kn West wind, increasing. We definitely need to get going before high water. It would not be fun to have such wind blowing against the tide. I still had time to have a chat with the ex-owner of the Manta 19 nr. 1114. I had heard of him; he sailed from the Netherlands to England on his Manta. He now owns a Midget 20 that he keeps in an immaculate condition.
We left Colijnsplaat harbour and had just hoisted the sails when the church bells rung 10 o'clock. With both wind and tide pushing us, we were doing spectacular progress. Under main sail alone, Mekicevica was riding the waves like a dolphin.

Once into the Keeten, we had a slightly weaker wind on a port broad reach and hoisted the genoa to maintain the speed.
When we started maneuvering to douse sails in front of the Grevelingen lock, the bells were ringing noon. We had covered close to 12 NM in two hours!
The lock was busier than ever. Mekicevica squeezed in between a 100-year old Dutch barge (displacing 110 ton) and a 45 ft yacht.
For once we finished on time to clean ship without rush. Another wonderful weekend aboard Mekicevica.