Tuesday 29 July 2014

Mekicevica's 2014 Sailing Adventure: Waddenzee

Friday 25th of July: First Passage on the Wad, Makkum to Vlieland (23 NM)
From now on we have to plan around the tides, so we had an early start to ride the ebbing tide to Vlietland. Moreover we would have to cross a shallow patch, only accessible until 1300. We motored the mile from Makkum marina to the Kornwerderzand lock in the grey early morning, and finally enter the Waddenzee.
At first we had little wind and from the wrong direction. We started to fear we would not make it across and would have turn back. Eventually the wind backed and picked-up in strength, so much so that for a while we had to reef the main.
Waddenzee sailing: a bit disconcerting when people walk past your boat while you sail.
We passed the shallow patch in good time sailed around the sandbank of Richel and entered the harbour of Oost-Vlieland. As we were to find out, the harbours on the Wad are spacious but usually crowded and rafting along other boats is the norm. Here we were directed to join a Leisure 17 crewed by a young Dutch couple.
That evening we celebrated our first Wad passage.

Saturday 26th of July: Vlieland, the jewel among the Wadded islands
We spent the day cycling around the island, visiting the town, taking the views from the lighthouse, and admiring the beautiful, wild beaches on the "outside". The charming town of Oost Vlieland was the home of Willem De Vlamingh, the leader of the first Europeans to discover Australia. (Although the Portuguese may have been there before but kept quiet about it.)
The main street of Oost Vlieland. Until recently the whole island was car-free, and bicycles are still the primary form of transport.
We went as far East on the island as the Dutch army would allow us, since they use that bit as firing drills area.
The wild, natural beauty of Vlieland.
From a map we learned that there was once a town os West Vlieland but it is now in the bottom of the North Sea. Erosion or a firing drill gone wrong?

Sunday 27th of July: Terscheling (8 NM)
We planned to cover only the short distance to the next island to the East, Terschelling, but because we need to cross a shallow bit we had to play with the tides and get up early, again.
The massive tidal race and the weak wind made it difficult to sail the marked channel and we ended-up motoring... like all the other boats. At high water there is a convoy of boats of the Bruine Vlotte rushing across the narrow, shallow channel.
Keeping N of the cardinal buoy under sail with strong tide and weak wind just was not going to happen.
After came a short beat and then on beam-reach towards the harbour of West Terschelling.
We arrived early enough to spend the rest of the day sight-seeing by bicycle.
Terschelling is much larger than Vlieland. The town of West Terschelling has had a lighthouse since the 14th century, named Brandaris. The modern successor is still the dominating building on the island and houses the control post for shipping on the Waddenzee.
Willem Barentsz, the 16th century Arctic navigator was born here.
Out of the town, sand dunes dominate the landscape, with the occasional village or group of holiday houses scattered around.
Colourful fishing gear in West Terschelling harbour.
Monday 28th of July: Long, windy and dramatic passage to Texel (30 NM)
The wind remains from E to NE, which explains the wonderful weather we are having. It is also ideal for the long passage we have planned for today. It will start moderate and will pick-up later to 5Bf, possibly 6Bf. We are going to sail with the big genoa only, started with the whole of it and probably reducing to handkerchief size by the afternoon.
There was no way to avoid a mile against the tide out of West Terschelling, and not even the full genoa was enough, so we had to get Yoyo-Ma to give an extra push.
After that was sailing with wind and tide. Except for a bit when we had to come closer to the wind and tack. That was when the starboard sheet was caught in a riding turn. A few minutes of panic followed when things were definitely not under control. Finally First-Mate suggested we turn into the wind, let the genoa flap, and use the moment to free the sheet. It worked.
With all this distraction we passed the point we needed to be at the turn of the tide spot on time. The wind continued to pipe up but now we were going downwind again and the waves here do not build-up as much as in the Ijsselmeer. At a point we were doing 7 to 8 kn over the ground we just about  quarter of the genoa out. Just as we moored in the spacious and modern harbour of Oudeschilde, the display was flicking between 5 and 6 Bf.

Tuesday 29th of July: English-like countryside and Costa del little Sol in Texel.
Morning entertainment was provided by a 52 ft, modern sailing yacht skippered by a moron whose idea of manoeuvring in a harbour is to keep moving downwind until the boat is stopped by hitting something. Why do people without sufficient experience charter or buy such large yachts?
For the rest of the day we went cycling around the island. This is the largest of the islands and in some places you cannot feel the presence of the sea. The slightly hilly landscape looks almost like rural England.
In some spots of Texel you can almost forget the sea.
Seaman's church in Oudeschilde.
After the wild beauty of Vlieland, the beaches in Texel are a bit disappointing: crowded, too civilised,  and near villages full of the tacky stuff you see often on seaside resources. For that type of beach, then why not go to costa del something where the weather is nicer?
Enjoying local produce in the old fish market of Oudeschilde.

Thursday 24 July 2014

Mekicevica's 2014 Sailing Adventure: Across the Ijsselmeer

Saturday 19th of July: Downwind Sailing to Hoorn (20 NM).
I have now been joined by First-Mate and the crumpled space inside Mekicevica feels nicer when shared with the Loved One. In the morning we set off from Durgerdam, motor across the busy bit and then under genoa only with the SW wind pushing us towards our destination for the day: Hoorn.
We soon started to feel the infamous choppy waves of the Markermeer. As usual, it was very lively going around the Marken lighthouse.
The Paard van Marken never fails to provide some excitement, no matter which way the wind blows.
The beautiful harbour of Hoorn.
Sunday 20th of July: Hoorn to Enkhuizen in light airs (12 NM)
Sunday morning we wait for the light showers to clear and then cast away. Hazy sunshine and not much in the way of wind. For the last couple of miles, already following the buoys towards Enkhuizen we really had to go on motor. Worth noting that we have passed the lock and are now out of the Markermeer and in the Ijsselmeer.

Monday 21st of July: Enkhuizen to a scary landfall in Medemblick (10 NM)
A grey morning, and blowing a 4Bf from the SE, forecast to pick-up to 5Bf. With a reefed main, and half of the little jibby up, Mekicevica feels like a dolphin playing with the waves. Except when we approached the harbour. That was one of the scariest landfalls ever! Beam-on to the waves was not an option, so we had to zig-zag, with poor, little Yoyo-Ma protesting now and then, and hoping we did not sway so much that one of us would go overboard.

Tuesday 22nd of July: Bike-ride along the coast.
We are a little to shaken to try to get out into those scary waves again, so we borrow two bikes and go for a ride along the coast.
A 'Drie-Mast-Schooner' sailing along the coast.
The weather and wind forecast are a bit worrying; the NE wind will persist, kicking-up the same nasty waves into this side of the Ijsselmer. We either waste the rest of the vacation here or take some bold action.

Wednesday 23rd of July: Daredevil dash across the Ijsselmeer (12 NM)
On advice of the harbourmaster, we got up early to leave by 0630 hoping for a lull in the NE wind. It may have been a tad less windy, but the monster waves were still there. For half an hour Mekicevica bashed directly up the 1m+ waves and crashed on the other side. Yoyo-Ma was pushing along protesting loudly every time his little propeller started spinning in the air.
Eventually as we left the coast behind the waves got a bit less scary and we were able to hoist sail and bear off the wind. The problem was the wind was more easterly than we thought and we kept being pushed North, too close to the coast. Our plan of a direct run E to the shelter of Vrouwenzand was not going to work. Instead we had a laborious series of tacks with painfully slow progress eastwards. Eventually we had Stavoren in sight and the waves became more manageable, even if the wind piped up further to a 5 Bf. A few more, shorter tacks and we entered the harbour of Stavoren. Soon we were through the lock and bridge and setted in the smallest free box we could find.
We were feeling a bit shaken, but the daring effort saved us from being stuck in Medemblick for the rest of the holidays.
The rest of the day was spent resting, looking around Stavoren and finally dinner out.

Thursday 24th of July: Great reach from Stavoren to Makkum (12 NM)
Sunny, still stiff NE wind, 4 Bf, maybe gusting 5 Bf. With jib and reefed main we could keep on starboard tack in straight line to Makkum. Still choppy but nothing compared to the previous days. Mekicevica was flying, and we were pleased to see a slightly larger boat going the same way being left well behind. (They didn't reef and were further out where the waves were larger.)
Makkum has several marinas and we opted for the large one, simply because it had a wasserette, something our clothes are in urgent need of. We were welcome by harbour staff speaking in such a Frisian lingo that I pretended not to know any Dutch so they had to speak English.
De Waag of Makkum.
After a visit to the town and dodging a nasty thunderstorm, we had dinner onboard looking forward to entering the Wad next day.

Friday 18 July 2014

Mekicevica's 2014 Sailing Adventure: Staandemast Route Solo

The Staandemast Route is an itinerary that allows sailing yachts to travel between Zeeland and the Ijsselmeer, via inland waters, and without lowering the mast.
We have done it before, in 2011. The crew were still green, the weather was lousy, but we still had fun with the novelty of having a long vacation on a tiny sailboat.
This time I am doing it solo.

Monday 14th of July: Middelharnis to Schiedam (25 NM)
A bright and windy morning. Perfect to hang-out all the wet gear from the weekend, while I was busy replacing Yoyo-Ma with the dirty, but powerful, smooth and (relatively) silent Suzy Q.
I cast off at 1030, still wondering if the motor is going to pack-up before the end of the harbour canal. It didn't, but I found the lock closed. I thought it was always open! This gave the opportunity for my first drills at manoeuvring with Suzy Q. I won't go into details, but we are still getting to know each other and we did not do any serious damage. Another good thing was there were no witnesses, unless the harbourmaster, who arrived to open the lock saw our struggle to come alongside a pontoon with wind from the back.
Outside, the West wind had kicked-up a fuss on the Haringvliet and the motoring across was a wild ride. But Suzy Q started to show her trumps. I was too busy holding-on for dear life and navigating to check the speed, but once we turned into the Beningen I could see 5 to 6 knots on the GPS. Ok, that was with the wind and about 1.5 kn of tide, but still good.
Once on the Spui I could sail under jib only. It was mostly quiet and relaxing, except crossing a cargo ship and several motoryachts, all at the same time. The crossing of the ferry didn't cause any trouble, even if I had to jibe right in front of it.
Approaching the end of the Spui it was time to roll the jib and start motoring and face the Oude Maas with its busy shipping traffic. I stopped at De Rhoonse Grienden yacht club for a break and tactical deliberations. Next I would have to pass two bridges, of which the second was just about too low for Mekicevica's mast. According to the almanac, that bridge would not open again until 6pm. What to do? Stay in this harbour overnight? In a moment of bravado, I decided to "go and see". The rest of the ride up the Oude Maas was a choppy affair, with wind blowing against the stream, but as I approached the bridge I found a yacht going in circles, obviously waiting for the opening of the bridge. In a few minutes we were through and continuing towards the Nieuwe Maas. Boy, is it busy! Cargo ships, container ships, ice-breakers, ferries, everything. But Suzy Q did a good job of taking us to the Schiedam Yacht Club, where we were welcome by a very, very friendly harbourmaster. Not the kind that gets really chummy, but the kind that really treats you like an old friend. He even drove me to the petrol station to fill Suzy Q's tank!

Tuesday 15th of July: Schiedam to Gouda (20 NM)
The timing of the start on Tuesday was a compromise between the ideal from a tide point of view (4am) and what I could get myself to do. It ended up as 7am, still with 3 h of favourable tide to go.
The crossing of Rotterdam was memorable. The shipping was not so intense, since we had left the big ports behind, but instead there were the fast water buses and taxis. As a treat, I could see the landmarks of this city from the water: the old dockyard buildings (the few that survived the WW II bombing) and the Erasmus bridge. At a point I thought I was having olfactory hallucinations, because I could smell roasted cumin, but then I noticed I was passing a ready meals factory.
Soon I was at the mouth of the Ijssel, sticking a finger at the Ijsselmonde yacht club (see previous adventure).
The height scale of the Algera bridge showed that we could just about pass, but to be honest we (Mekicevica, Suzy Q, and I) needed a break. It had started to drizzle and I was feeling cold. So we stopped at the waiting pontoon. An old man who lives just in front of it spotted Mekicevica's Portuguese flag and came out of the house to talk to me, who he imagined a solo adventurer sailing the world in a small boat. I was tempted to play along with it but I am a lousy liar, so I admitted that the big journey started only in Zeeland.
The negative side of the wait was Mekicevica slammed hard against the pontoon by the wake of a small mobo driven by a moron.
Up the Ijssel I got a bit bored with motoring, so tried to sail. Headsail only was a bit too slow, so I tried with mainsail as well. This allowed me to find-out that sailing up a busy, winding river, with variable winds and both sails up is a bit too much So I reverted to jib only and after a while Suzy Q came back on. A bit reluctantly, as a punishment for having forgotten to close the air vent causing the carb to flood with fuel.
We arrived to the lock in Gouda with still a lot of time to spare but decided that was enough for the day.
During the night I was attacked by a whole squadron of mosquitoes. Even after closing the companionway, they just kept coming in through the vent on the washboards. They were ferocious and organised: one would go bzzzz around my ear as a diversion while other munched me all over.

Wednesday 16th of July: Gouda to Westeindeplassen (21 NM)
After a walk to town to buy some deet, I left Gouda harbour in time to catch the opening of the railway bridge. It opens at 1027 sharp and stays open for exactly three minutes.
So far I had encountered few sailing yachts, but here waiting for the bridge the convoy started to assemble. To my surprise, Suzy Q kept us with the convoy all the way to Alphen an den Rijn, and beyond to the Brassemmeer. After the last bridge I eased the throttle, and looked for a place to rest. Briefly considered one of the many marinas but finally opted to drop anchor in a quiet bit of the lake.
I could easily have made it to Schiphol in time for the night-crossing of Amsterdam, but after the mosquito-night I did not feel in shape for it, so I picked a small marina to spend the night. More or less randomly I ended up at the Residence, situated on a small island on the lake. The very friendly club members made me feel welcome and allowed me to stay until late next afternoon without extra charge. They even allowed me free use of their rowing boats to go ashore to do the shopping.
Well impregnated in deet, I had a good night sleep.

Thursday 17th of July: Westeindeplassen to Nieuwe Meer (8 NM)
Thursday was hot, sunny and windless. I spent the whole day doing nothing much. At the end of the afternoon quietly left the pontoon under sail and sailed to a corner of the lake where there was a petrol station not very far away. Well, half a mile each way in the hot sun carrying Suzy Q's 12-liter tank.
After that it was time to give gas towards Schiphol, past the Aalmeerderbrug (being shouted at by the operator because I passed before the green light). Here I was right at the end of the Schiphol runway and airplanes were passing so low their wind gusts made Mekicevica heel, even with no sail up.
The Bosrand bridge opened as I approached and I settled to wait at Schiphol for the opening of the bridge. For this, traffic on a 2x6 lane motorway leading to Amsterdam needs to be stopped, so it does not open very frequently. I was waiting for the single opening of the evening, anytime between 8 and 9 pm.
Unlike the previous time here, I did not have to wait long and soon I was crossing the Nieuwemeer, which was incredibly busy in this warm summer evening. Motorboats, sailboats, jet skis and a flotilla of beautifully kept Vrijheids were crisscrossing the convoy of yachts heading for Amsterdam.
During the wait, I had a coffee and a sandwich and tried to rest a bit, while my neighbours were making a grill and drinking wine.

Friday 18th of July: Nieuwe Meer to Durgerdam (11 NM)
As normal, the convoy started moving around 1am, and then for over two hours it was bridge, after bridge trough the centre of Amsterdam. In the previous passage, with a little experienced skipper and reverse gear-less Yoyo Ma as propulsion, Mekicevica was hesitantly staying at the back of the convoy. This time with Suzy Q we were confidently in the middle.
After the railway bridge, most yachts carried on, while Mekicevica and other three tied-up for the night.
After a short night, I hung around a bit, as the last bridge does not open until 9am, and soon after followed a yacht past the bridge and into the Ij. The sun was shinning and the traffic was not more intense than on the Maas.
In the Oranjesluis I had to lose my zen and shout at an idiot on a motor sloop, who came from behind and jumped the queue in, than on at he exit found it cool to let go of the lines too early and of course found himself unable to control the boat. That would have been his problem if he didn't come against Mekicevica pushing her against the sides. Idiot!
The rest of the day was spent at Durgerdam, tidying-up the boat, washing clothes and more importantly waking-up Yoyo-Ma from his sleep to take over from Suzy Q. I got attached to that engine. We'll be working together again in two weeks, on the return to Zeeland.

Sunday 13 July 2014

Mekicevica's 2014 Sailing Adventure: Casting Off

Friday 11th of July 2014
It is always the same with sailing adventures: no matter how long you spend preparing and planning, there are always issues that wait till the last minute to pop-up and try to delay you.
I will not delve in the details. Friday was a bit hectic, but by the time First-Mate joined for dinner aboard in Bruinisse everything was as ready as it could ever be.

Saturday 12th of July 2014
The start of the adventure on Saturday morning was not very auspicious: grey and windless. The new sail got hoisted just out of the Grevelingen lock, but no luck: not enough wind.
It did not get any better in the Volkerak, so we stopped at Oude Tongue to do some last-minute provisioning and wait for some wind. It did eventually come, along with a shy sunshine, so we set off to sail towards Dinteloord, which included some of the scariest dodging of ships to date.
New main sail and good, old, little jibby goose-winged towards Dinteloord. 
At Dinteloord we were welcome by a very friendly harbourmaster, had dinner in the harbour restaurant and hit the sack.

Sunday 13th of July 2014
Wet and miserable! Motor across the shipping lane (Yoyo-Ma still on duty) and under sail towards the Volkerak lock. After a break for some warm soup it took a lot of determination to put the wet oilies back on and sail West along the Haringvliet. We did get some sunshine and really enjoyed beating along the S side of Tiengemeten... until a squall came down which made-us set a new record for the time it takes us to put a reef in the main sail when very scared: about five seconds.
Just a few minutes later we were becalmed and had to motor the last bit to Middelharnis.

We had a delightful dinner in the Greek restaurant. First-Mate has left, the rest of the world is watching the final of the football world cup, and I am tidying up Mekicevica in preparation for the second part of the adventure: solo to Amsterdam.

Friday 11 July 2014

Mekicevica's 2014 Sailing Adventure: The Master Plan

After much deliberation and consideration we finalised the plans for the 2014 Sailing Adventure: Mekicevica is going to the Waddenzee. This is the shallow and strongly tidal expanse os water between the Afsluitdijke that closes the Ijsselmeer and the row of islands on the North of the Netherlands.
The Waddenzee, sometimes called just shortened to Wadden or even Wad is the location of Chandler's classic Riddles in the Sand, from which we got the inspiration for the trip.

The ambitious plan is that Mekicevica will get there and back by her own means, i.e. no trailering!
If you think that is a crazy plan for a tiny boat than you will love the posts that follow.

Thursday 10 July 2014

Suzy Q, oh Suzy Q...


Yoyo-Ma got an assistant! If you haven't been following Mekicevica's blog, Yoyo-Ma is not a cellist, it is our faithful 2.5hp Yamaha outboard.
As part of the preparations for Mekicevica's 2014 Sailing Adventure (details T.B.A.) we needed a motor with a longer range between fuelling stops, and I just happened to come across a for-sale advert, for precisely the right thing and not far from here, just across the very fuzzy BE-NL border. At a very attractive price, moreover. So let me introduce Yoyo-Ma's new helper: Suzy Quatro.
Suzy Q ready to take over from Yoyo-Ma for Mekicevica's 2014 Sailing Adventure. 
Suzy Q can sip fuel from an external tank and has reverse gear, just what the doctor ordered. I still needed to get the tank, for which I had the wisdom of going to an official Suzuki dealer. Good job I did, because by picking his brains I discovered that Suzy Quatro is actually Suzy Dois: I got a two-stroke motor!
The 4 hp power still justifies the name and a two-stroke motor is lighter and even more reliable than a four-stroke.

Friday 4 July 2014

New Headsail Cars

In the last month life has been getting in the way of sailing. While the sun was shining, and the winds were perfect for relaxed sailing, I was busy with a house move. Why can't we live on a boat?! Moving would be so much easier...
At least I managed to repair the damage from the last cruise to Tholen and back: the headsail cars.
I had never noticed, but the track is rubber and of a very non-standard size. The best I could do was getting 25x4 cars and then use a sanding machine to thin the tracks. A very dirty job to do...
The new adjustable headsail cars. Very racey.
But I am pleased with the result. While I was at it, I set-up the headsail cars so that their position can be tweaked on-the-go. Gosh, am I turning into a racing sail-trimmer?

Mekicevica's New Main Sail

Today I went to Wolphartsdijk to collect Mekicevica's new main sail. It looks great in the new, crisp Dacron. It has no sail number or logo, no tell-tales. Just plain whiteness (apart from the unavoidable sail-maker's logo) and hopefully a beautiful shape when it fills with wind.
We are getting in shape for the 2014 Sailing Adventure.