The initially plan was for the skipper to get on his new motorbike, ride to Bruinisse and then sail to the NW corner of the Grevelingen with the SE wind. First-Mate would then join to sail across to the NE corner on Saturday using the W wind and then back to Bruinisse with the NW-N wind. Three days of sailing always with the wind aft of the beam.
This planned started to go wrong when I lost my way trying to find new, interesting routes to Bruinisse. I am much, much better on navigating on a sail boat than on a motorbike. As a consequence I got to Bruinisse late and would have to get Mekićevica ready and rush to sail up the Grevelingen before the squalls forecast for the late afternoon. This seemed too much stress, which is a feeling I don't like to mix with sailing. Or with any activity for that matter. Moreover the plan was almost a repeat of the tour of two weeks before, and as such looked less and less interesting. Spending the afternoon messing about in the boat in the sunshine and Croatia-like temperatures seemed much more interesting.
Enters plan B:
First-Mate joined for dinner aboard, after the squalls had passed, and we decided to make a tour up the Volkerak towards Dintelmond. This would be downwind on Saturday but return almost against the wind on Sunday, but we were ready for it.
Saturday, 6th of June: Plain sailing in the sunshine with long periods of waiting at the locks.
On Saturday morning (well, late morning to be honest) we motored to the Grevelingen lock. It was surprisingly quiet for a sunny Saturday, but the wait for the lock was never ending. Then when thee lock finally opened, the motor wouldn't start. It looked almost like we were going to miss the opening when with some jiggling and frantic pulls of the starter cord, Yoyo-Ma finally came to life. Even more frustrating, it repeated the same scene when we needed to get out of the lock.
Never mind, after we got on the Kramer we hoisted our more reliable Big Genny, and it was plain sailing towards the Kramer lock, with only one jibe early in the route.
Giving that Yoyo-Ma seemed to be in a bad mood, we tried to start it plenty in advance. It started at the second pull, leaving us still some 200m to sail with his "music" sounding behind our backs.
Then it was a long wait (again), followed by trouble starting the motor (again).
Once on the Volkerak it was full genoa again and enjoy the sailing. There was not even much shipping and crossing the shipping lane after the Nordplat was plain sailing. When we were approaching Dintelmond we were tempted to sail into the outer harbour, but the thought of being left with not much space and a motor then wouldn't start made us change our mind. Just to spite us Yoyo-Ma started at the first pull.
We motored past the lock into the inner harbour which is normally open but with a traffic light system. On the way we helped a bloke on an Optimist to pass the lock, as his small sail was well below the lock walls. He was a very friendly guy and we had a nice chat during the couple of minutes it took to tow him through.
Than we went into the harbour and after completing the procedures with the very chatty harbourmaster we prepared for a stroll to the town of Dinteloord for drinks and dinner.
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| Mekićevica in the company of a classic boat in the harbour of Dintelmond. |
Sunday morning and as forecast the wind had continued veering and was now blowing from the NW. It had also decreased, but was forecast to pick-up again in the afternoon.
With motored our in the company of the classic boat in the picture, Than hoisted the main as we were coming out of the harbour, fell off the wind until the sail filled and unfurled the small jib. And then the wind all but died and became gusty and from variable directions. At one point there was such a gust that I had to ease the main sheet to avoid heeling too much and after a few seconds died again and turned by more than 90 degrees, leaving us with backwinded jib and spinning about.
Apart from that we somehow manage to do the first bit of the Volkerak close-hauled but always on starboard tack. Then it was time to cross the shipping lane, which was incredibly busy. We waited for a gap in the shipping, tacked and prepared to cross. At this point the wind shifted again leaving us close-hauled on port tack going the way we had come, parallel to the shipping lane. So, we furled the jib, started the motor (started at first pull) and rushed across. When we resumed sailing we managed to get to the Kramer lock with only to tacks, as the wind had veered further to the North. Much better than we had anticipated. Also the passing of the Kramer lock was much faster than the day before. Than it was close-hauled to beam reach on main only to the Grevelingen lock (crowded on the other way, but not so much traffic going in) and motoring back to our place in Bruinisse harbour.
Another great weekend cruise for Mekićevica and crew.
