Friday 12th of June: Solo to Brouwershaven
On Friday I left First-Mate struggling with the choppy waters of corporate life to keep the boat financially afloat, and rode my motorbike to Bruinisse. This time I didn't get lost and the only delay was that the guys from the boat yard had a huge new Beneteau to be rigged blocking my way out. But shortly before noon I was motoring Mekićevica out of the harbour. As soon as I had cleared the breakwaters, I hoisted full main and jib and set on a broad reach letting the easterly, gentle breeze push us up the Grevelingen. For the first time this year, I was sailing in shorts and T-shirt in Adriatic-like temperatures. Mekićevica was making good progress, leaving a most satisfying wake behind. The only minor difficulty was steering so that the main did not blanket the jib making us lose speed.
Soon I was at Bomenede and turned straight downwind, gybed the main and ran goose-winged until the island of Dwars in de Weg. There I furled the jib, did the last bit under main sail only and then motored into the harbour of Brouwershaven, feeling the usual elation of completing a trip single-handed, even such a short one.
The rest of the afternoon was enjoying the glorious weather and waiting for First-Mate to join.
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| Funny that some people should think of sailing as a sport... |
On Sunday morning the wind had picked-up to a fresh to strong breeze from the SW. The initial plan was to make a short hop to Ouddorp, which would be mostly downwind. However First-Mate was down with a bit of a flue and not feeling fit enough to sail in demanding conditions. So we just stayed in Brouwershaven, filling the day with a shopping trip to Zierikzee, a walk along the dyke, and dinner out.
Sunday 14th of June: Great sailing back to Bruinisse
During the night the wind completely died. The forecast was that it would eventually become a light to gentle breeze from the North, which would be enough to get us back to Bruinisse.
We changed head sail to the Big Genny, and as soon as we could feel some wind, we cast off. Once out of the harbour we found there was enough wind, but varying from W to SW! It was not the downwind sail we were expecting. I had even prepared everything to pole-out the genoa but instead we were close hauled and even had to do two tacks to keep out of shallow waters.
Still we were doing good progress, even beating a chartered Fox 22 that seemed to be trying to keep up with us but was left in the distance. The sun came out and it was wonderful sailing.
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| Approaching Bruinisse we came across Mekićevica's sister, Mrs Karlson. |
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| A beautiful gaff-rigged yawl in front of Bruinisse. |
