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Dover, 26 July 2001.
Dover, 26 July 2001.
Weeh, we made a start! After years of saving and dreaming, months of route planning and tinkering on the boat, weeks of extremely hard work to finish everything at home and at work and days and (sleepless) nights to do all the last minute jobs and visits, we turned the first page of the calender (photo) and are finally off!! From now on there would be seas of relaxation and oceans of time, we thought. Optimistically, I started in the thickest book (out of the 1,5 m of books that I brought) , James ClavellÕs Ònoble houseÓ, 1280 pages (see picture with mira and all the books that we carry...). Time? Forget it! But let me tell about our first sea miles first.
Hoorn- texel
From Hoorn we sailed to Texel (Oudeschild) on the first two days. This was a symbolical visit because this is where our relation started 5 years ago, but also a practical choice: it gave us a little time to prepare before venturing out on the ÔbigÕ sea. On a rainy day we did the jobs on board with the highest priority: lifelines, tie up the folding bikes tightly (and all the other heavy things that could easily cause harm when flying around in the cabin in case of a rough seaÉ), checking the VHF radio, fixing the rear light etc etc. As if we had a feeling what was comingÉ.
Texel-Zeebrugge
We left Texel early morning 19 july with very little wind. The current took us out of the Waddenzee in to the Northsea. As predicted a NW wind started coming up in the afternoon and we sailed past Ijmuiden around 18:00. The sun was shining but the wind was on the increase and we had to reef the main sail. While I was putting in the first reef, I decided to put in the second reef as well as the wind was becoming much stronger rapidly. Waves where building up and we continued south with a good speed. The sun went down and we were approaching the shipping lane for cargo ships into rotterdam. In the mean time the wind had strengthened and was whistling through the stays. I was a bit anxious because we had to run close to the wind to cross the traffic lane with high waves and a strong wind. It was pitch dark, ships where coming from every where. In the meantime there was a gale warning. The current was also against us. We considered entering rotterdam harbour to shelter for the bad weather but rejected this plan as we did not like the idea of entering a huge harbour that we did not know very well in the dark, amongst all these huge ships. It was a struggle of a few hours to get past Rotterdam but we made it. In the meantime the wind grew stronger and in the morning I had to wake up Mira because we had to put in the 3rd reef because we had far too much sail up for this kind of wind.
Our jib was already rolled in completely and occasionally a wave was breaking, but not in the cockpit fortunately. Our rear hatch was also leaking water and the radar reflector was untying itself from the spreader. Otherwise our boat behaved perfectly: even with this wind and waves, the wind pilot was steering so we could shelter behind the sprayhood. Also we were making a good speed, 6-7 knots with just a triple reefed main! Highest speed recorded 11,8knots in a surf! When the wind decreased in the morning, we decided to sail to Zeebrugge harbour as this port has huge breakwaters and can be entered also with strong Westerlies. Cold, wet and tired but proud that we passed the ÔtestÕ we entered zeebrugge for a big meal and long sleep.
Oostende-Dover
In Oostende, near zeebrugge we found ourselves the smallest boat in the yacht harbour. I am really amazed by the size of boats that people have these days. But when we left with a slight breeze (July 24) precisely Ôon the noseÕ we found that all these posh boats are motoring not sailing! Clearly followers of the english expression (stiff upperlip) Ògentlemen never sail windwardsÕÕ. We are no clearly no gentlemen and sail where we can. This implied that after a whole day of sailing we were still off Dunkerque and actually going back wards (current) as the wind had died completely. Option 1: motoring to Dunkerque against the current. Option 2 back to Newport (with the current, but psychologically less favourable). O)ption 3: Anchoring here in the middle of the sea, Mira suggested. Anchoring? In the Middle of the sea, and what about the traffic, if they donÕt see us? We Ôll find a shallow place out of the traffic lanes where no ships can come. Slight problem our depth sounder was not very reliable but we managed to find a good spot, near a whistle buoy (photo), and dropped the anchor. When we woke up at 6 (nerves) we found ourselves surrounded byÉ. Fog!! The nerve wrecking bit about fog on the British Channel is that you can hear the big ships but see nothing. I had to think about that comic (flipje) where a family travels to their vacation destination and finds itself in a dense fog so they cannot find the camping and finally camp just of the road and a nice lot of grass. When they wake up in the morning by the sound of traffic, they find themselves on a roundaboutÉ Fortunately we where protected by the sand banksÉ
Anyway, when the fog decreased we sailed to a place where we could cross to Dover which took us most of the day. We dropped our anchor in Dover outer harbour at 20.00 that evening, proud but tired again.
Dover.
Anchored in the busy (ferries!) outer Harbour of Dover we ÔunfoldedÕ our little banana boat to go ashore. It is a dingy that can be rowed and also has a little mast, rudder and sail so it can be sailed as well. The revolutionary thing about it is that it can be folded together to the size of a surfboard when not used. As there was a good wind from behind it was quite a spectacular ride with our tiny boat in this huge harbour. Landing the boat on the pebble beach is something that we still need to practise, it is easy to get wet.
After the initial shopping (fresh milk, fresh bread and fruits) and eating, two quizical 13 year olds both named ÔTomÕ started talking to us and toured us around Dover. They were bored because of the long summer holiday but happy to show us the Dover Castle, the internet cafŽ and even offered us to take us with them on their tour to the Dover Fire Department (we declined polity, but encouraged the boys to go).