Onwards to Amsterdam and beyond

Strong north west winds were forecast so we decided that through the Dutch canals was the preferred route to the North Sea rather than the outside passage via Vlieland. Good job we did, because the sail from Borkum to Lauwersoog on June 14th was no fun. Twenty to twenty five knots wind close hauled in a lumpy sea made us glad to lock into the canal system seven hours later and tie up in Lauwersoog marina almost two years to the day since we passed through headed for the Baltic.

Next day we motored on through the Friesland canals to Leeuwarden. This is a pleasant  place to stop because the moorings are in a wooded part of the canal that circles the town, very peaceful but close to restaurants and the sights. We stayed here two nights and on 16^th June we motored to Grou to stop at the same marina as two years previously.

 Keren paying the canal bridge dues into the clog

 

Bright and early, for us, we headed south again to Lemmer. A broken bridge meant that we had a detour. Fortunately a local yacht guided us through the minor canals and we only ran aground once! Soft mud and we soon motored off and went the correct way around the buoy. The detour meant, however, that by the time we reached Lemmer we had lost the will to sail across the Isselmeer to Einkhuizen so we found a nice berth outside a restaurant and moored up for the night. A good stop, the restaurant served us Dover Sole with all the trimmings and nice wine so we fell into the boat later that evening feeling no pain at all.

The marina berth and restaurant in Lemmer

9 am June 17^th saw us headed south west across the Isselmeer, through the lock at Einkhuizen sailing south past Hoorn, Monnickendam and Marken  and on to Amsterdam Sixhaven marina which is right opposite the central station. We stopped in Amsterdam for three nights so that we could all catch breath and for Bob to see something of the city. He even found the red light district, but claims he was not impressed!

Replica of the East Indies ship ' Amsterdam' at the maritime museum



Tomorrow (June 21st) it's back to sea again via Ijmuiden and on to Scheveningen and ports south west towards Dover.

Our cheerful and long suffering sailing companion Bob

 

xxxxxxx

Dramas on Thursday 6^th June! We arrived back at Fehmarn and Stefan, the mechanic visited us to tell us that the engine was not engaging reverse gear properly. After trying to adjust the cable linkage it was found that the gear shift mechanism was slack inside its internal mechanism and that the gear change cable was virtually seized up. He managed to replace and adjust everything and left us at 8pm with a fully functional engine having enjoyed some of our Scotch.
A rough sail (or rather motor sail) from Fehmarn to Kiel on Friday 6^th June. Wind 20-25kn on the nose, (as Keren said, “if we didn’t have a head wind, we wouldn’t have any”). Spent the night at a nice clean marina at Laboe, which is on the north east side of Kiel Bay. Next morning, Saturday June 7^th, we crossed the fjord to buy fuel and then motored south to the little staging marina right next to the Holtenau lock to clean ship and wait for Bob to arrive. Bob and Barbara Speedie are long-time friends of ours from Australia. Barbara does not sail but Bob is dead keen to do some sailing in Europe, and we are very glad to have him along, because some of the passages around the German Dutch coasts are quite long and having a skilled crew aboard reduces the watch times on deck.

Big ships on the canal

An early start for us on Sunday 8^th and we caught the Holtenau lock at 0800 to motor down the 40miles of the Kiel Canal to our next stop and Brunsbuttel which is at the entrance of the river Elbe. The trip down the canal was much the same as for the trip up, seven hours of motoring with big ships passing. Brunsbuttel has a small staging marina just inside the canal right by the lock gates where we stayed overnight. Nothing much to recommend it but a convenient location.

By 8:30 on Monday 9^th we were through the lock and headed down the river Elbe bound for Helgoland which is a small island just north of the German coast. A fifty mile trip with the wind against is again. For us Helgoland has nothing much to recommend it except duty free cigarettes and booze. It is a small island full of holiday chalets that has added servicing the many offshore wind farms to its business. Yachts raft up four to five deep alongside a long pontoon and the facilities are minimal. Despite this, we stayed two nights so that we could stock up on provisions (food as well as booze!) and to wait while a low blew through.

Hegoland

On Wednesday 10^th June sunny weather and light winds were back, so we left Helgoland at six am for the seventy five mile leg to the island of Borkum. A long day motor sailing with a light head wind although we did manage to sail for a couple of hours and give the engine a rest. Borkum Island is on the east side of the Ems estuary which is the German / Dutch border. The tide runs quite strongly between the Frisian Islands and we arrived two hours into the flood so we were swept up the river doing over eight knots over the ground.

Borkum has a yacht marina with only 1.2 metres depth at the entrance (how daft is that?) so we moored in the main harbour where there is a row of serviced pontoons. As soon as we tied up  the Harbour Master  (a Scottish lady) arrived to welcome us and ask if we needed anything. We all walked up to the harbour office which is also a bar where we paid our dues and had a drink with the harbour master and her husband – what a fine welcome. We decided there and then to stay two nights, rest up, do the laundry and clean ship. 

The marina at Borkum

The last map picture was rubbish, so here's an improved version. Not great, but more readable!

Heading West

We are headed back to Fehmarn. We spent quality time with our new granddaughter and now it's time to head for home. We plan to leave Fehmarn on Friday and sail to Kiel where we will be joined by our Australian friend Bob before heading through the Kiel canal and into the North Sea. Our route thereafter depends on the weather, but the current plan is to sail roughly West via the islands of Heligoland, Borkum, Vlieland (in Holland) and then to Den Helder.

Sailing along the North German and Dutch coasts represents the big challenge of the trip as bad weather makes a lot of the harbours difficult to enter, and it is necessary to sail a fair way north of Cuxhaven to clear all the sand banks off the entrance to the river Elbe.

There are stories of yachts waiting at Cuxhaven for a week for good weather!