This is "Onbekommerd"!

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Urk To Franeker

From Urk we travelled in windless conditions to Stavoren. We tied up in the Old Harbour, as this is outside the lock and we had planned to continue on the IJsselmeer the next day. We knew that Jaap and Feikje on the Jildou would also be in Stavoren and we found them tied up at the 'Eiland', a favourite place inside the lock. We had drinks with them and said our goodbyes for the last time this season.
Yesterday (Wednesday) was again a beautiful day with temperatures in the 20's, warm for mid September! There was a bit more wind, but nothing serious. We left Stavoren, went through the Lorentz locks at Kornwerderzand and continued to Harlingen. It was very nice on 'the Wad' and we were very sad that on reaching Harlingen we had to turn starboard into the harbour instead of port to Vlieland or Terschelling! After the lock in Harlingen (called the Tjerk Hiddes lock), we stopped and satisfied Onbekommerd's thirst with almost 400l of diesel.
Franeker was reached less than an hour later and then 'operation packing up' started. We had a nice dinner at Ike and Marinus' house in Franeker, where we exchanged travel stories from the past summer (they took their boat, a traditional 'Hogaars' to Berlin this year).
This morning we finished packing up and by midday Onbekommerd was tied up in front of the shipyard of Valk Yachts where she will spend the winter, safely tucked away in a hall ashore.
We did almost 1500 nautical miles in almost 300 hours this year, quite a bit although not as much as last year but then Copenhagen is not nearly as far as Stockholm!
It was a very good summer, with no real problems, good weather and for 10 weeks good company from Jaap and Feikje on their Jildou.

This will be the last blogpost this season, but please join us again next year for yet another 'Onbekommmerd' trip!


Monday, September 15, 2014

The wind tunnel fan, Marknesse and Urk

Before I start on 'current affairs', I would like to share just one picture from the DNW wind tunnel we saw on Saturday. There is a ban on taking photographs at the DNW, understandably as there is a lot of very special intellectual property there, which they obviously don't want to share with the competition. Also, the simulation work they do for their clients is clearly confidential.
But an exception is made for the big fan in the wind tunnel. This fan is 12m in diameter and draws 12MW of power at full speed. That is equivalent to 200000 standard old fashioned light bulbs (of 60W each). Or to put it in a different way: to run that fan at full speed for one hour takes as much power as running a light bulb for almost 23 years (that's an old fashioned light bulb).
Here is our group in front of the fan:








On Saturday evening we had a very successful dinner and on Sunday morning an equally nice breakfast. Having rather eaten too much, we one by one left Vollenhove.
Onbekommerd followed 'Ramsdiep', the Valkvlet belonging to Jur and Aafke (who were also part of the Wadden experience in May). They live in Marknesse, close to Vollenhove and had invited us to share the afternoon and evening with them (and use their washing machine!).
We had a most pleasant time with them. Here is Onbekommerd as seen from their back garden:








As the weather forecast for the next few days is very good, we decided to take the 'outside' route to Franeker.

That means we today went to Urk (still through the Noord Oost Polder, where Marknesse is). Tomorrow we'll take the IJsselmeer to Stavoren and Wednesday the IJsselmeer, a little bit of Waddenzee and the Van Haringxma Kanaal to Franeker.

Location:Wijk 1,Urk,The Netherlands

Saturday, September 13, 2014

Valk Yachts Club weekend

Apologies for the lack of blogposts the last few days. Here is some news.

Last Thursday, we cycled around in the area. We came across the settlement of 'Nederland', which warranted a picture:





And we rode along the same canal we travelled on by boat the previous day. That enabled us to get a picture of the canal after all:





On Friday, most of the Valk ships participating in the festivities arrived. At 5pm we had a 'steigerborrel', literally 'drinks on the jetty'.





Today we first went to the DNW, an institute that runs a big wind tunnel where clients (mainly the aerospace industry) can have models of their products tested.
Their main claim to fame is that all Airbus models have been and are tested there, but also other civilian and military aircraft including the JSF.
Especially for technically minded people, it was very interesting to see this enormous installation.

In the afternoon, we went to the 'Orchideeenhoeve', where they cultivate and display orchids. Other tropical flora and fauna (butterflies, birds, carp) are also on display:











Tonight, we'll have the dinner and tomorrow still a breakfast.

Location:Aan Zee,Steenwijkerland,The Netherlands

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Vollenhove

Today we spent two hours navigating the last few miles to Vollenhove.
The trip took us though the Weerribben, a very scenic part of NW Overijssel. The maximum speed in the narrow canals is only 6Km/hr which means you have plenty of time to absorb the surroundings.
Unfortunately, our resident photographer was so engrossed that she omitted taking any pictures....
We got to Vollenhove - where the first 'lustrum' of the Valk Yachts Club will be held this weekend (see the previous post for more) by lunchtime. We are the first Valk Yacht here.
On first impression, Vollenhove lost a lot when - about 70 years ago - it lost it's sea frontage (due to the Zuiderzeewerken, but that's too much to go into here). The town today is pretty much deserted and many other old Zuiderzee towns have succeeded much better in preserving some of their heritage.
As the Valk festivities will only start on Friday late afternoon, we will get the bikes out tomorrow and explore the area. The weather continues to be good, a really nice late summer after a rather 'autumny' August.

Location:Groenestraat,Vollenhove,The Netherlands

Monday, September 8, 2014

From one Marrekrite place to another

After a leasurely breakfast, we left Flakke Brekken and motored to Heeg to do some shopping. It is still very nice sunny weather!
After Heeg, we passed Woudsend and Sloten to end up on an artificial island in the Tjeukemeer, which is the biggest lake in Friesland.
We'll stay here one or two nights and then move on into North West Overijssel (that's another province) on our way to the fifth anniversary celebrations of the Valk Yacht Club which start on Friday night in Vollemhove. A five year period is called 'lustrum' in Dutch, so this is the club's first lustrum.

Not much else to report today, apart that we were just given two cans of (probably) Polish beer. Lyn assisted a rental boat with what appear to be Polish people with landing and tying up their craft (the rear thruster does not work which makes the boat impossible to handle to them......). As a thank you, they brought us two cans of beer, which is very nice of them.



Saturday, September 6, 2014

Back To Marrekrite

After a somewhat lazy morning (but it included washing the salt of the boat and brushing the deck!), we went onto the IJsselmeer to Workum and from there a bit inland to a little lake called the 'Flakke Brekken'. Here we are tied up in the middle of peace and quiet.

On the IJsselmeer outside Workum there was a big junior sailing event taking place. Workum is one of the places in this country where this sort of events in a collection of junior / youth sailing dinghy classes regularly take place. We took our boys, Greg and Sean here to sail Optimists way back in 2001 so seeing all the launching dollies on the shore as we came in brought back happy memories. Now they are 26 and 27 years old repectively.....





We plan to stay at our Marrekrite spot for two nights, so unless we have dramatic events unfolding in front of us on the Flakke Brekken, there will probably be no blog post tomorrow!

Friday, September 5, 2014

Vlieland music festival / back to the mainland

Yesterday, we discovered there is a big music festival on Vlieland this coming weekend. It's possibly called "Into the wide open", but we're not 100% sure about that, although that was the text in big letters in the dunes when we left.
Quite a big and important event, it appears. Our neighbour in the harbour told us that 6000 tickets were made available on-line and that these were sold out in 3 minutes!
The ferries arriving yesterday (the ferry berth is about a KM from the yacht harbour but the ferry passes very close) were packed with people and there were additional ferry sailings too.
As all accommodation was booked out, there were a few 'sleep ships' in the harbour, where you usually find the 'charters' (see the previous blogpost). On these sleep ships, one can rent a bed for the night.
So quite a change from the usual harbour scene!
Around 6pm the 'sound checks' started. The concert venue was quite a distance away, but the electronics did their stuff.... But although we could hear it, it was not that bad!
The festival had nothing to do with us leaving today: that had been planned a few days ago. So after visiting the "Tromp's Huis" museum (small, but nice, especially their collection of old maps of Vlieland) and some last shopping, we left the harbour around 1 on the incoming tide. The visibility was not that great, but one could comfortably see the ships nearby and any marks needed for navigation. Plus we had the AIS and even the radar.
Not a breath of wind the whole way and before 4pm we were at Kornwerderzand. Going through the lock was effortless (although it was quite busy) and as we were quite tired we opted to stop in Makkum which is just a few miles beyond the lock.
So we are back on the IJsselmeer. We'll probably enter The Frisian inland waters tomorrow, either at Workum or Stavoren and take it from there.

Location:Workumerdijk,Wûnseradiel,The Netherlands

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Life on Vlieland

We have now spent two nights on Vlieland and will stay for another two.
Although Vlieland - in contrast to Schiermonnikoog for instance - can be reached at any tide, the arrival and departure of boats is still largely governed by the favourable and unfavourable currents that the tides bring with them, which makes for an interesting daily flow.
What - in my view - is unusual is that the harbour here is almost full. Mid week in early September that is unexpected. Of course the very nice weather is a contributing factor. In the high season, during the school holidays, it happens that the harbour is actually closed to incoming craft, at the moment that's not quite the case, but I estimate over 95% occupancy.

There are quite a few 'charters'. These are old Dutch sailing vessels which can take between 20 and 40 guests. They are normally chartered to groups, always with a skipper and usually another deck hand cum cook. This time of the year the groups are exclusively teenagers between 14 and 17 years old, apparently on a 'bonding exercise with their school. All of them are German, it's the same in the pre-season in April/May. This business would be dead in the water were it not for the German guests. They are no problem, roam the harbour during the early evening hours (continuously looking at their mobile phones like teenagers everywhere) but when it gets dark they retreat to their vessels and are quiet.

Yesterday, a big old ferry-like vessel came in, carrying about 2000 bicycles (we counted / extrapolated them). It took all afternoon to offload all of them. We think these are surplus bicycles from Terschelling (the island next door). Now that the season for cycle rentals is drawing to an end, these seem to be stored here on Vlieland. Those are a LOT of bikes! And the offloading process was pretty inefficient, one bike at a time...

Yesterday we cycled (on our own folding bikes) around a bit and saw some signs of autumn approaching: mushrooms!

And the waves at sunset yielded a very pretty picture.

Here are some impressions:





















Location:Havenweg,Vlieland,The Netherlands

Monday, September 1, 2014

The old and the new. Vlieland.

You may remember that a few days ago we travelled on the ship that used to run the ferry service between Harlingen and Terschelling, the 'Friesland'.
Today, on our way between Kornwerderzand and Vlieland, we were overtaken by the current ferry, also called 'Friesland' (Doeksen, the company running the service does not appear to have an enormous amount of imagination).
Here are the two ships:








As far as we are concerned, the new one looks like a floating shoebox. The old one is a real 'ship'.
But maybe we are showing our ages in coming to that conclusion.....

Anyway, we had a great trip to Vlieland, which is quite busy considering it is September and therefore the end of the season.
We'll stay here for a few days, the weather being an important factor in the decision of when to move on.

Location:Havenweg,Vlieland,The Netherlands

Sunday, August 31, 2014

Back across the IJsselmeer

We left Enkhuizen this morning, the weather forecast predicting relatively light winds. The idea was to go to Hindeloopen today and onto Vlieland tomorrow.
It was quite a nice trip today, although the wind got up in anticipation of a rain squall towards the end (although the rain never materialised).
The problem on the IJsselmeer is that even with a relatively benign wind (say 4 Bft), you get a nasty short chop on the water due to the shallow water. Add to that the green colour, and the attraction of the IJsselmeer reduces to the nice towns, both our starting point - Enkhuizen - and our destination - Hindeloopen - today being very pleasant. But the water itself, especially after the Baltic, no....

We found a good place in the old municipal harbour in Hindeloopen. In the season it is 'wall to wall boats' here, but now that the schools have gone back and the builders holidays are over, it's quiet now on a Sunday evening.

We'll look at the weather tomorrow and hope we can move on to Vlieland. A relatively late start as its high tide at Kornewerderzand only at around 13:30 and we want to take the outgoing tide.

Location:Dijkweg,Nijefurd,The Netherlands

Saturday, August 30, 2014

Visitors, the Zuiderzee museum and Bach

Yesterday, Ineke and Franco came to visit us. We had a really nice 'Dutch' time, starting with 'koffie met appelgebak', followed by a walk through the town of Enkhuizen and a lunch including haring and paling (and a glass of wine of course).





It was nice to see my sister and brother in law after about 5 months!

Today we visited the Zuiderzee museum, or at least the 'buitenmuseum', which is a reconstruction of several features of the old towns around the Zuiderzee before it was transformed into the IJsselmeer in the 1930's. When I say 'reconstruction', it means that entire houses were moved intact or rebuilt, not 'replicas'! We had seen it a few years ago and were so impressed that we wanted to go back. We were not disappointed, this is really worthwhile.






Apart from the 'displays', there are - especially on a Saturday - several activities, some for kids, but others also appeal to adults. Lyn - as an educationalist - was especially interested in a visit to the school, where we followed a lesson in old-fashioned 'schoonschrijven', writing in the style of the 1930's. We were given ink, nibs and paper to try to emulate the teacher.





Finally, tonight we went to a Bach concert in the Zuiderkerk.
Busy day!

Most probably we'll still be here tomorrow. It seems like the conditions and the tide might be favourable for a trip to Vlieland. So the plan is to spend a few more days on a Wadden island after all!

Location:Tussen Twee Havens,Enkhuizen,The Netherlands

Thursday, August 28, 2014

1955 = museum?

We discovered that there is quite an interesting excursion one can take from Enkhuizen, so we were tourists today!

To start off, we took the ferry to Medemblik. The ferry is the 'Friesland', originally built as a ferry between Harlingen and Terschelling.





It was built in 1955 and is now called a 'museum boat', to which I take exception (I was born in 1951!) and hence the title of this blog post.
But I do remember travelling to Terschelling on the Friesland as a young boy, probably in the early 60's.....

What was interesting is that you have a very different view from the top deck of this boat than from Onbekommerd, a few meters above the waterline.
This is the Buitenhaven in Enkhuizen, if you look very carefully you can see Onbekommerd too.





The next part of the trip is on the steam train from Medemblik to Hoorn. It appears this is run by a bunch of middle-aged men (well, at the top end of middle age maybe ..... ;-), 'playing train'. There is an engine driver of course, a stoker shovelling the coal, someone who gets of the train at unguarded level crossings to stop the road traffic with a red flag and a conductor to clip the tickets. And at each of the four stations where you stop, there is a station master with a red cap!














The last part of the trip was a bit of an anticlimax: by Dutch railways back from Hoorn to Enkhuizen (but at least it was on time!)

Location:Tussen Twee Havens,Enkhuizen,The Netherlands

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Pea soup and mussels

We left Nye Kruzpolle a bit after 9 this morning and were through the new lock at Stavoren and on to the IJsselmeer just over an hour later.
To our surprise, the water of the IJsselmeer was dark green, it was as if we were moving through pea soup! According to the hourly VHF report, the water temperature was only 15.8 C, which does not seem warm enough for algae to grow wild. Anyway, pretty it was not!

We arrived in Enkhuizen soon after midday, well in time to get a nice spot in the Buitenhaven. We'll be here until at least Saturday, my sister Ineke and her husband Franco are in Holland (I can say that now, as they are not in Fryslân, Groningen or anywhere else where the use of 'Holland' would cause offence) on holiday and they will visit us on Friday.
We walked through Enkhuizen where there was a street market on:





And we finally found a restaurant where mussels (with chips!) were served. We have been waiting for this since coming on board in April!









If you look very carefully at the picture above, you'll see a ferry called "Friesland" in the background. More about that tomorrow!

Location:Tussen Twee Havens,Enkhuizen,The Netherlands

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Weather forecasting

The weather forecast for today (we look at several forecasts, but they all agreed yesterday) predicted heavy rains for most of the day.....
We have hardly seen a cloud in the sky and it has been the first day in about two weeks without any rain at all! Fantastic.
It seems that forecasting the weather here in NW Europe is a lot more difficult than in Cape Town. There the forecast is pretty accurate, even a few days out. Here we often find anomalies, although todays's prediction is quite a bit more off the mark than usual.
We hope though that tomorrow's prediction is accurate as it suggests sunny skies and little wind: perfect to cross the IJsselmeer to Enkhuizen.
We are on Nye Kruzpolle, an island in a lake called 'Fluessen'. It's quiet now (after a boat with loud music left). The people tied up behind us have a 'Stabij', the same breed of dog we met in the Princenhof a few days ago. They were quite impressed that I knew the (relatively uncommon) breed. This one is as friendly as the other one was!


Location:Nijefurd,The Netherlands

Monday, August 25, 2014

Aegehoek - Sneek

This morning was very nice on our mooring at Aegehoek.





Quiet, a bit of sun, a bit of cloud (a bit cool, but the heater did its job...).

We left early-ish as we wanted to make sure to get a reasonably nice place in Sneek. Although most of the schools seem to have started up again, the 'rental boat season' is still in full swing. It now moves towards groups of German men having some sort of 'bonding experience' together. A concept which is quite strange to us, but each one to his own. But it means that popular spots like Sneek are still busy. We needed to do some shopping, food as well as some stuff we needed for the boat, so Sneek was called for.

We are tied up next to the 'Waterpoort' of which I have posted pictures several times before. Quite busy with traffic, both on the water and on the road.

We look forward to another Marrekrite mooring tomorrow.......

Location:Waterpoortsgracht,Sneek,The Netherlands

Sunday, August 24, 2014

Aegehoek

We spent two nights in Eernewoude.
Yesterday, Jaap and Feikje invited us to their house in Beetsterswaag, which was very nice. After spending 10 weeks 'in convoy' with them on Jildou and Onbekommerd respectively, it was quite different to first be in a car and then in a hous.! And Feikje fed us very well: a nice Dutch lunch plus Nasi Goreng for supper!
This morning, after a big rain and wind squall, we left Eernewoude for Aegehoek, a Marrekrite mooring between Eernewoude and Grou. This is one of our favourite moorings, very protected and - now outside the high season - pretty quiet.
Probably Sneek tomorrow, for some shopping and wifi Internet.

Friday, August 22, 2014

Life on a 'Marrekrite' mooring

The last three days we spent on an island in the Princenhof, near the village of Eernewoude. We were moored at a Marrekrite place, I think I have described the concept earlier.

Life there is generally very quiet, but things do happen. Yesterday, a 'tjalk' (quite large traditional Dutch ship) tied up, carrying a load of youngsters, around 14 years old we think. Of course under supervision of a few (just) adults. After some fooling around, they settled down to dinner:








This morning, in the pouring rain, they left again.

Other people also tie up, sometimes for just a few hours and sometimes for the night. But it's always pleasant!

In the meantime, we had a nice sunset. See how many leaves those trees have lost, autumn is here!








But the most exciting story concerns the dogs!
Yesterday morning, a lady appeared next to the boat. She told us that she had lost her two dogs the day before at that place and asked us if we had seen them as she had noticed we had been there for some time. Unfortunately we had not, but we took her phone number so we could call her if the dogs turned up.

This morning, two extremely friendly dogs arrived, corresponding exactly to the description she gave. They were 'Stabij''s, a Frisian hunting breed, relatively rare. So we immediately called the owner. Caught the dogs (which was not difficult as they were most friendly) and tied them up. They sat there quietly, just barking at any passing boat:










About 45 minutes later the lady arrived in her boat and was reunited with her very charming dogs.

After that episode, we left for Eernewoude itself, exactly 1.39 miles away. We'll be here two nights, do some washing etc.

Location:Wiidswei,Tytsjerksteradiel,The Netherlands

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

No Jildou?

For the first time in 72 days, we now don't see Jildou with Jaap and Feikje close to us. Yesterday we arrived in Leeuwarden where their youngest son lives with his wife and his son and that was the end of our trip. In 71 days, we covered 1658 KM (895 nmiles). The engines of Onbekommerd and Jildou ran 173 hour each to bring us from Groningen to Copenhagen and back to Leeuwarden. We enjoyed our convoy, thanks Jaap and Feikje for your company!

This morning we left Leeuwarden and are now moored on a 'Marrekrite' place in the Alde Faenen, near Eernewoude. Marrekrite is an organisation which sets up and maintains moorings 'in the wild' in Friesland. There are no facilities (apart from often but not always a rubbish container), just a quiet place to put the boat for up to 3 nights.
We'll probably be here for 2 or 3 nights, we have some ELS work to do (see eurekalearningsystems.com).

So possibly not too much in the way of blogposts, we'll see if we have anything interesting to report.

Here is a typical Dutch picture, taken in Bidaard - between Dokkum and Leeuwarden - yesterday.





Sunday, August 17, 2014

Dokkum

A rather damp and windy trip brought us to the Frisian city (one of 11!) city of Dokkum. A nice place. The water level is quite a bit higher than normal: we could not pass under one of the bridges which give access to the moorings in the inner part of the city. We have been under that bridge twice in the past. So we're tied up just outside.

Here are the pictures from Zoutkamp as promised yesterday:








Location:De Dijk,Dokkum,The Netherlands

Saturday, August 16, 2014

Zoutkamp 'vissersdagen'

We had a nice trip along the scenic 'Reitdiep', which included a wonderfully quiet night 'in the wild'.
On arrival in Zoutkamp, it transpired that the 'vissersdagen' (loosely translated as 'fishermans days' are in full swing. This means a market (where we bought herring), games between fishing towns (where one object is of course to get wet) and a disco to end it all off. This last item is in progress as I write this and is causing us some 'auditory discomfort' (i.e. it's bloody noisy) but as it started early we think it won't last too long.
We'll post some pictures tomorrow, the Internet is really bad here.
The plan is Dokkum tomorrow and Leeuwarden thereafter.

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Where is home?

Earlier today, we had sort of a philosophical discussion about 'where is home'. This of course was precipitated by our return to the Netherlands, which after a two month spell in Germany and Denmark certainly felt like 'coming home'.
But for us it's more complicated than that: Officially, home is Cape Town, South Africa. That's where we own an apartment. That's where most of our family (Greg, parents and siblings) stay. That's where we pay tax (that's a bit prosaic, but when doing something official with a bank, that once was used a definition of 'home').
Culturally though, both of us identify much more with Europe than with Africa. Especially looking at the way South Africa seems to be going, it's increasingly more difficult to 'feel part of it'.
In Europe we have Sean in London and thanks to the incredibly generous hospitality of Gwilym and Janine we easily feel at home in a city we really enjoy!
And we have 'Onbekommerd', which is our home for some six months every year. However much we enjoy the Baltic countries, every time we enter Dutch waters and switch the VHF to channel 3 when going into the Delfzijl harbour entrance and hearing Dutch spoken there, we feel we have arrived 'home' (and look forward to herring and real Dutch cheese....).
So 'home' is complicated and we are very privileged to have so many versions of it!

Having said that, we are currently in Appingedam. The weather is cool and showery (typically Dutch) but of the 20 or so boats in the guest harbour only 3 are Dutch. Our Eastern neighbours have clearly discovered Appingedam....

Location:Stadshaven,Appingedam,The Netherlands

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Back in the Netherlands, Delfzijl

Although the forecast was still not ideal, with a mention of 5 to 6 Bft, we decided to go and 'see for ourselves', go through the bridges and locks and 'taste' the river Ems. If it does not taste nice, there is a yacht club harbour in the outer harbour, possibly with some waves and therefore not entirely comfortable, but perfectly safe!

Emden is a difficult place to get out of: we had organised the Kesselschleuse and the three bridges after that beforehand, so that was easy.
Next comes the railwaybridge. This only opens a few times a day on a tight schedule and when we came past on our way out in June it did not open at all as it got stuck because of expansion in the warm weather.... So with some trepidation we arrived for the 13:50 opening and....








So that was good!

Next came the big sea lock, where waiting times between 15 minutes and 4 hours have been recorded. This time it was an hour and a half, which was actually perfect as it meant we were 'released' onto the Ems just when the tide was starting to run.
And the wind? No more than 4 Bft.... So we had an incredibly easy one hour trip to the entrance of the a Delfzijl harbour channel. About 45 minutes later we were safely tied up in the harbour of the 'Neptunis' yacht club.

Tomorrow we'll go through the lock and on to Appingedam. There we'll do some shopping in the 'Albert Heyn' supermarket.
And we can't wait for Dutch herring.

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

It's all relative!

We are still safely tied up in front of the Kesselschleuse, soon they'll offer us a permanent mooring, we think.
Around 3 this afternoon a guy in his 20's appeared next to the boat. He had a leaflet of the Ems-Jade canal in his hand and asked me (in Dutch) if I could show him on the map in his leaflet where he was. He was wearing gear suggesting he might be in a canoe, you see quite a few of those on the canal here. I pointed it out to him and asked him where he was heading. Amsterdam, was the reply. Now that was a surprise! So where have you come from, was the obvious next question. Finland, he says. Actually Tornio, which is at the Northernmost point of the Baltic, across the border from Haparanda in Sweden. It transpired he left there on 11 June, has been travelling 50 KM per day in his pedal power propelled kayak. It has a contraption with bicycle- like pedals which drive a propellor underneath the kayak. Now we have in the past thought about taking Onbekommmerd to Haparanda (because it's there....) and that would be a 3 year project, leaving the boat in winter storage near Stockholm on the way there and the way back. And this guy does it in just over two months in a kayak....

Here you see him going through the Kesselschleuse, on his way looking for an overnight camping place.








By the way, he has previously cycled around Australia and walked New Zealand South to North....

Monday, August 11, 2014

Still Emden

When we looked carefully at the weather forecasts and especially heard all the warnings for strong winds, we decided to take the safe option and stay put. As there was hardly any wind at that time, it was a difficult decision.
The problem lay with the tide, which was only going to be in our favour after 1pm plus the uncertainties of the big sea lock: the waiting time can be anywhere between 15 minutes and 4 hours, so planning the time becomes very tricky. Also once you are out on the Ems, it's not that easy to go back if the conditions are worse than expected!

So, we are still at the Kesselschleuse in Emden. Looking at wind and tide, the next gap is only on Wednesday morning.
Probably no blog posts until then, little to report!

Saturday, August 9, 2014

Emden - Kesselschleuse

After all the nice things I said about the organisation of the Ems - Jade canal yesterday (which still stand), today was a lot less pleasant. We started off ok, but soon we came to a bridge which would not open. The young itinerant bridge keeper told us there was a broken component, the electricians were going to get a new part and install it. Thus happened. In the meantime, a tourist excursion boat had joined us and once the bridge opened (about an hour and a half later), they went through and chased down the canal at 6 knots (the speed limit for all craft is 8 KM per hour, about 4.5 knots.....). So the three 'sportboote' (that's what they call us here) decided to hang on so that we could go through the bridges with them (a single opening is better than two, we thought). This worked fine for the first bridge, but at the second one, they closed it right in front of us! So we tied up, started to make lunch and - totally unexpected - after 15 minutes the bridge opened..... This happened twice more, so we are now totally unimpressed with the organisational skills: as long as all goes to plan, OK, but as soon as there is a disturbance and the rules can't be applied anymore: chaos!
Anyway, we tied up just before Emden, hoping the weather tomorrow will be better for the short stretch to Delfzijl in the Netherlands. See yesterday's blogpost for the pitfalls there.

As I don't have a fresh picture to show, here is one of the only South African flagged yacht we have seen this year. Anchored in Thurø Bund, diving to look for / inspect something.







Location:Achterdiek,Emden,Germany

Friday, August 8, 2014

Ems - Jade canal: Aurich

The Ems-Jade canal is a protected way to get from Wilhelmshaven on the Jade to Emden on the Ems (Eems in Dutch).
Although not particularly exciting, it is quite scenic. The 70KM cannot really be done in a day as there is a 8Km/hr speed restriction, there are 6 locks which takes some time and the operating times are from 8:30 to 17:30. There are also numerous bridges, many of which need to be operated. The nice thing is that once you are inside 'the system', there are no worries about waiting for locks or bridges: usually a bridge- or lock keeper will operate several locks or bridges and he moves in his little black car to the next one which you will find ready to pass when you arrive. And when you leave this particular 'keeper's' domain, he'll phone his colleague down the road to tell him you are on your way, and the bridge or lock will still be ready for you. Add to that that these people are all very friendly and you have a pleasant day!
Here is one of the swing bridges being opened:





But as you have to steer by hand all day in a narrow and shallow canal, it's actually quite tiring.

When we got to Aurich, the most obvious place to stop, there was a kayak festival on the go.





We did a few loads of washing, visited the local supermarket and are ready for the last German stretch to Emden tomorrow.
The snag is that the weather conditions for the 10 miles or so between Emden and Delfzijl (where we enter the Netherlands again) are pretty bad for tomorrow. So we may well stay over in Emden and try for Sunday (which looks a bit better but not great either). It's not far, but the 'wind against tide' scenario on the river Elbe, which is quite wide and exposed here, is not something to be taken lightly.
As they say: a patient skipper always has good conditions.
We'll keep you updated.

Location:Tannenbergstraße,Aurich,Germany

Thursday, August 7, 2014

Wilhelmshaven

The trip from Bremerhaven to Wilhelmshaven goes over the 'Hohe Weg', an extensive shallow area North of the 'Butjadingen' peninsula. There are two separate shallow crossings, the Mittelpriel and the Kaiserbalje for us. As you go against the tide when going from East to West, it requires quite a bit of careful planning but that's part of the fun of doing these type of trips.
We left the berth at Bremerhaven in time for a 7:30 lockage, but there was a problem with the electronics of the lock and the technicians had to be called out. Fortunately the problem was solved quickly and by 8 we were on our way. Everything went to plan (or a bit better than plan) and by 12:15 we were at the Wilhelmshaven lock. I had spoken to them on the VHF earlier and unfortunately there was a wait until 13:15. So we floated around in front of the lock and had lunch. Just after 13:15 the doors opened, a Coast Guard ship came out and we were allowed in. A bit later we were tied up in the now familiar 'Cramer Marina', a somewhat dilapidated harbour where we have stopped every time we have come to Wilhelmshaven.
Tomorrow we'll continue along the Ems - Jade canal to Aurich.

As we don't have any pictures to show of today's trip, here are a few 'old' ones:


Thurø Bund, at anchor, a quiet moment on the foredeck:



The harbour at Birkholm:




Bagenkop sunset:



Location:Südstrand,Wilhelmshaven,Germany

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Bremerhaven

We have a very good deal for iPad data from 'O2' in Germany (€25 for 5GB compared to €20 for 0.7GB in the Netherlands). The only problem is that the coverage is not ideal which is the reason for missing blogposts from Brunsbüttel (2 nights ago) and Lintig (last night).

In Brunsbüttel we stayed in the small yacht harbour just inside the locks. Quiet it is not, but it has a very special atmosphere which we enjoy: the yachts are either coming from or going to the Kiel canal, and are from many nationalities. The harbour is small but packed and when the tide outside the locks on the Elbe is right, there is an armada trying to get into the lock.
And all night, big ships pass literally metres from where you are tied up.
Here are two impressions:








Yesterday morning we got up in time to be in front of the lock at 8am. Again we were lucky, the wait was about half an hour, add another 20 minutes to lock out and before 9 we were on the Elbe where big ships from Hamburg to the North Sea need to be watched out for:





As you can see, there was no wind and we had an easy trip to Otterndorf where the next lock awaited, but only a small one onto the waterway connecting the Elbe to the Weser.





That waterway (generally called the Geeste, although the river Geeste only makes up part of it) is 60KM long so most people take two days (there is an 8KM/hr speed limit and it's narrow and shallow too).

We stopped at the halfway lock in Lintig, a self service lock in the middle of nowhere and continued this morning to reach Bremerhaven by 1pm.

Our original plan was to return via the German 'Wadden' islands, but the weather - which has been most accommodating for the past months - is not supporting that plan. The next two days will be ok with a bit of rain, but after that it looks like a week of strong winds, at least in the North on the islands. We don't really want to get stuck on Wangerooge (the first island, where the harbour is 6KM from the town) and waiting almost a week in Bremerhaven is also no attraction.
So we have decided to head over the shallows for Wilhelmshaven tomorrow and from there in two days via the Ems - Jade canal to Emden and Delfzijl in the Netherlands. By that time there should be more clarity about the longer term predictions and we might go to the Dutch Wadden islands instead.


Location:Am Neuen Hafen,Bremerhaven,Germany

Sunday, August 3, 2014

Rendsburg

Today was one of those days that everything worked.
We left Bagenkop at 7am in a light SE breeze. There was a bit of swell, but not a lot. Had breakfast on the way. Visibility not that great but not too bad either and the AIS helped us to 'see' all big ships long before they were within visual reach.
Just as we spotted Kiel lighthouse from just over a mile away, a rain and thunder squall hit us with a bit of wind too, but nothing too serious and by the time we reached the lock at Holtenau it was dry. The big thing was that we could go straight into the lock. There have been horror stories about 3 to 4 hour waits, but we have been extremely lucky with the Kiel canal locks so far this year. Our waiting times have been zero, 15 minutes and zero. There is one more to come though, in Brunsbüttel on Tuesday morning.....
We got to Rendsburg 8 hours after leaving Bagenkop. It's 50 miles, so good going! We put 400l diesel into Onbekommerd's tanks and treated ourselves to dinner ashore.
Sleep will come easily tonight!

I am just going to try two pictures tonight, one of 'the dinghy' (anyone suggest a name please?)





And one taken on the canal this afternoon which shows quite nicely how close you are to the 'big ones':






On to Brunsbüttel tomorrow. Then we'll have to start taking tides into consideration again and that points to an early-ish start on Tuesday morning to lock into the Elbe and catch the outgoing tide to Otterndorf.

Location:Am Eiland,Rendsburg,Germany

Saturday, August 2, 2014

Dinghy!

Ever since we bought Onbekommerd, almost 5 years ago, we have known that there was an inflatable dingy lurking somewhere under our berths in the front cabin.
As we have been anchoring a few times recently and are planning to do more of that next year, we have been thinking it would be useful to have the dinghy available to go onshore whilst at anchor.
So today we dug out the parcel we knew contained the dinghy and also located the pump and the oars. Then we unpacked the thing, expecting something like a toy and a bit touched by the 'tooth of time'.
Surprisingly, we found a really nice Zodiac inflatable dinghy in excellent condition, with nice wooden oars. Just the seat appears to be missing at the moment. I rowed around a bit (pictures to follow later, sorry we are still in Bagenkop with a dicey connection).
All in all a very nice surprise which brought a smile to our faces!

Earlier we had given Onbekommerd a good clean with soapy water. The deck, which had a lot of algae stains on it, is looking better and better. The salt water plus regular brushing seems to be effective in fighting the algae, something lots of expensive bottles of 'teak cleaner' have not been able to do.....

It was blowing quite a bit this afternoon, but it's dying down now. The forecast is still good for a trip to Kiel and into the canal tomorrow. We plan to leave at 7am.


Location:Humblevej,Bagenkop,Denmark

Friday, August 1, 2014

Still in Denmark

During the night there was quite a lot of wind, which continued into the early morning so the planned 8am departure was not an option.
By 11 it had died down nicely and we decided to leave and consider our options once we got a feel for the sea outside. When the wind drops, it can take quite a while before the waves get more friendly!
Once outside, it was not that uncomfortable, but considering that: a) it would be four hours plus in a somewhat lumpy sea, b) we would not get to Kiel in time to go through the locks and get to Rendsburg and c) it would not be that easy to find a berth around Kiel at 4pm or later, we decided to go for plan B: Bagenkop. After all, we have plenty of time and we do this for our enjoyment!
Bagenkop was by then just an hour away, and there was plenty of space when we tied up just before 1pm.
Now, at 21:30, the place is very full: all boxes taken and boats rafted four abreast in the alongside area.
The atmosphere is really nice: like everywhere in Danish ports there are lots of picnic tables which are all taken. People enjoying themselves quietly and not getting rowdy. And cleaning up after themselves!
At 9pm, a wind 'band' (only 4 people) played a few tunes from a tower in the harbour. All the Dutch and Danish yachts took their flags down as is the etiquette. The Germans don't seem to have a flag etiquette, so now there are only German flags up (they seem to leave them up for the season which explains why there are so many tatty German flags around). The musicians got applause from all yachts after each tune but the repertoire was fairly limited.

Looking at the forecast we may well be here tomorrow too. Sunday may well be a good day to carry on. We'll be sorry to leave Denmark!



Location:Humblevej,Bagenkop,Denmark

Thursday, July 31, 2014

Marstal

Although I had promised a set of photos form Dreyø and Birkholm, that's not going to happen. Either the Internet is still too slow or the Blogpress app is letting me down: I just lost a big post with lots of pics.

Sorry about that, but that's it.

We are currently in Marstal, planning to cross back to Kiel and possibly beyond tomorrow. The forecast looks good to do this, it's not that big a thing: 30 miles is 5 hours to the Holtenau lock into the Kiel canal. Whether or not we'll actually go through the lock depends a bit on the waiting times: the smaller locks, which are normally used for pleasure craft are once again out of order so we'll have to lock with the big ships which can be quick or very slow.

As we'll need to set up Internet data for Germany, which at times can be a challenge, I can't promise a blogpost tomorrow. We'll see!

Location:Marstal,Denmark

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Birkholm

Birkholm is the Danish island with the smallest population, it's somewhere between 7 and 9! During summer it's a bit more as there are a few holiday homes. And in addition, there is the harbour, 40 by 45 m, but very popular. Currently we are here with some 20-odd mainly smallish boats. So that's another say 60 people!
There is no ferry, just the 'post boat', which only takes a few passengers and runs twice daily (only once in winter) between here and Marstal.
No paved roads of course, and the only motorised traffic consists of a tractor and a quad bike (we have not seen the tractor yet).
Walking around, we found the 'shop', consisting of a small room (connected to the 'community centre') housing two fridges. One for bottled water and one for ice cream and frozen bread. You leave the money in a Tupperware box on a table (one of the locals sells Tupperware!).
No fresh water at the harbour (but there is a sea water tap for washing up), but if you take a jerry can to the 'shop', there is a tap there.
Surprisingly, we found a second 'harbour', a jetty where there are a few boats that locals seem to use to go shopping, either in Marstal or in Ærøskøbing.

All in all a delightful place to be!

As promised yesterday, we'll try to post pictures tomorrow from Marstal!

Location:Ærø,Denmark

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Dreyø

Two years ago, Dreyø was the first of the small Danish islands where we spent a night. It set the scene ever since where we have enjoyed the small islands much more than the towns and cities.
Now we are back on Dreyø and it is not letting us down, still the same quiet atmosphere. After lifting the anchor at 10:20 in Thurø Bund near Svendborg, we were here shortly after midday and just in time to grab the last two regular berths. Whoever arrived after us either had to raft up or move on somewhere else.

We had a nice 'Cobb' with Jaap and Feikje. The Internet connection is a bit dicey so I am not going to try to post pictures tonight. The plan for tomorrow is an even smaller island or otherwise anchor so I can't promise pictures then either. But the day after we should be in Marstal which is a bit bigger and I'll make up for the lack of visual material.

Location:Drejø Brovej,,Denmark

Monday, July 28, 2014

Lohals and Thurø Bund

We continue to have fantastic sunny weather, quite warm too, sometimes we really need the breeze to cool down!

From Agersø we crossed the Belt (Storebælt) to Lohals on the northern tip of Langeland. It's not a bad place to stop, but it has not really got much of an atmosphere. Add to that the distance to the supermarket (Dågli Brugsen, 1600m) and you'll understand that it's not a favourite stop (the bakery is very nice though, but expensive!).

This morning we carried on southward. At the 'skippers meeting' ( which was held over coffee on board Onbekommerd as we had a birthday to celebrate!), we decided that it would be an 'anchor day'. The first option, in front of Valdemars castle on Tåsinge, was a bit too exposed to the North Easterly wind (although it looks pretty calm on this picture):





So we continued a bit to Thurø Bund, a very popular and protected bay, close to Svendborg. We are lying here at anchor with 28 other boats, including this nice traditional one:





The next few days we'll roam around a few more islands in the waters south of Funen.

This is the trip so far:





The overall plan is to cross back to Kiel (Germany) by the weekend but we'll keep the blog informed!