Logbooks:
Azores to Copenhagen
And finally... tied up at Tuborghavn in Copenhagen
| Date: | Sept. 23, 2016, 3:15 p.m. |
| Position: | 55 43.57 N, 12 35.29 E |
| Track to here: | Download |
The predicted wind joined us 6 hours later than forcast, just as we were pulling into Copenhagen. So again we had to motor but we are finally here and it was a lovely sunny entrance to our new home. To make it really special, as we pulled in, the friendly Harbourmaster and his young twins (who all formerly lived in Perth) came out waving Australian flags and dressed in green and gold. I don't think we've enjoyed a reception like that since a fellow cruiser got out her pom poms as we sailed into Cocos Keeling.
We are quickly trying to throw ourselves into 'normal' life and we now have appointments and meetings, (kind of novel after all this time,) with work contacts and language courses. Hopefully we can get settled in promptly. All the while we are getting to throw in more and more Danish phrases. It will be good to finally get to a proper language course but our first inquiries seem to indicate that we might not be able to start for months as they do not seem very well resourced. It has taken us a long time to get in contact with a local school, and now we find out they have long application and wait times contrary to all their websites. We will have to stick with homeschooling for now and practicing on patient friends and bored shop assistants.
Anchored South of Kalvehave Bridge
| Date: | Sept. 20, 2016, noon |
| Position: | 54 58.76 N, 12 9.88 E |
| Track to here: | Download |
We departed this morning with light northerly winds as forecast and had a glorious sail downwind in light winds running with the spinnaker for most of the way through the extensive shallow "Smalands Farvandet". We have decided to take the "inside passage" hugging close to the south-side of Zealand through the extremely shallow "Stege Bugt" and even more narrow and shallow "Boegestrom".
Normally we would avoid such a shallow passage and instead go around the outside of the island of "Mon" where it is deeper. However, the area around the "Stege Bugt" looks like a beautiful area with many anchoring opportunities - basically a perfect cruising ground. It's also only a day-sail from Copenhagen so we may come back here in the future for weekends or short breaks away. So we figured that now while the weather is clear and sunny is the best time to start exploring the area and surveying the area for our future return.
The northerly winds tended to wrap around the island of Zealand so we had them behind us most of the way until the Storstroem Bridge at the southernmost point of Zealand where the wind completely died in the lee of the island.
The opening bridge north of Storstroem (the Masnedoe bascule bridge) ceased operation on July 16th of this year so the only option is to pass through the Storstoem Bridge. They have however compensated for this by dredging and creating a very well marked channel across the shallow "Middelgrund" to reconnect with the northern channel. This new channel is not even marked on the very recent electronic charts which I updated through Navionics only 2 weeks before. The channel is however fantastic, I've never been so excited about a dredged channel before. Brand-new red and green markers and easy-to-identify cardinal marks with a constant dredged depth of 5-meters throughout. Good work Denmark.
Unfortunately the wheels come off at the northern end of the new channel where you have to pass over the "Skippergrund" just before the next bridge (the Faroe Bridge). There is only one red and one green marker and a oddly-placed cardinal marker. The cardinal marker makes it very unclear if the red and green channel markers switch at this point due to being around the middle of a channel (but they don't switch at this point: keep green to starboard and red to port when going east). Anyway, we lost the channel around those markers and ended up going over just 2-meters of water! We zig-zagged a bit to try to find the channel again but its not clear if we had lost the channel or that was just the depth of the shallowest section.
Our hearts were in our mouths, especially since we had just heard a German cruiser on the radio who was stuck fast on a shoal-patch and had to get pulled off by the Danish Navy. As I've mentioned before, once you are stuck then that's it... with only a 5-10cm tidal range there's no tide to lift you off the mud banks. The result is inevitably a very embarrassing call to the Danish coastguard who then seem to rely on a Danish Navy patrol boat to come to the rescue. The Navy must be well-practiced in this as they must literally do it many times per week during the summer.
The channel is then well-marked and deep through the remainder of the channel up to the Kalvehave Bridge. On the way we explored an anchorage on the north shore of the island of "Taero" which would be fine for most wind directions (anchor in 2.5 meters near the yellow mooring bouys, sounding showed a very uneven bottom which was probably mostly weed patches over mud and rock).
We preferred however to continue a bit further on to the final Kalvehave Bridge where we anchored in a shallow patch on the south-side of the bridge in front of a camping-site on shore. Good protection from North to SouthEast winds. Anchored in 3.4 meters in very thick mud with patches of seaweed. Excellent holding. Have the deck-washdown ready when you bring your anchor up - it will be muddy. Good Stand-Up-Paddleboarding all around the shallow bay to the south, possibly good fishing as we've seen several fishing boats going into this bay.
We're waiting here for the wind to swing to the south which is forecast to happen on Thursday. We're hoping that will give us a good run out of the shallow "Stege Bugt" and "Bogestrom" passage and a finally down to Copenhagen.
Anchored at Ferneklint Bay, Southwest Zealand
| Date: | Sept. 20, 2016, 5:34 a.m. |
| Position: | 55 11.87 N, 11 16.71 E |
| Track to here: | Download |
After already waiting several weeks for favorable Westerly winds (which should be the norm here), the long run of easterly winds were not forecast to abate for at least another week. We are keen to get to Copenhagen so we can get settled into our winter berth, a bit of work and also our Danish language lessons. So we decided to take this weeks weather of mostly light winds to make short hops around the South-Denmark coast with (unfortunately) more motoring but hopefully a bit of sailing in light winds with the spinnaker.
With forecast light Northerly winds overnight we were going to anchor off the East coast of the island of "Omoe". However the latest forecast just before we anchored showed an increased chance of light winds coming from the East which may have put us on a lee shore. So we moved 3 miles NE to this little bay on the Southwest coast of Zealand Island which seems to provide protection from ENE around to WNW winds. The charts show a deeper channel running into a little cove which is accurate. We anchored in about 4 meters of water at the end of the deep channel between two lines of fishing stakes. Holding is poor in patches of weed, sand (and possibly shale/gravel/rocks?). Our anchor didn't hold at first but eventually grabbed onto something, possibly a patch of sand. This is a peaceful anchorage in winds from a Northerly quadrant, but not very picturesque due to a refinery and loading facility nearby to the west. Once the wind swings from the North it smells pretty bad, must be a pig farm or the like, nearby.
In the end we could have anchored off Omoe Island because the wind tends to glass-off here overnight due to the land-effect (we are surrounded by land). However we haven't been here long enough to gauge the reliability of this. We also don't yet know how bouncy the sea can become with wind over this shallow water or how much the resulting chop can wrap around the islands. The fact that you are surrounded by land also plays havoc with the wind (during day and night) as the wind tends to bend around the islands. If you are lucky then this can bend the wind so that it is behind you as you sail gloriously downwind through all the islands... however if you are unlucky (as we were today) then this can bend the wind so its always on your nose no matter which way you turn as you motor into the wind around all the islands.
All these new things to learn about the local conditions means we are playing it conservatively and trying to find well protected anchorages until we understand the local conditions better.
Today we had light winds against us directly on the nose. I really dislike motoring into any kind of headwind as it just destroys our fuel efficiency and is quite wasteful, however this was only about 6 knots of wind against us, and we had the tide running with us most of the way so it was OK. This weather was forecast but we decided to go anyway in order to get over the top of Langeland Island and set ourselves up in a more favorable position to (hopefully) sail downwind over the following days.
We've done almost no sailing since leaving Amsterdam due to the wind being either completely calm and/or coming from the East directly against us. As the local keep reminding us, this is highly unusual and it is also creating the unusual weather with clear skies and warm sunny days creating a long "Indian Summer".
The wife of the Troense Harbour Master told us that all the Swallows flew south on Saturday, and on Sunday when the temperature finally dropped below 20 degrees to something more normal for this time of year, the swans noisily up and joined them as well. We finally got to properly test out the Refleks heater. It is working perfectly now Mark has fine tuned the settings and we even managed to cook dinner on it, which was most satisfying and worked out better than I ever expected. It was a little sad to leave all the friendly locals who have been so welcoming at Troense but it is such a lovely part of Denmark we are pretty confident we will be back here.
Installing the heater at beautiful Troense
| Date: | Sept. 15, 2016, 7:58 a.m. |
| Position: | 55 2.18 N, 10 38.75 E |
It has been a productive and relaxing time in Svendborgsund. We spent the first night in Thurø bund before hopping across the channel to the little village of Troense, south of Svendborg.
Anchorage off the Troense yacht club in 4-5 meters. Excellent holding in sand which (unlike the anchorage at Thurø Bund) will not bring up too much mud on you anchor chain. There is a current which runs through, but anchoring as close to the western shoreline as you can will get you out of the worst of it.
This southern archipelago is known as the Danish Riviera and features picturesque castles and the most beautiful selection of historic houses. The Autumn weather has been stunning and is giving the Danes the summer they did not have, we pumped up the SUP and have been enjoying a morning gawk at the gorgeous waterfront homes. There are boats everywhere, Dutch and particularly German cruisers up for the week keep moving through and many many local boats with their fork tailed Dannebrogs trailing in the water. Every evening the boats are out racing about, though in light winds they sometimes hardly move against the current in the channel. Everyone is making the most of the weather before winter sets in.
We befriended a German/Canadian/Romanian cruiser who gave us the lay of the land, we enjoyed a few evenings together before he had to return to Germany to haul out his boat - most Northern Europeans haul out in September/October ready for winter. Our preparations included beelining to the Refleks heater factory. A small operation of high quality diesel heaters for marine and caravan applications that have been manufactured in a tiny village nearby for 60 years. The guys were amazing, buying direct from the factory has it’s advantage in price but we were also able to easily obtain all the parts to connect the flue and pick up a special unit which is manufactured for a particular client. It not only saved us money and time compared to picking one up at a supplier elsewhere, but the knowledge of the staff was invaluable. The guy we were dealing with has been working there for 42 years! We became fans of this particular heater after our French sailing buddies showed us theirs which had kept them comfortable in Patagonia. After extensive research into other options we much preferred the elegance and robust nature of both the construction and design of their units. The company has a tiny staff because most of their heaters work for over 20 years and are easily self serviced. Sounds exactly like what you want to carry to Patagonia. An extra bonus for visiting the factory is you might come away with a huge bushel of the most delicious apples!
It took us almost a week to obtain and install the unit and it was not without some swearing but it is in, working well and looking pretty good. Of course now Mark is itching to test it properly but we have had a string of 28 degree days! In the mean time it turns out we have become the talk of the town. We anchored off, not just to save money but by Danish standards we are a big boat and would have hogged a lot of space at the little Troense marina visitor wall. With everyone out enjoying the good weather on boats which are not set up for self sufficiency it seemed better for us to anchor out. Furthermore the installation of the heater has required quite a bit of noisy, dusty power tool work (and swearing) which would not be popular among the glossy white boats of the short term sailing crowd. However our obnoxiously big Aussie flag has certainly got tongues wagging.
On the weekend in particular, after we had been here about 5 days many people took the time to paddle, motor or sail over to say hello and welcome. One gentleman even turned out to have a boat in Fremantle Australia and was fascinated to see a boat registered to the same port. He is planning to sail it back here along a similar route to what we have completed so he invited us for dinner at the rather grand local restaurant. We had a beautiful meal on Sunday night with him of the large white plates with small posh food variety and he even brought us some apple, plums and homemade jams from his little farm on a nearby Island.
As if that wasn’t enough of a spoiling, a couple whose historical house (circa 1750) we have been admiring from the water came and invited us to join them for a drive around and a little sightseeing. We were not quite finished installing the heater but it was too good a chance to miss so we downed tools and had a terrific day with them. they have lived in the area for 10 years and have absorbed the local history, we visited castles and ancient burial mounds as we drove around the beautiful countryside. We were again spoilt with a huge buffet lunch of traditional danish fare at Valdemar Slot (Castle.) It turned out that this couple had lived in Australia for 36 years and spent a good portion of it living on the same Sydney street as Mark’s grandparents! Along the way we finally found a Dane who did not speak immaculate english (yes there is at least one) in a small country town so Mark got to practise his fledgling Danish and managed to successfully order coffee.
The weekend markets at Svendborg were a great source of local produce and we had fun hunting around the second hand shops, again we got to practise our Danish a little on the volunteers. We are on the hunt for a cast iron kettle as our new heater has a small stove top but it seems like the whole country have converted to electric kettles. they have even been a challenge to find online. We have finally got the boat packed up again and we have managed to do some long overdue thorough cleaning.
The only downside to this anchorage is the lack of laundromat, so it is hand washing for me. The days have been warm, dry and sunny though which has made it easier.
The winds are against us for a while and it is very beautiful here so we are not going to rush to Copenhagen. However each day we notice that the colours of the foliage surrounding the anchorage are starting to turn, reminding us that winter, is indeed coming.
Anchored at Thuro Bund
| Date: | Sept. 4, 2016, 8:46 p.m. |
| Position: | 55 2.37 N, 10 40.58 E |
| Track to here: | Download |
We've finally made it to Denmark and we're anchored near the town of Svendborg in a bay called Thurø Bund.
Anchorage in 3-4 meters in thick clay mud. Get your deck washdown ready when you bring your anchor up again - there will be a lot of mud. Excellent holding however and little to no current.
This is a slight detour from Copenhagen but we came here first because the "Refleks" heater factory is close by. We're going to visit the factory and pick up all of the parts to install our heater before moving on to Copenhagen.
We also want to take advantage of the good weather to do a little bit of cruising around Denmark before winter sets in. Incredibly, after several very hot weeks in Amsterdam and calm conditions almost all the way here, it looks like we'll have yet another good week of warm sunny weather. It is ideal for cruising at the moment so we're trying to make the most of it.
The only thing that's missing is the wind! I can't believe how calm it has been for the entire distance from Amsterdam. We've had to motor almost the entire way. Still, we can't complain too much as the weather has been superb and the calm conditions are probably for the best as Cat is a little more susceptible to sea-sickness now that she is pregnant.
We departed Wendtorf this morning at 0800 into very light southerly winds. Fortunately the wind picked up slightly after a few miles and we had a steady 10-15 knots of wind from the south which we used to run downwind under headsail only. It was a bit too light for running downwind so we were only cruising at 4-4.5 knots for the whole day with 6-10 knots of apparent wind. We could have gone faster if we used the spinnaker and/or put up the mainsail, but we enjoyed slowly cruising downwind along the coast of the Danish island of Langeland and between the islands of Aeroe, Strynoe, and Taasinge (sorry its too hard to make special characters for these names on our keyboards). On top of that, we didn't want to get our spinnaker wet in the rain!
The basin of water connecting these smaller islands south of the large island of Fyn is extremely shallow. Our depth sounder barely went over 5 meters the whole day and it could be between 2.5 - 3 meters for extended periods. However the shallow water and the many islands created very flat seas and the sailing was superb. The forecast rain come in, but it wasn't very heavy and only came in short polite showers. All up it was a fantastic day of sailing and a great way to enter Denmark by boat.
The shallow water and lack of swell in the Baltic sea means that you can pretty much anchor anywhere in the lee of an island. We could have literally dropped anchor pretty much anywhere once we were in the shallows north of Aeroe island. However we wanted to get close to Svendborg and this anchorage is very nice in a small inlet which is surrounded by wooded land on all sides. We are anchored in very good holding in 3.5-meters. (So shallow!!).
We are going to have to get used to much shallower water than we are generally accustomed to. On 20nm sail across from Germany the depth sounder didn't record any depth over 20-meters - less than many anchorages in the south pacific! Sailing along in the shallow basin south of Fyn we would normally have to watch the time and the tides carefully to ensure we don't start bouncing on the bottom when the tide goes out. However, its possible to anchor and sail in incredibly shallow water due to the fact that the Baltic Sea doesn't really have any tides to speak of. This was quite a surprise when we learned this. I'm not exactly sure why this is the case, when the north sea (just 50 miles away) has quite large tides... it just seems to be a strange outcome of geography.
Im still quite nervous sailing in this shallow water though because if you touch the bottom theres no tide to lift you off. Normally, elsewhere in the world where there are tides we would only attempt such shallow passages on a rising tide so that if we get stuck then you only have to wait a few minutes and the water rises enough to get you off again. You dont have that luxury here in the Baltic.
After such a long journey from South Africa and being delayed in the Netherlands, it was incredibly satisfying to finally raise the Danneborg and sail into Danish waters.
Penelope Quin: What great news about the baby on the way! Delighted for you both. When is the due date? Where will you be then? Sept. 7, 2016, 11:25 p.m.
Add a commentBerthed at Wendtorf Marina
| Date: | Sept. 3, 2016, 2:15 p.m. |
| Position: | 54 25.23 N, 10 17.00 E |
We are in the Baltic Sea!! How awesome is that!? We are in a marina now only 22 miles from Danish soil (the southernmost point of the island of Langeland) and only about 10 miles from Danish water. We could be there in about 3-4 hours if we wanted, which is totally awesome.
However, we stopped at the German marina of Wendtorf today in order to pay a visit to a cruiser-friend who we met in the Azores. Kai had just finished sailing around the world in his 38-foot (or so) steel boat called "Phaleron" and he gave us lots of great information on cruising Germany and the Kiel Canal. So we're catching up with him for a beer this afternoon and maybe dinner tonight.
The Kiel canal was a very pleasant experience as we mentioned before. We were thinking towards the end that in another few weeks it would be totally spectacular when the tree-lined canal starts to get some Autumn color in its leaves. A few of the trees were starting to get color but it was still heavily green. The medieval town of Rendsburg is charming and the (free) anchoring and stopping-places along the way are all quite scenic.
Entering the Baltic Sea at the Kiel Fiord is totally not what we expected. You come out of the canal into what can only be described as like a "mini Sydney harbor". Its beautiful and extremely quaint. We might have been biased because it was a weekend and very pleasant weather - however it was glorious coming out of the canal and seeing all the yachts sailing around the Kiel inlet. There are beach houses, and resorts all along its length and even lots of kitesurfers were out off a nice shallow sandbank which is perfect for learning. For today at least, its definitely not like the image that you get of the cold, weather-beaten Baltic sea when growing-up in Australia.
Actually, having watched the weather for this region for a while now, this part of the southern Baltic is actually quite well sheltered waters. When you watch a large Atlantic storm to come poor Ireland and the UK cop the brunt of it and take a lot of energy out of the storms. The weather then continues on across the North Sea and the Danish Jutland Peninsula takes even more energy out of the storm. So for example, this weekend there is a large low-pressure system in the North Sea with about 25-knots on the Gribs (which would not be very nice to be in) however on this side of the Jutland peninsula the wind is reduced down to around 15 knots on the Gribs (which is quite pleasant sailing conditions). Actually, it is that same weather system that we might use to sail up to Denmark tomorrow - it will be raining like crazy and probably cold and miserable weather - but the wind is forecast to be about right.
The water temperature at this time of the year is not too cold and our depth-sounder is recording a temperature of 20.4 degrees Celsius (it was a balmy 23 degrees in the Markermeer, Isjelmeer and North Sea).
I will caveat everything I said above though with one statement: "Winter is coming"... and I'm well aware that this can change everything dramatically. But for now at least, it is rather pleasant up here. Its definitely nothing like the "Furious Fifties" would be in the equivalent Southern Latitudes.
For other cruisers interest, this is the first marina we are staying at since we left Amsterdam. If you were cruising up from the English Channel it actually is possible to do almost the entire distance (even through the Dutch canals) without having to pay for a marina at all. There are lots of free anchorages in Zeeland (southern Netherlands), as well as free day-parking and free "overnachten" places where you can tie up along the canals (usually they are the waiting-pontoons for locks which you can use to stay overnight if you miss the last lock). You can then anchor in the Isjelmeer and Markermeer if you want, or anchor off the Dutch Frisian Islands like we did at Vleiland. From Vlieland we got a good run through and could enter the canal where there are 5 free places to stay (either to a wall or anchoring) every 10 miles or so along its 50 mile length. Even here in Kiel we could have anchored pretty much anywhere along the bank of the inlet. The tree-lined sides of the inlet provide good protection, and even if the wind swing overnight there is not really enough fetch to kick up a bad sea in the Kiel inlet so long as the wind is not ridiculously strong.
For those that are interested we posted a log entry from yesterday, but we didn't email it out to everyone or share it on Facebook because it was a slow-day where we just did some shopping and covered 20 miles or so in the Kiel Canal. For those that are interested you can read about it on the website before this log entry.
Anchored at Flemhuder See (Kiel Canal)
| Date: | Sept. 2, 2016, 10 a.m. |
| Position: | 54 20.34 N, 9 57.84 E |
| Track to here: | Download |
While we could have easily completed the canal today and actually made it to Denmark, we had a bit of a "day off" instead and just did 23 miles through the Kiel Canal to another free anchoring location via the medieval town of Rendsburg.
Rendsburg yacht club is right in front of the beautiful medieval town and its free to tie up to a berth for just the day (as seems to be the case in a lot of German marinas). There is an Aldi and a fantastic supermarket called "Edeka" right next to the Aldi only a short walk from the marina.
We stopped for 5 hours from 1100 through to 1600 which was sufficient time to have a walk around the charming (crooked) town streets and look at the even more wonky ancient buildings. We also did 2 trips to the supermarket to stock up on pantry-items which may be slightly cheaper in Germany and/or easier to get while there was a super-accessible Aldi. However, as I've discussed before, most things are quite reasonably priced in Denmark so we didn't have to go crazy.
After Rendsburg it is only another hour or so to motor down to the anchorage in a side-lake off the canal called the "Flemhuder See" (for the Aussies: "see" is German for lake).
As it was a Friday afternoon and quite good weather we had several other boats in the anchorage (6 in total). There was still plenty of space and you could have double that without too many issues. We did have a little bit of a giggle at the local anchoring techniques though.
We have mentioned before how anchoring in northern Europe is not really the done thing. We have actually been told by locals that there are some local boats that sail the Baltic without even carrying an anchor!! We observed something along those lines when 3 small day-sailors around 30-feet long came into the anchorage. Only one of them seemed to have an anchor which they drew out of a locker somewhere and then attached to a reel of nylon webbing on the back which is normally used for a jackline or man-overboard retrieval. They attached their anchor to it and then ran it to the bow and cleated it off. That alone was quite interesting... but then the other 2 boats who didn't seem to have an anchor at all (or couldn't be bothered getting theirs out) rafted either side of the nylon-strap-anchored boat. So all three boats with the equivalent windage of say a Lagoon 410 catamaran were hanging from a tiny anchor with only some nylon webbing between them and drifting into a major shipping canal during the night.
Docked at Gieselau Canal Lock
| Date: | Sept. 1, 2016, 7:53 p.m. |
| Position: | 54 10.94 N, 9 26.44 E |
| Track to here: | Download |
The calmer-than-forecast conditions continued throughout all of last night. As this forced us to motor we ended up at the mouth of the Elbe River several hours ahead of schedule (because we motor at 6-knots as opposed to the estimated average of around 5-knots which I expected for that forecast). This meant that we would have arrived on an ebbing-tide and in the dark, exactly what we were trying to avoid.
So we turned the engine off when we were 10 miles away from the Elbe River and just drifted or tried to sail with the headsail-only when there was enough wind to keep the sails full. We plodded along the second half of the night like this making between 1-2 knots. This put us right at our waypoint at the mouth of the Elbe River exactly on schedule.
Approaching the Elbe is not what I expected it to be like. On the charts it looks like land all around, but its actually a very extensive tidal mudflat which surrounds you. So you start coming into the river from 20-miles out at sea and you can't see any land except some mudflats at low-tide. Its actually quite similar to the tidal areas and estuaries that you get around Darwin in Australia. Coming in that final 20-miles to Cuxhaven in a strong wind with wind-against-tide would, I imagine, feel like the longest 20-miles of your life. Fortunately for us though it was completely flat and glassy, so it was a rather pedestrian experience motoring in.
The only slight hiccup was that the Navionics tide and current data seemed to be a bit off. I found this hard to believe because its just a major river I thought it couldn't possibly be wrong. Never the less, we were coming up the river on a flooding tide but had a strong ebbing current against us for several hours longer than expected. The Navionics tide data indicated that the current should have turned at 0800, but it was about 2 or 3 hours later at 1030 or so that it actually turned. I couldn't figure out what was happening because the extent of the drying-mudflats clearly indicated that we arrived at dead-low and the tide was rising, yet we continued to have strong ebbing tide for much longer than the guides indicated. The tides matched better with the Reeds Nautical Almanac, but even that was 1 or 2 hours off.
In any case, we pushed through the 2-3 knot tide under motor and occasionally motor-sailing when the light breeze was at a good angle. We made good time that way and, once the tide turned, we were flying up the river at 8-9 knots. We made it to Brunsbuttel at 1230 and had about an hour of mulling around while we waited for a larger barge to organise themselves to come through the lock with us.
The lock did not go quite a smoothly as we have come to expect from the Dutch locks/bridges (where you normally go straight through with only a few minutes waiting or mulling around) - but we might have got unlucky today with a particularly slow commercial barge sharing our lock. However, on top of this, there is no "waiting area" for pleasure yachts in the inner harbour of the lock so we had to mull around out the front of the lock in the river area fully exposed to the 2-3 knot current and the wind, which I imagine could funnel down the river creating an impressive sea given the right (or wrong) conditions - again not really an issue for us today.
We finally made it through the lock at 1300 and comfortably made it the 20 miles or so up to the (free) docks along the Gieslelau Canal locks. Moving through the Kiel canal after dark is forbidden for pleasure yachts, so we have to rest up here and move again tomorrow the remaining 30 miles to Holtenau-Kiel.
The canal itself is quite spectacular. Its much wider and straighter than the ones we saw in the Netherlands, as this canal is designed to accommodate much larger sea-going ships between the Baltic and North Sea. The canal is tree-lined all the way and we waved at people cycling or walking all the way along. The many bridges that you pass under area each different and quite breathtaking feats of engineering. All unique experiences for us coming from Australia and we were happy to just be coasting down the canal under motor absorbing the experience.
Absurdly glassy North Sea
| Date: | Aug. 31, 2016, 12:55 p.m. |
| Position: | 53 44.66 N, 7 4.86 E |
| Speed over Ground: | 8.0 |
| Heading (True): | 79.0 |
| Wind Speed (kts): | 0.0 |
| Wind Direction (True): | 0.0 |
| Sea state: | Glassy |
| Swell (m): | 0.0 |
| Track to here: | Download |
It's so calm. The forecasted 13 knots of wind was not even close to the mark and every time we check the forecast it keeps getting revised down to less wind.
We are currently motoring along in dead flat glass. It was a splendidly warm sunny day, we managed to motor-sail this morning, making good progress with the current assisting us. Many Dutch and German sailing boats were out enjoying the day. By lunchtime we could not keep the sails full and had to conceed to motoring. Unfortunately the challenges of the very strong tidal Elbe river, where we enter the Kiel canal, mean that we have a strict schedule. This is further complicated by the suprising lack of good anchorages before the entrance, wher we could wait for the right tide. Later in the afternoon we were ahead of schedule enough to give the spinnaker a go. It was slow but lovely until the predicted wind shift finally turned up, except that instead of the forecast increase it glassed off even further!
While we and especially the Azorian Stowaway, are greatful for the comfortable conditions, it would be nice to actually sail for a bit. The forecast has been downgraded overnight but we still hold out hope for a nice sailing breeze. As the sun sets we are passing Juist Island in German waters. We are sailing along the 10m contour as advised by local friends. Apparently in these shallow waters strange things can happen further in, but it is a little hard to imagine right now.
Gumbo Rich: Totally brill u guys r off again :-) P.s. Your map has gone crazy! Aug. 31, 2016, 11:45 p.m.
Add a commentAt anchor off Vlieland Island
| Date: | Aug. 30, 2016, 8:33 p.m. |
| Position: | 53 17.58 N, 5 5.39 E |
| Track to here: | Download |
Due to the tides and the timing of this passage we worked out that we would be arriving at the Elbe River in the middle of the night tomorrow night. I would prefer to arrive at one of the heaviest trafficked rivers in the world during daylight hours. Also the Elbe has a reputation for bad wind-against-tide creating rough seas which would be good to navigate during daylight hours.
So we decided to drop anchor off Vlieland Island to wait 12-hours for a tide cycle. We'll continue tomorrow morning which will have us arriving at the Elbe River on a flood tide on Thursday morning during daylight hours. The distance from here to the start of the Elbe River is exactly 120 miles so we should be able to cover that distance in 24-hours easily.
On top of that, there is very little wind currently and waiting for 12-hours looks like it might bring slightly better sailing conditions.
A new nose, farewell Muiderzand
| Date: | Aug. 30, 2016, 5:51 a.m. |
| Position: | 52 35.32 N, 5 13.76 E |
| Speed over Ground: | 4.0 |
| Heading (True): | 20.0 |
| Wind Speed (kts): | 7.0 |
| Wind Direction (True): | 200.0 |
| Sea state: | Slight |
| Swell (m): | 0.0 |
| Track to here: | Download |
It's hard to believe but the boat is finally back together again, with its beautiful new bowsprit. Just in time for a good looking weather window which might be enough to get us to Germany. We are rushing a tad to get going as the long range forecast shows it to be the last good opportunity for a while.
We pushed off from Muiderzand this morning at 0800 and motored for the first couple of hours through a very flat Markermeer. The wind has just picked up slightly to around 7 knots so we are running downwind with our spinnaker making 4 knots with an apparent wind of 1 to 3 knots. But because the sea (or actually lake) is so flat we are able to keep the sail full.
Perfect weather with barely a cloud in the sky. Warm and sunny with a light breeze from the SW. We are approaching Enkuizen which is the lock that will take us out of the Markermeer and into the Isjelmeer (the outer dyked man-made "lake"). Our plan is to go through the second lock at Buitenhaven (which takes us out of the Isjelmeer) this afternoon and then catch the falling tide to take us straight out into the North Sea west of the island of Terschelling. From there it should be about a 30 hour run down to the Elbe river where the Kiel canal starts. Hoping to arrive at the Elbe at sunrise on Thursday morning.
This comes at the expense of us completing the Standing Mast route through the North of Holland which is an area we desperately wanted to see. Its a bit of a shame but with the seasonal clock ticking (winter is coming), we have to take any good weather we can at this stage. We hope to be back in Holland at some stage in the future to complete that section of the canal route.
We will post a separate back-dated log entry to fill you in on what we have been up to in Muiderzand over the past few weeks.
Winter is coming...
| Date: | Aug. 16, 2016, 7:14 a.m. |
We're now back on the boat in Muiderzand Marina, near Amsterdam. When we came back last week they had removed the bowsprit, forestay and bobstay. The scratches on the hull are faired over so its just the work on the bowsprit area remaining. The stainless steel guy is due to start working on that next week (the 22nd of August) and hopefully have a new bowsprit manufactured by the end of the week. We then have the rigger coming down to install a new forestay, bobstay and possibly furler. So all going well we might ready to go and knock off the final 300 miles to Copenhagen by early September.
The miles we've covered and the experiences we've had over the past 12-months still feel quite surreal. We have to remind ourselves that we left New Zealand less than 18 months ago, and we actually departed Broome 12-months ago almost to the day. Departing New Zealand feels like it was a completely different life, even sailing from Broome and the Indian Ocean feels like an eternity ago. For 18 months we had basically been in "passage mode" having to sail roughly 50% of our time. So for every 2 weeks we had on land, we were sailing in the sea for another 2 weeks. For the past 3 years now we have basically been either moving, preparing to move, or fixing the boat to keep moving...
While we were in Copenhagen the reality of covering that many miles in such a short time finally caught up with us. We had some time to actually just stop. I think our minds and bodies just literally collapsed and we both we able to catch up on some much needed rest. We had a couple of days where we just flopped, subscribed to HBO online and binge-watched the complete latest season of "Game of Thrones". We now feel like we're settling into a more "normal" land-based rhythm again and we have the luxury of time to focus on other things than just keeping the boat moving.
As we've mentioned before, the boat is also looking like it needs a good rest. When we left New Zealand, knowing we were doing a lot of miles to get to South Africa, we made an intentional plan to only focus on boat-work which was critical to getting there. That is: rigging, engine, sails, water maker, navigation systems, plumbing and other such critical systems. Anything cosmetic or superficial we would just let it go and deal with it when we had time again. So the boat was looking a bit tired from 10,000 miles when we got to South Africa...
Then we got this Danish visa opportunity so we had to push on for ANOTHER 8,000 miles or so with the same strategy. The boat looks very salty and tired now, but fortunately its just cosmetic work. The teak has gone all grey and anything varnished on the outside has basically all flaked off. The hull is completely unpolished and has stains where our bow-wave allowed barnacles to grow above the waterline. And the stainless steel is quite dull and unpolished.
The good thing is that it's only cosmetic and a light sand of the teak or a polish of the hull brings them back to their origial luster. Now that we have the luxury of time we're able to focus attention to getting the boat looking good again. We're slowly working away on re-varnishing and polishing the exterior. Actually, letting the boat go so far has perversely made the job easier because there's basically no varnish left and anything that is left comes off easily with a sander or scraper. So little jobs like that have been taking up most of our time.
Cat's also had to take a trip to the doctor and organise ulta-sounds because it turns out that she's pregnant. So that's another upcoming challenge to throw into the mix. Due end of February (we think)... a bit hard to tell as her very light symptoms were masked by sailing and general exhaustion from covering so many miles. The health professionals think its rather amusing we were 11 weeks along before we got confirmation of it. But its all looking good so far.
Anyway, the only major time-critical boat job we have at the moment is getting prepared for winter. As they say in the famous TV series, "Winter is coming". So I've been focusing on designing and planning what we are going to do with regards to insulation and heating. We've bought a HUGE roll of bubble-wrap foil which we are going to use, along with polycarbonate sheeting, to insulate and double-glaze our wheelhouse and around the hatches (where we lose most of our heat).
We nearly threw away our old Eberspacher heater years ago because it didn't work and was just taking up space in the engine room. However, before throwing it away this time I thought I would have one last look to see if any part of it was useful or salvageable. Much to my surprise after a few hours of fiddling with it, it came back to life!! Incredible. I only wish now that I had have fiddled with it before we went to South Island New Zealand...
That must have been the most abused and neglected marine heater in the world... literally. I can't imagine anyone would would have abused it like we did. Because we thought it was broken we didn't care when salt-water got into it when we got knocked-down at sea. We just left it sitting there with salt in it. Anyway, the fact that it has come back to life is a miracle of engineering.
The Eberspacher seems to be working well enough for now so I'm focusing instead on installing a Danish "Refleks" heater. This is the heater that I would prefer to use mostly because it doesn't use any electric power or fan and will create a more cosy radiant warmth around our cabin. But it takes up a lot of space in the boat and requires a hole for the chimney to be cut through the deck. So there's a bit of design work required to make it fit somewhere. I'm hoping we can make it work and then I'll pick up the parts when we sail past their offices on the way to Copenhagen.
Annie Merton: Congratulations to you both, another new adventure approaching. Whilst making way for your new heater Mark, you will have to make way for a crib/cot and a toy box etc. Great news, love your blogs and hope all goes well with the repairs. To you Cath we both wish you all the very best in health in the forthcoming months. I've got some great baby patterns. Take care love to all three. xxxxxxx Aug. 16, 2016, 10:02 p.m.
Pete, Kelsey, & Taz: Wonderful news Mark & Cat! Sounds like perfect timing, too. The best adventures are yet to come. Time to string up the lifeline netting all-around! Aug. 17, 2016, 12:34 p.m.
Add a commentLearning to survive in Denmark
| Date: | Aug. 3, 2016, 9:27 a.m. |
One thing we find people often misunderstand about cruising is that they think we are constantly on holiday, always relaxing on white sandy beaches with a Margarita in hand. The reality is that if we lived like we are always on holiday, eating out and drinking like every day is a party, then we would very quickly burn through our savings while our boat would degrade into a state of disrepair.
Part of the "adventure" of cruising is that you don't see a place as a tourist would on holiday. Our boat is our house and when we arrive somewhere we have to figure out how to live and adapt into the local environment like the locals do. We have to understand the local prices, pay what they pay for things, eat what they eat, shop where they shop, and adapt to the local lifestyle. Cat and I often say that it is like we come into a country "through the back door". We don't have the "buffer" of an airport shuttle to a pre-booked hotel room with a restaurant to soften our arrival in a place. Once we arrive somewhere, that's it, our house is there and we have to learn to live there.
This has been our mission for the past few weeks in Copenhagen. While we unfortunately were not here with Tuuletar, we have been going about our life and trying to settle into to Denmark exactly as we normally would if we had the boat here. In this log post I'll give an overview of what we've been up to and the things we've learned from a cruisers-perspective.
There is were general myths we had heard before coming here where people said stuff like "Denmark is expensive" or "Taxes are high". I really dislike massive generalisations like this as they are often either outright wrong or misinformed. Its like when people would say "The Indian Ocean is rough". Well, yes, it has the strongest trade-winds of all the oceans and it can be rough at times, but we also had some of the best sailing across that ocean using very little fuel. Similarly, many cruisers skipped Reunion Island completely because there was a myth that it was "too expensive". Well actually Reunion remains the best and cheapest marina we've ever stayed at and the French wine, baguettes, cheese and canned confit duck were positively cheap. So what did we do? We just ate French cheese, bread, confit duck and drank Bordeaux wine instead of eating out. Problem solved (and it was awesome by the way). Reunion Island remains one of my favourite and more affordable places we've ever visited.
The point is that, yes, there are price differences between some countries, however our cruising lifestyle and the tricks that we have learned while sailing and passaging long distances across oceans also help us to manage these expenses. Buy things in bulk and freeze them to save costs. Stock up in bulk on cheaper items in a neighbouring country. If the price of beef is prohibitively expensive or unavailable somewhere, then eat more of the local produce: fish or pork... or even just go vegetarian. You're not going to sail out into remote Fijian islands for 3-4 months and expect to eat beef each day, so why would you expect to come to Denmark and eat exactly like you do in Australia? If eating out is expensive, don't eat out. You CAN continue to have BBQ's every day and eat meat like we do in Australia, but then it COULD be expensive for you. If there are no supermarkets then catch your own fish to reduce costs like we did in New Zealand South Island and Fiji. You have to adjust your lifestyle to suit your environment.
So in answer to the questions above: Is Denmark expensive? It can be, but there are also lots of things that are cheaper than elsewhere (read on below). Are Taxes High? Not always. Actually, foreigners get to choose a 22% flat-tax rate for their first 2 years here. But look at what citizens (who pay a tax-rate comparable to the top tax bracket in Australia) get in return: A healthcare system which is actually covered by their taxes and works, and world-leading public infrastructure. While in Australia we still have to pay Private Health Insurance, Medicare Levies, etc. etc. etc. So yes, taxes might be high... but they have more to show for it than we do in Australia paying comparable tax rates. In short, their system works because they are smart and efficient in their use of the tax income.
To recap for those that may have missed our previous posts: we had a boat accident in the Netherlands (Gouda). The insurer of the boat that hit us has been quite cooperative and we went straight to a marina near Amsterdam to get the damage fixed by a shipwright there. Unfortunately the damage was quite extensive and requires us to get: a new bowsprit manufactured; new bobstay; forestay; bobstay chainplate; possibly new furler; as well as woodwork for the cracked teak wood; and fibreglass repair. Basically everything at the front of the boat needs replacing. However due to the extent of the damage, as well as it being summer holidays, the work could not be completed quickly. We had to get to Denmark to retrieve our working visas and residence permits otherwise we would have violated our 3-month tourist visa for the Schengen area and get kicked out of the EU and lose our Danish visas. Thus the 3rd party insurer agreed to pay for our flights and apartment-style accommodation (comparable to us having the boat) in Copenhagen for 3 weeks, which we estimated was the required time to complete the visa-paperwork process.
So we arrived in Copenhagen on a Sunday and had a little walk around that afternoon (as the sun stays up until 10pm at night at this time of the year). Firstly it has to be said: the city itself is absolutely beautiful and oozing with old-world fairytale-like charm. Its not at all hard to see where HC Andersen drew a lot of the inspiration for his work. Right next to our apartment block is a beautiful old church which plays a different tune when the bells ring every hour. A few days ago they had a carillion festival there so we were just about to hang-out in our apartment while the bell-maestros played popular tunes on the bells all afternoon. We were particularly tickled by their rendition of the "Game of Thrones" theme song which fit perfectly with the atmosphere of the place.
The apartment that we got was through AirBnB. An interesting thing about us sailing for the past 3-years in patchy-to-zero internet connectivity is that we've missed a few technologies which have been invented. For example, we totally missed Uber. We only learned about Uber when we turned up in South Africa as it is safer, easier, and more efficient than taxis there. A few other things we actually didn't mind missing were: a) we were not even aware of a general election in Australia as nobody chose to share that information with us during the months we were sailing from South Africa to the Azores; and b) the whole Pokemon Go fad recently (I still don't understand what it is and probably never will). At least we knew AirBnB existed, but we'd never seen the website let alone used it. It was a very easy process and it worked famously well.
We got a modest little (and I stress LITTLE) one-bedroom apartment right in the centre of the city near the Christianshavn canal. The location is very central, an easy walk to almost everywhere in the city and only 11-minute by metro from the airport! We chose this location because it is where we would have come with Tuuletar had we sailed into Copenhagen. The only difference is that its a bit of a down-grade from Tuuletar because we literally would have more space on our boat. Apartments in Copenhagen are TIIINY. Many of the old buildings also never had showers plumbed-in as they used to have communal shower or bath-houses, so the showers have been retro-fitted into what used to be basically a cupboard which contains the toilet. This means that most bathrooms are very similar to "boat-showers" where the shower is over the toilet and the whole "room" gets wet.
The price was reasonable for this time of year at around 100 euros per night. This is much less than a full-blown apartment-hotel with kitchenette would have been, but it is a lot more than renting under a standard rental agreement would normally be. But as we were coming for only 3 weeks it was impossible for us to rent a place under a standard rental contract for such as short time. The apartment owner normally rents the room out on the weekends for 2 weekends per month to help give her a little more income. She moves back out to her parents place during this time. She seemed quite happy when we said wanted it for 3 weeks because it was good income for her.
After our first night we got up first-thing Monday morning to head down to the "folksregister" to claim our residence permits. This was our first real taste of Danish efficiency. It was a take-a-ticket type waiting arrangement with free-form lounge furniture, free wifi and coffee while you waited. Are you serious? We felt like we were in some couture interior-design magazine. We have found this typical in a lot of places we go. It's not hard to see why the Danes have a world-leading design industry. Solutions are well-designed, efficient and because of this they probably cost about the same as an alternative implementation elsewhere. We are left thinking, why don't we do it this way in Australia? Of course, by providing nice furniture and free services while you wait there is the implication that users of the space will be sensible and not abuse their privileges: unfortunately this assumption may not work in other places around the world.
After a bit of a wait our number came up. We went to our desk, handed over our papers and within 10 minutes we were issued with our temporary residence permits and health-cards. That was it! It was an unbelievably smooth process. We would however have to wait for some paperwork to arrive in the mail in order to complete some parts of our registration online for online-services and banking etc. This is why we needed the 3 weeks to comfortably complete the whole process. So far our estimate has worked out well and we are just waiting on one final piece of mail to complete the process.
The man behind our desk was incredibly proficient in English which is another great thing about Denmark. Similar to the Netherlands, language is not really an issue. The man processing our visa-application had the most fantastic accent with almost perfect elocution, speaking the Queen's English like Geoffry Rush! Actually its kind of embarrassing for an Australian because the Danes seem to have such unbelievable proficiency in English they make you feel a bit stupid. What I find amazing is that its not JUST that they speak English well but they pick up the local colloquialisms, slang and turns-of-phrase from wherever they have been and incorporate it neatly into their style. As most Danes are also quite well-travelled their English comes across as more natural, multi-cultural and well-educated than the average Australian.
On that note, we thought we were being respectful at first when we would approach people and ask, "Do you speak English?". However it seems that we were almost offending people by asking the question. We found the same in the Netherlands. We would get this kind of abrupt response with a body-language that was almost indicating "Do you think I'm stupid or something? Of course now get on with it.". It made us feel a bit awkward both in the Netherlands and here in Denmark, not least because that same logic implied that WE were actually the stupid ones for not being able to even say basic phrases in their language. In any case, we've ended up reverting to a new tactic now which is just to make the assumption that they do speak English by asking: "Is English OK?". Its a subtle difference but we tend to find that that kicks off a conversation in a more relaxed way both in the Netherlands and here in Denmark.
NOTE: this does not work in all of Europe, do not try this approach in France.
After sorting out the residence permit, we set up bank-accounts which is required for a lot of payment-related and tax services in Denmark. This was equally as efficient and we had the paperwork for our residence permits and bank accounts done by lunch (more information needed to get mailed out to us to complete the process though).
I then needed to get a new mobile phone (if you recall, my old phone went for a swim in Darwin last year). And this is where we came across something which we still don't quite understand here in Denmark... the price of things. I'm not saying things are expensive, I just don't know how the price of things are worked out here. Some things are ridiculously expensive, but other things will be equally as ridiculously cheap. Sometimes the same or very similar items in two stores almost next to each other will be vastly different prices. Its almost like they are just using a random-number generator to come up with prices.
Fortunately in this case, mobile phones (of all things?!) are one of the ridiculously cheap items here in Denmark. Crazy cheap. I got a brand-new Huwai smartphone for $200 AUS with a 40GB per month plan with unlimited calls and sms and roaming throughout Europe for $40AUS per month. And they have consumer-protection laws so that mobile phone companies can't lock you into those silly 24-month contracts. The maximum contract duration is 6-months. It's totally awesome. Why they are so cheap here and why we can't have similar prices and competition rules in Australia I don't know?
But then we went to the supermarket to do some grocery shopping. Here's where things get really interesting. They have just turned the random-price generator up to 11 in the supermarkets. We had heard the generalisations before that "Denmark is expensive", or "Beef is expensive", but this is not necessarily true. However you do have to be careful to watch the prices and pay attention because prices for almost the same item can vary wildly both within one store and between two adjacent supermarkets. In general, we have found that if you are careful and buy things sensibly then the prices can be similar to Australia for food and wine.
For example, we were able to pick up a bottle of nice Nederburg (good South African wine) for $10AUS and we got 600g of marinated chicken thighs for $5 AUS (which is not unreasonable). We also got a marinated beef-flap for around $20AUS per kilogram which is not too bad a price. Denmark is famous for its pork and you can get local pork and bacon for pretty good prices, sometime between $10-20 per kilo. Salmon (which is one of our favourites) is cheaper than we would typically get in Australia at around $25 per kilo, and even the more common flat-fish is quite affordable at $15-20 per kilo. Vegetables vary based on where they come from (and I presume the season), but are generally not too expensive.
BUT (and this is a big but) you really have to watch the prices. In my experience, in most places around the world the laws of efficient-economy and arbitrage mean that large variation in prices for the same item don't really exist. I mean, if two stores close by are selling the same item at vastly different prices then nobody will buy from the higher-priced store, so they have to drop their price to be competitive with the lower priced store. This is how economics works. But for some reason Danish grocery stores are just not following this rule. We're constantly scratching our head wondering how one store can sell anything when a short walk away will be another store selling the same thing for a fraction of the price. But this not only happens between stores, but also between similar items in the SAME store. Are we missing something here... we just don't get it?!
So for example: It's most obvious when buying Beef. We all know that buying larger quantities of meat and cutting it down yourself is a bit cheaper. That's OK, its a good way to save money. But here in Denmark this approach can literally drop the price by HUGE amounts. I have seen smaller packaged cuts of nice steaks (like Porterhouse) in say 200-300g packages can be upwards of $100 AUS per kilo!! But then the same cut of meat in a 2-kilo vacuum-packed quantity, in the same store right next to the small packets, drops the price to be similar to Australian prices at say $30 per kilo. What is going on?! Don't people have freezers here? Or is cutting meat considered some ghastly task worth $70 per kilo? The same goes for fish although not quite as bad as the beef. Smaller packets of salmon might be upwards of $50 AUS per kilo, but you can get larger vacuum-packed filets which can be positively cheap at under $20 per kilo.
But then you also have to be careful WHERE you shop. Two stores, an easy walk away from each other, can have vastly different prices on the same item. You have to be careful. So a pretty standard rump-steak can literally be half the price at a nearby store, for no apparent reason. Same goes for many everyday commodity items from milk to bread.
Then there's some things which are randomly just REALLY expensive here. The most stand-out cost which is just insane is the price of sugary-drinks such as Coke and Fanta. We don't really care about this, of course we can live without sugary sweets. But seriously, if you are the type of person who likes sugary soda-drinks and you come here, then you need to take up a cheaper habit... I suggest cocaine or heroine as cheaper (and probably healthier) alternatives.
I did some background research on this and I think it might be related to a historical tax which the Danes have always had on sugary soda-drinks since the 1930's. I believe they abolished the tax recently but the prices must not have adjusted down (a bit like how fuel prices go up with the price of crude-oil and never go down again). And why would vendors adjust the price down when its just so darn profitable to sell bottles of Coke for $7 AUS per bottle! Eating out is expensive, but you can often find a kiosk selling a hamburger for $12-14 AUS, however be careful of the drink because that will be another $7-8 AUS. Ouch.
So going through all this in between doing paperwork and online-accounting for our residence permits; finding office-space for Mark to work; and marina-spaces for Tuuletar when we get here with her has been keeping us pretty busy. The marina fees here in the winter are another thing which is very affordable, but they are quite pricey in the summer. We haven't exactly locked down a place yet, but it seems like we should be able to get somewhere within either Christianshavn or Tuborghavn for the winter.
We're looking forward to getting back to Tuuletar on this Sunday to oversee the repair works. We remain hopeful that the work can be complete by early-September so that we can make it to Denmark in September before the winter weather really starts to set in in the North Sea.
Around Amsterdam & friendly skies to Copenhagen
| Date: | July 17, 2016, 12:32 p.m. |
The last few days in the Netherlands we have had a friend from NZ with us, unfortunately Mark & I were bound to the boat for the most part discussing the damage with various tradesmen. It was a great shame not to be able to tour the canals with him as planned but lovely to catch up nonetheless. We did take a quick train trip to check out Haarlem which is an incredibly picturesque place. Another day, he had fun travelling up to the historic VOC (Dutch East India Company) town of Hoorn. There he witnessed a 'cheese weighting' which as it turned out was a completely tourist driven event, to the point where they were carrying plastic cheese! Nevertheless he enjoyed it and we still hope to see it on the way out of the Netherlands.
On Saturday we were invited to a birthday party which we could not refuse. A fellow sailor we'd met in Darwin had been lent a rather posh canal barge for the day. So we met in the canals and spent a magical afternoon cruising around Amsterdam. The city was absolutely buzzing as it is the height of the summer break and the waterways were jam packed with people enjoying the day. With all that is going on we almost didn't go but are so glad we did, but unwinding in the great atmosphere with fun company was exactly what we needed.
On Sunday we flew out to Denmark, the airport was packed and Mark, who absolutely hates flying, was left wondering if the ordeal could be part of a punitive damages claim with insurance... Thankfully we are now in Copenhagen and hopefully we can get our temporary residents permit resolved efficiently so that we have one less thing to stress over.
So close... and yet so far
| Date: | July 15, 2016, 9:21 a.m. |
| Position: | 52 20.30 N, 5 7.85 E |
After a night in the Amsterdam marina with luxurious bathtubs that overlook the city, we are now accross the Markermeer at Muiderzand. Early indictions are that we will be here for a long time, at least until the end of August. A good yacht repairs base, this is where we have been directed to by the insurance company. Unfortuanately we have hit the height of summer holidays so the damage, which turns out to be as serious as we feared, cannot be quickly repaired due to tradesmen being away. The workmen have so far been extremely professional and the insurance company fairly pro-active. Nevertheless it is a huge inconvenience that also threatens our Danish visa due to time delays.
With just 300nm to go the boat is unsafe to sail and we must now fly to Denmark to resolve our temporary residence permits and return to the boat to oversee repairs in a few weeks. It is a very dissapointing outcome and admittedly we are both a bit 'flat'. It probably does not help that we have kept up quite a pace since arriving in Europe and so are still exhausted from crossing the Atlantic. The situation also delays our ability to get into the Danish working market which is another blow. We will try and do some winterizing projects that we planned to do in Denmark, simultaneously with repairs here so that we have less boatwork when we finally sail up there and can focus on job hunting and establishing the business.
Tied to Canal Wall in Amsterdam
| Date: | July 11, 2016, 9:12 a.m. |
| Position: | 52 23.23 N, 4 53.02 E |
| Track to here: | Download |
Last night was a uniquely Dutch experience: taking your boat through the center of Amsterdam in the middle of the night. Needless to say, we had butterflies in our stomachs with excitement.
The experience is quite magical. Amsterdam is a city probably seen best by night and the whole atmosphere is quite lively and electric. The colors of the navigation lights of the boats against the city lights is beautiful. Its fantastic to see the city change in front of your eyes as you pass each through each bridge and the architecture and attitude of the city changes distinctly as you are effectively passing the ring roads deeper into the heart of the beautiful and historic city.
In the not-so-distant past, there use to be a little old man who would ride alongside on his bicycle and manually open and close each bridge as the convoy approached. However, in the past few years the whole system has become centrally controlled and monitored with sophisticated camera surveillance. This didn't subtract from the experience at all though, and made the passage very smooth for us and the other 8 boats in our convoy from south-to-north. Heading in the north-to-south direction were many more boats. 18 in total.
The canal section is only about 3 miles long but it involves 1 lock and 14 opening bridges and takes about 2 hours if you have a clean run. The locals in our convoy who had done this several times informed us that the main bottleneck that determines when you start at either end is the major railway bridge which is at the northern (Amsterdam) end of the canal. Thus they said that going from South-to-North is better because you get started at about midnight to arrive at the final railway bridge at around 2 am. However, going from North-to-South you get started at about 1 or 2am and arrive at the other end around sunrise. Furthermore, this time of year, many more boats were going south rather than north due to the start of the holidays with many boats leaving the Amsterdam and Ijsselmeer area to head down to Zeeland.
The general procedure seems to be to pull up to the muster-points at either end sometime in the afternoon. We were rafted up with some other local boats in our convoy at Nieuwmeer by around 5-6pm. We then went and visited the lockmaster by foot to register with him that we want to do the Staande Mast canal route. The lockmaster noted our details and told us that they would notify us all on VHF channel 22 when they had negotiated a time for tonights opening with the railway management. At around 2320 we were notified that we were to prepare to go through at 2352. Everyone started throwing off their lines and mulling around the front of the lock at about 2345. For us the lock opened on time, but we have heard that they can sometimes have a last-minute change of plans and you have to be prepared to go earlier or later than the time advised.
You have to be comfortable with maintaining boat-control with very low speed. This is quite tricky because you don't have good steerage at low speeds. The bridges rarely open right on cue and you have to wait for the smaller boats at the back to come up close to the bridge before it will be opened. This often involves just motoring forward and reverse to maintain position in very close quarters with the other boats. Any amount of wind makes the job much more difficult. We had wind of about 20-knots at-sea, which gave about 10-15 knots in parts of the canal, this was tolerable as the surrounding buildings shield you from most of the wind. Boat do it in higher wind but maintaining position in some parts of the canal would get gradually more difficult. Similarly, the 9 boats in our convoy was a relatively comfortable amount, but I could imagine that with too many more then jostling to maintain position could get quite tricky. All boats kept their fenders down and you have to be prepared to fend-off boats if things go bad.
We were the largest boat in our convoy and we were the only boat with a long (full) keel. Thus we lay to the wind differently to the other boats and the increased windage of our hull didn't help matters. I was very grateful for our bow-thruster in this case as it allowed us to stay in-line with the other fin-keeled boats which could simply use forward and reverse to pivot around their keel. Our bow-thruster got a good workout, probably used more in that 2-hours than in the 3 years we've owned the boat.
The good thing is that you can pull over to the canal side almost anywhere in an emergency and just tie a line around either a bollard, streetlamp, bike-rack or anything which will hold you long enough to regain control. The wind mostly funnels down the length of the canal so you only need to get a single line loosely around something upwind of you and then you will hang nicely along the canal wall or designated "waiting areas" (called "Wachtplaats").
Fortunately, we had a good group of boats with seemingly quite experienced skippers who kept good spacing and boat control. There were no bumps and I don't think anyone even had to fend another boat off.
At the northern end there is a "free parking" area on the western side along the canal wall where you can tie BEFORE the last bridge. Don't go through the last bridge, turn your boat around in the canal and tie up facing southwards. The reason you have to face southwards is because if anyone comes and asks why you are parking there for the whole night you can just say that you were heading south but you "missed the convoy" and have to wait until the next night to go through. Voila... free parking. This seems to be a well-known tactic and every boat in our convoy tied along the wall like this. I doubt the authorities would ever question it.
We finished with a celebratory beer at 2am on another local boat (who provided us with great information and tips) and went to bed not long after. The next day most boats departed at about 10am to continue northwards, we left at about midday. We probably could have pushed the friendship and stayed on the wall for another night, but we didn't want to ruin the system for everyone else, so we headed over to Amsterdam Marina as Sixhaven Marina was full.
Waiting at Nieuwemeersluis for Night Convoy through Amsterdam
| Date: | July 10, 2016, noon |
| Position: | 52 20.16 N, 4 50.79 E |
| Track to here: | Download |
The "Nieuwemeer" is a lake about 3 miles south of Amsterdam central and the muster-point for all the boats which are taking the canal route through Amsterdam. Due to interference with the city traffic and also the rail-traffic, all the boats must meet at either end of this canal section at close to midnight. They then organize that all the boats go through in one convoy as they open all of the bridges in sequence.
We will forever associate Gouda with something other than cheese. Having sailed more than half way around the world and not sustaining any major damage, our terrific run came to an end in this beautiful town. We were discussing our daily route which would take us to the outskirts of Amsterdam when we heard a huge commotion among the boats berthed in the canal. The first of the bridges was opening and several boats were in the process of casting off to go through. I stepped outside to see what was going on whilst Mark went to finish cleaning his teeth. A huge steel charter barge, “Olympia 2" was stuck in reverse on full throttle, it was bearing rapidly down on a smaller steel charter boat, “Perfect Storm” who was berthed two in front of us. The 8 men on Olympia 2 were panicking and with their Herculean sized engine hit the Perfect Storm with enough force to snap their hefty dock lines like string. Both boats then sprung back onto a smaller charter steel boat called “Wammes” who were in the process of casting off and they whammed into us with enough force to send Mark flying back down the stairs he was ascending. It was horrific to watch as it all happened in slow motion but the forces involved were so large that there was simply nothing anyone could do to mitigate it. The irony of the boat names involved is not lost on us.
In a stroke of good luck however, Wammes, in the process of casting of their lines had removed our bowline, so both boats skewed out into the canal. Not only did this stop the knock on effect to all the other boats parked tightly behind us, including a beautiful historic timber barge, but it saved our hull. Our bowsprit is a write off and we were very fortunate that the mast did not come down and kill someone. The starboard stern corner hit the timber bumper on the wall with a sickening crunch but it seems to have held. We are badly scratched but otherwise OK and able to motor. There is no doubt in our minds that given the force of the collision, we would be homeless right now if our bowline had been on. It is incredible that no one got hurt, and that a poodle on one of the boats seemed to be the most traumatised.
The locals and officials were lovely and several came down to share their photos of the incident and see if there was anything they could do. We were pretty shaken, the damage appears repairable but our biggest problem is that this could jeopardise our ability to get to Denmark in time to arrange our visa. We may now have to consider land travel and accomodation at what will be the absolute height of the summer holidays. The owners of the charter boats including the offending one, turned up within an hour and were very certain about effecting immediate repairs for us, indeed the friendly and efficient Netherlands is probably one of the best places to deal with something like this so we are trying to stay positive.
Later we were talking to an Australian who owns a large steel barge here and dropped by after seeing our flag, he explained that the Olympia 2 was totally overpowered, as many such boats are here in order for them to ‘get out of trouble’ quickly if they get in the way of the gigantic commercial barges. In most parts of the world you would never dream of handing over an engine with that amount of power to a rent-a-boat crowd but then elsewhere there is greater separation of commercial and leisure vessels. After collecting ourselves and discussing options with insurance etc, we decided to press on toward Amsterdam. The wind was light and the rig secure enough to make the trip. We decided just to go as far as we could, yacht repairs are centred around the IJsselmeer just beyond Amsterdam so we might as well head there.
This days route had the highest number of bridges we would face, and with several only opening every few hours we never expected to make it through having started so late it the day (1pm). However, as we rounded the corner to exit Gouda and encounter the first bridge (which we thought we would miss), we saw a flotilla of waiting yachts. The closest one was called “Miracle” and we took it as a good omen, the bridge had been held a few extra minutes for a late train and from there on we followed Miracle right down to the outskirts of Amsterdam through 26 bridges to get to the Nieuwe Meer at 8pm. It was an incredibly beautiful run, full of pleasure boats only, passing villages, cafe strips and through the backyards of those who could afford canal access. Some of the high-end properties had amazing “canal driveways” complete with water garages for their boats and other floating toys, there were even “battle-axe” and duplex type properties with shared communal “canal driveways” into each property. We were very surprised to have such little wait time and as we had formed a little convoy with the other yachts, in several cases the bridges opened as we approached and we were able to pass through without even slowing down. The weather was glorious and the pleasant afternoon helped make up for the tragic events of the morning.
Penelope Quin: OMG! What a read! I think of all the miles of ocean you've traversed and then that happens! Thank goodness you got off so lightly. July 12, 2016, 7:41 a.m.
Paula: Im glad the Day did end better than it start. And im happy that i could give you guys are littele bit a better feeling after what happend. There are a lot of boats here every summer and the most are rent. But never have seen a thing like this. So that was really really really bad Luck for You guys July 13, 2016, 5:09 a.m.
Ken and Sharen Bradley: Hi Guys, Thanks for the correspondence we received. Glad to hear that the boat isn't too badly damaged after your mishap but such a shame this has happened after so much safe travel. Good luck with the repairs. Also lucky that neither of you were hurt in the "tap" :) Cheers July 17, 2016, 8:23 p.m.
Christine: Wow. Sounds scary. We are glad no one got hurt. Good luck with your Visa application. July 18, 2016, 4:53 p.m.
Julie Ballinger: Just caught up on your log, really sorry to read this one! Do hope all gets sorted to your satisfaction & in good time. Amazing you had gone all that way! Aug. 3, 2016, 3:40 p.m.
Add a commentTied to the side of a Canal in historic Gouda
| Date: | July 9, 2016, 8:43 p.m. |
| Position: | 52 0.56 N, 4 42.21 E |
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We had terrific fun in Rotterdam catching up with friends, wandering around the world famous Architecture, old and new, and sampling local delights. Some local friends even made us a huge welcome basket full of Dutch treats and the Dutch do really great treats! Mark and his sweet tooth are right at home.
With the clock on our visa ticking, we tore ourselves away this morning to travel a short way up to Gouda, of cheese fame. There were many other recreational boats out on this sunny Saturday but again we were very fortunate with bridge and lock openings so we got through in good time. We past many water side residences and saw many ingenious contraptions the Dutch have for dropping small watercraft into the Canals. We even saw a decent sized yacht hanging up on the edge of the wall. It was incredible to see water skiers coming off within meters of passing barges (albeit smaller ones, 50-80m long) without any sense of panic.
Now we are tied up along the edge of the canal in the beautiful historic village of Gouda. It is touristy as one would expect but very nice. The Saturday markets were just wrapping up when we wandered into town to meet an old exchange student friend of Cat's. After a really lovely evening we are glad to have made the extra effort to come right into town.
Berthed in City Marina Rotterdam
| Date: | July 7, 2016, 9 a.m. |
| Position: | 51 54.58 N, 4 29.93 E |
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Today we navigated the 25 miles (with only 3 opening bridges) from Willemstad to Rotterdam through what is officially the busiest section of canal waterway in the world. Another interesting and completely different experience from the past two days.
Today we were on the main arterial canal connecting Antwerp to Rotterdam, but this same artery also connects into other canals that go to pretty much everywhere in Europe from Germany to France even right down to Turkey! The amount of traffic is mind boggling and quite intimidating for "canal-newbies" like us. Up until now we've had a kind of "soft shoulder" to the canals where a shallower section is off to the side of the main canal that the barges take. The section we did today however starts to get too narrow for that and the port/starboard markers are on the banks and you are sharing the canal with very large and very heavy traffic.
The good thing is that it is not as bad as you imagine it to be like when you look at the charts and AIS before you go. Even in the narrowest section the barges would still remain up to 30-50 meters off the bank, so if you just stay very close to the side then they will comfortably get around you. The other good thing is that they move at almost the same speed as we do, typically about 8-9 knots, while we are doing 6-7 knots. So they come up behind you very slowly. Some of them go the same speed as you, so we motored alongside a barge for about an hour and you could have a conversation with the workers on deck. The very smooth water and lack of wind it makes quite easy to predict where you (and they) will go, so its nothing like encountering a 300 meter tanker in the open ocean where waves and wind throw you every which way. Here you can cut very close to the barges indeed. They only leave about 200 - 300 meter between them so you have to get comfortable passing within 50 meters or so of them.
The only thing that threw a spanner in the works for us was the opening-bridge at Dordrecht which only opens every 2-3 hours on the weekdays (every hour on weekends). I hadn't noticed that until we were departing this morning and we almost missed the bridge and would have had to wait 2 hours. Fortunately we managed to only just make it and went directly through. The two other bridges opened more frequently and/or on-demand when you contacted them on the radio.
At anchor near Willemstad
| Date: | July 6, 2016, noon |
| Position: | 51 42.13 N, 4 24.31 E |
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We departed Veera around midday today for the 35 mile passage through the Zeeland delta waterways. Across the 35 miles we only had three locks to negotiate today. The first lock took us out of the controlled water levels and back into the tidal Oosterschelde. the last two brought us back into controlled water levels so we now don't have to worry about tides or currents where we're anchored.
The ability to control the water levels the way the Dutch can is really a miracle of human ingenuity and cruising around non-tidal controlled waterways is a wonderful thing. You tie to a wall and that is it. Job done. No moving up or down and worrying about your dock lines throughout the night. Similarly, you can anchor anywhere where you are out of the channel (on the side of the channel markers) and you don't have to worry about tides or depth. What you see on the charts or your depth sounder is what you get.
The locks, although extremely large, were not a big deal at all. The locals just take it in their stride and sail right up to near the lock entrance, go through, and then set sails again on the other side. We lucked out again with green lights and very short wait times. Mostly being able to drift off and then just go straight in. We didn't need to make radio contact with any of the locks today.
Today was completely different from yesterday. The Ooserschelde is a large expanse of water quite similar to the Broadwater Sound in Queensland. You can sail almost the entire 35 miles that we navigated today and we were constantly surrounded by lovely smaller "weekender" type sailing craft out enjoying the warm sunny day. There are also little camping grounds on the banks of the channel and on the marshy islands, so if you are sailing a smaller boat then you can pull your boat alongside the little docks they provide and just camp for the night.
The best experience would be to have sufficient time to simply sail from one point to another. Some days you might only make 3 miles beating into the wind, but you can always turn into one of the hundreds of marinas that are sprinkled around the water. Or anchor on the side of the channel. Many boats seemed to be cruising this way. Unfortunately, we are on too much of a time schedule to really make the most of this and cruise the waterways that way. We motored all of the day in the light winds, waving at the mostly Dutch and Belgian boats with the odd German one.
Every boat flies their flag proudly here. I found it interesting how in-tune the locals are with observing your nationality. Even young kids enjoying themselves in small dinghies would stop to check out the flag we were flying. I wondered if this was borne of their maritime history as an international trading hub. We were flying our large Australian flag, but they kept referring to us as New Zealanders. We might have to hoist the boxing kangaroo.
We got to Willemstad a bit late and the marina and town dock were all quite full. We pulled up to the marina reception dock but the harbourmaster had gone home. We probably could have just taken any berth that looked free and would have accomodated our size boat - but we just used the free 2-hours we get to stay on the reception dock and did a walk around town. We then went back the 1.5 miles to the lovely (and free) anchorage which is just north of the final lock in an almost perfectly formed bay. Good holding and not much traffic so it was very calm and peaceful.
Vlissingen, Middelburg and Veere
| Date: | July 5, 2016, 5:31 p.m. |
| Position: | 51 32.98 N, 3 40.07 E |
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Today was incredibly packed, it felt like a great achievement to traverse the most Southern Island of Zeeland and yet we only managed to cover 10nm! We left Breskens with the turn of the tide to tackle the 2nm stretch across the busy Westerschelde to Vlissingen. With high speed ferrys, cargo ships of all shapes and sizes and countless pilot boats this was a particularly hairy run. With a stiff breeze, we were trying to avoid the rough wind against tide conditions this waterway can produce but we were so busy ducking and weaving around ships we did not notice the sea state.
After mulling around for a while, we managed to hail the lock master on the radio soon after the traffic lights signalled us into a small lock to starboard of the big one and we quickly raised a few metres. With a string of bridges soon after the lock master had co-ordinated the timing on our behalf but warned us to hurry ahead as the bridges would be held for only a few minutes for us. We marvelled at how well organised and accommodating they were but all these great plans were foiled by a visit from the water police who wanted to get our details on file. They were very friendly and it was a quick, no fuss visit so we were soon on our way again. Fortunately we only had to wait 20 minutes for the next bridge opening. Our kind bridge operator was surprised to see an Australian boat and from there on she co-ordinated the openings so we had little, if any waiting time at each. Traffic increased in both directions as we approached Middelburg the capital of Zeeland in time for lunch.
There is 2 hour free mooring for visiting yachts right in the heart of this beautiful historic city. So. Awesome. It probably cost more to park your car. We made the most of it with a quick tour around before getting back on our way. It is quite surreal sailing through the suburbs and fields of the Netherlands. We don’t have too many canals in our neck of the woods so this was a first for us. Many people were cycling along the side of the canals and the Australian flag did get quite a few double takes and some friendly waves. The Dutch really are a great crowd. By mid afternoon we were pulling into the extremely quaint heart of Veere. A picture perfect, chocolate box village. It is a Tuesday afternoon and we managed to jag market day, so we had fun strolling amongst the stores with their vendors traditionally dressed. The delightful harbourmaster explained that we have timed our visit perfectly, just before the high season kicks in. Hopefully we can clear Amsterdam before the busy period arrives. We are literally right in the centre of this pretty town, poll position, it’s so lovely!
Some technical notes on the lock/bridge system:
Before each lock and/or bridge there is a waiting area where you can tie up. However with a relatively strong breeze blowing (force 6 out at sea - 15-20 knots in parts of the canal) it was a bit tricky to pull up alongside and then depart the waiting area smoothly. So we chose instead to just mull around out the front of each area. This was easy for us on a day like today when we were the only boat going in our direction however it might get tricky if you had more than 2 or 3 boats. On a calm day we would have just tied loosely to the waiting pontoon each time. The wait at each bridge was between 5-20 minutes and we would just motor around and drift in the calm water until the bridge or lock opened.
There's no clear procedure on if you need to contact each bridge/lock on VHF. Use your discretion. On the big lock at Vlissingen we thought it was prudent to still radio and ask permission to enter even though the light was green. After that they seem to be able to track you with video surveillance and they know exactly where you are. They can see you mulling out the front of a bridge and it will eventually open if you wait long enough. However we still radioed some of the bridges just to see how long they estimated the wait to be. They were very friendly and it seemed to be one person who is assigned to the whole canal section, so they came to know you after the first bridge.
The locks and bridges use a traffic light system. Red obviously means you can't enter (which is pretty obvious because normally the bridge or lock is closed). "Red and Green" mean that you should get in position and get ready to move in - normally you can start to see it open at this time. Interestingly, for the bridges you don't need to wait for it to go Green before you enter - the Dutch are very trusting in the judgement of people that use the canals and allow you to use your discretion to enter the bridge before it is fully open. The line we got told by the bridge operator on the radio was "if you think you can make it then just go, you don't have to wait for it to be fully green/open". The locks seem to be a bit different and you normally need to wait for them to open fully before you could get out anyway - but we still saw a little boat sneak through the gates while they were still opening.
The large lock at Vlissingen was our first and most daunting because that is the big one that takes you into the canal system where the water level is controlled. The Vlissingen lock is quite large and we went up nearly 3 meters. Its a bit of a nasty lock with oyster-covered walls and chains to tie to and the turbulence is quite severe. Stay near the center of the lock and get your lines around the chain and back to a loop around a cleat ready for some tension. Our fenders and the end of our dinghy on our davits hit the oyster-covered wall but no major damage was done.
Once you are through that big lock then you are in the interior waterway system where the water level is controlled. The water level does not vary much so the other locks seem to be much smaller ones. The other lock we had today coming in to Veere is just a service-lock which I have read is sometimes just left open. For us it was closed but we only dropped about 0.5 of a meter on that one so its not a big deal, we just held the lines by hand and barely noticed any movement or turbulence.
Berthed in Breskens Marina
| Date: | July 4, 2016, 7:30 a.m. |
| Position: | 51 23.78 N, 3 34.22 E |
| Track to here: | Download |
What a difference 24-hours can make. We've just had probably the best day-sail we're ever likely to have. A spinnaker run down the entire Belgian coastline just 100 meters off the beach. Aside from the fantastic conditions, it is the first time that we've seen the entire coastline of a country... AND we saw it all in one day. Actually we sailed the length of the Belgian coast in about 5 hours. Incredible.
We departed Boulogne on Sunday morning at 0800 with a little armada of cruising boats that were all departing at the same time to catch the tides around Cap Gris-Nez and Calais (where the tide rips at up to 3-knots). We sailed out of the breakwaters into a perfect 12-15 knot wind on the beam with flat seas. The wind stayed on our beam all the way around Cap Gris-Nez and Calais. With the 3-knot current-assistance we were making 8-9 knots and covered 50 miles by a bit after midday.
As we rounded Cap Gris-Nez our journey in the footsteps of Cook and the Endeavour came to an end. Conditions were clear and pleasant and we could clearly see the white cliffs of Dover in the distance 16 miles away and "The Downs" just to the east of Dover which is where the Endeavour dropped her anchor to complete one of the most important voyages of discovery for Australia and New Zealand's history. Keep in mind that the entire time since we departed St Helena (and while we were enjoying our time in Ascension, the Azores and Falmouth) the Endeavour had been at sea without stopping at all. More of his crew had died, they had been through storms and calms yet this entire time of the "return voyage" only accounts for the last 10 or so pages out of 450 which he logged - giving some indication of how insignificant this passage was compared to his other achievements. Cook completed his final log-entry in his usual understated style. Having logged 450 pages of entries including circumnavigating and charting almost the entire coastline of New Zealand and the east coast of Australia in incredible detail his final log entry stated simply:
"Sunday 13th July 1771: At 3 o'clock in the P.M. anchor'd in the Downs, and soon after I landed in order to repair to London."
Job done. Good work J.C.
As for us: The forecast was for the wind to die away around midday and I was concerned it would be a lot of motoring from then on. However fortunately that section of coast seems to have a light sea-breeze effect (which I presume happens on a hot/sunny days only) so we ended up with a fantastic 12-15 knot wind from the NW blowing us along the Belgian coast. The seabreeze does not seem to have enough fetch to build up a sea, so we were cruising along in completely flat water. It was a bit light for our genoa at times, so we set our spinnaker and were gliding along at 7-8 knots waving at people on the beach! The skies were clear and it was warm and sunny. Pretty much a perfect day of sailing.
The strong currents, murky and tidal water along the Belgian coast actually reminded me very much of sailing off Darwin which also gets a similar light sea-breeze effect in the afternoons. The water stays smooth when the tide is with you but gets a small "popple" on the surface when its against, just like Darwin. Only much colder water. The Belgian coastline is more "beachy" and interspersed with sand-dunes than we expected. Parts of it (above the waterline) are not dissimilar to the West Australian coastline. However the large tides, cold and murky water and increased development along the coast are what set it apart.
Our descision to pull into Boulogne was the right call. It turned out that weather was upgraded to a force-8 gale warning at about the time we pulled in to Boulogne. I think the weather caught many people out, and that would explain why there were quite a few distress calls on the radio. As we entered Boulogne the waves were breaking high over the breakwaters which was a pretty impressive sight. It was rough and pretty windy but I wouldn't have thought it was a full gale. We were riding it out quite well. In any case, I'm very glad we weren't out there to see what a 35+ knot wind against a 3-knot current would look like. Plus, it was totally worth it to have a day of sailing like we had yesterday.
We arrived at Breskens after dark, the wind died with the setting sun to glassy calm and starry night. We were able to drop anchor at the edge of the channel out the front of the marina entrance until the morning (anchorage coordinates 51 24.0747 N, 003 34.4468 E). Its a good anchorage, good holding, but the tide rips hard and it may be very uncomfortable with any wind against the tide. The waterways are extremely busy, we have 170 AIS targets in a 10 mile radius from here. Even in this rather minor channel has impressively large ships and barges that come down it. I imagine it takes a bit of getting used to waking up in the middle of the night to the sound of a ships propellor cutting the water 50 meters from your head. This morning we entered the marina and took a berth at a sensible hour.
As we have come further along the coast we have seen more and more of the various countries' flags dropping away. Now we are really only seeing Germany, Belgian, Dutch and the Scandinavian flags. When we came in to Breskens the harbourmaster hoisted the Australian ensign on the flagstaff which was a lovely gesture. When we got a closer look we saw that it was an extremely faded flag and we wonder when was the last time it had been used.
The recommendation to come to Breskens as opposed to Vlissingen was from a lovely Dutch couple we met in Boulogne. The marina is much larger and more accomodating for our size cruising boat and we have easy access to a good chandlery where we can buy all the charts and pilotage information we need for the Dutch Canals. This has worked very well for us as we went straight in to the chandlery and now have everything we need to start navigating the canals tomorrow.
Our plan now is to head across to Vlissingen early tomorrow morning and enter the locks to start navigating the inland waterways through to Veere via Middlebourg. Our plan is to then head Willemstad the next day via the system of delta-canals of Zeeland. After that we should be able to get to Rotterdam or Gouda a day or two later. We hope that those times are realistic, however we may get held up with waiting for various locks and bridges. We'll have a better idea of how long it takes to navigate distances in the canals once we see how busy it is and what the waiting-times are like.
Berthed in Boulogne-Sur-Mer
| Date: | July 2, 2016, midnight |
| Position: | 50 43.51 N, 1 35.95 E |
The wind picked up more than forecast last night and the sea was quite rough even whilst the wind was with the tide. We became concerned that when the tide turned against the wind near Calais it might create dangerous seas so we pulled in to Boulogne. We contacted the Control Tower on Channel 12 and he was very helpful and directed us to the marina at the end of the harbor across opposite the fishing vessels.
I think a few people must have been caught out in the weather as we heard two Mayday calls and a Pan-Pan in the space of a few hours yesterday alone. This morning there are many search and rescue boats going out presumably to look for a man-overboard which may have been related to the second Mayday call we heard.
We're looking at the weather now and hopefully we'll have another chance to move on again soon. We're only 100 miles from Vlissingen now which we could almost do by sailing in daylight hours if we catch a favorable tide when we depart here.
Falmouth to the Netherlands: Day 2
| Date: | July 1, 2016, 10:30 a.m. |
| Position: | 50 17.08 N, 0 40.79 E |
| Speed over Ground: | 7.0 |
| Heading (True): | 60.0 |
| Wind Speed (kts): | 22.0 |
| Wind Direction (True): | 250.0 |
| Sea state: | Moderate |
| Swell (m): | 0.5 |
| Track to here: | Download |
Overcast and squally conditions with light rain all of last night and today. We crossed the shipping lanes to the French (southern) side early this morning as planned. Visibility was not great in the light rain getting down to 2 miles at times. We were using our AIS and Radar quite heavily but the small amount of visibility still gave us sufficient time to maneuver around some of the ships.
The trick we were told from some Dutch friends is not to get freaked out when you zoom out on your chartplotter and see hundreds of ships with seemingly no way to get through. You just have to pick out a single ship and head straight for it, pass behind its transom, and that generally gives you enough room to get across before the next ship comes. We managed to get across without an issue and the large area between the shipping lanes and the French coast is quite sparse of traffic so we breathed a sign of relief once we were on this side.
Tonight we have more tricky navigation unfortunately where we have to negotiate the narrow space between the shipping lane and the coast of Calais where our navigable area gets down to just 2.5 miles off Cap Gris-Nez. There is a strong wind warning, and to make matters worse the tide is quite strong around that area and will probably turn against us when we are passing through. I'm hoping that we can sneak through closer to Calais on the slack water, but once it turns against us we won't be making much progress against the 3 knot current. If it all starts looking too messy our backup plan is to pull in to Boulogne or Calais, but we're hoping to be able to sail through the tide-cycle and get a good final run along the Belgian coast to be in Vlissingen by tomorrow night.
Falmouth to the Netherlands: Day 1
| Date: | June 30, 2016, 9 a.m. |
| Position: | 50 14.97 N, 3 1.03 W |
| Speed over Ground: | 6.5 |
| Heading (True): | 80.0 |
| Wind Speed (kts): | 18.0 |
| Wind Direction (True): | 250.0 |
| Sea state: | Moderate |
| Swell (m): | 0.5 |
We weighed anchor at 4am local time (0300utc) this morning and got going about 1-hour before sunrise. Conditions were very light in the morning so we had to motor the first 5-6 hours out of port. The wind came up around midday to a moderate breeze of 15-20 knots, just in time for us to catch a favorable tide around Start Point.
Fog and rain in the morning, clear skies and pleasant weather around midday, overcast this afternoon. The wind has been quite steady though and the sailing conditions are good. We've had a great run since this morning covering nearly 80 miles in 12-hours. We're now south of Lyme Bay but unfortunately the tide will turn against us for the next few hours so that should slow us down.
The plan at this stage is to stay on the northern side of the shipping lane for most of tonight. We'll make a turn and start heading SE across the shipping lanes very early in the morning to hopefully cross the majority of the traffic during daylight hours. Hopefully by this time tomorrow we'll be on the French side of the shipping lanes north of Dieppe.
Ales, Pasties and defeat at the hands of Vikings
| Date: | June 28, 2016, 1:19 p.m. |
It has been a fascinating time to arrive in England. With the results of the Brexit vote being announced the day we turned up, we’ve had many interesting conversations with the locals about it. The English approach the issue with their usual stoicism and dry humour but there is no doubt that the population is stunned at the result regardless of which way they voted. While the apprehension for the unknown path ahead is present everywhere, the peoples fury and hysteria has been reserved for the English football team who have been knocked out by Iceland! Go little Iceland - all the way Euro 2016!
The last couple of days have been packed with a mix of chores, sightseeing and relaxing which we have very much enjoyed. With no border protection forces based down here checking in was a challenge. So few boats from outside the EU make it to the UK that there is no clear system to deal with us. The government website instructs us to phone border forces before making landfall… on a phone number that can only be called from a UK phone/sim card. Good planning UK. Luckily for us a Swedish boat we sailed in with had a UK crew member onboard who kindly phoned them on our behalf. We were able to sort out the rest via email and three days later I chanced across a pair of Boarder Force officers at the pier who were looking for us in order to stamp our passports. The pair where of impressive physical structure, the type you’d not want to run into a dark alley, rendered comical by the fact that they were carrying dainty porcelain cups of tea. They were very relaxed about the whole affair and very helpful pointing out the best pasties and pubs.
Arriving on the weekend in the absolute peak of high season the anchorage next to town and the marinas were packed. Furthermore we did not want to risk a lot of manoeuvring among the crowd of boats with our engine misbehaving so we anchored on the edge of the channel out of the way with a couple of other boats. This turned out to be a rather fortunate turn of events when we discovered how expensive it is to ANCHOR, not to mention berth in this part of England. Truly, they have ensured yachting could only be a pastime for the upper classes here, how wealthy they must think we are. So for the cost of a slightly longer dinghy ride and a little less protection, we are in the most comfortable spot we’ve been since we were in a South African Lagoon. For a couple of pounds you can leave your tender at the Marina and have access to their facilities.
We enjoyed a nice wander about the pretty old town, packed with people on a summer getaway often with their pedigree pooch in tow. Every second shop sold Cornish Pasties and it began to dawn on us that we must be in the Cornwall region. English geography is clearly not our strong point and with no intention to stop here, we’d done no research. Along with real Cornish Pasties, Mark did, finally, get his pint of English Ale. (I have been hearing about this for 27,000nm, especially after Saint Helena failed to produce a draught brew.) He was very happy to enjoy a local drop. The barman had when requested pointed out two options: “Well this one is produced a few miles away so I guess that one is kind of local or there’s this other one, it’s only a 20 minute walk away so I suppose thats fairly local too...”
On Monday we took a scenic dinghy ride up the Penryn River to the town of the same name in search of Oil Filters. A more real and industrial place than uber-touristy Falmouth, it was still incredibly quaint and we found several Auto and Marine shops right next to a little dock where we could leave the dinghy for a short time. At the local fishmonger we found many really weird looking fish, and using the same method we employ when trying to pick out the best French cheese, we selected the ugliest for dinner. The fish monger seemed to approve of our choice so hopefully that is a good sign. Soon after Mark had established that the GUD oil filters we purchased in South Africa were indeed the problem. We were definitely using the recommended model so it must have been defective, hopefully there is no lasting damage.
We’ve also managed to get the Navigation lights working, check out some of the local sights in the good weather and do some relaxing in front of the 184 free to air TV channels we can get on the boat during the poor weather. With the clock ticking we are trying to stay in ‘passage mode,’ keeping ourselves ready to depart at any time and in the rhythm of overnight passaging. We are just a few more overnighters away from being able to day sail only and we are really looking forward to that. It was a hard decision to stop here when we could have enjoyed abnormally calm and relaxing conditions down the English Channel if we’d kept going but it feels good to have the engine and lights going again. The fierce weather of the English channel seems to have kicked back into its regular routine but there may be a small opportunity for us in the coming days. Our only regret is that we could not hop down to see friends who live further down the coast but we will definitely be back here.
Scott Fleming: Congratulations on your arrival in the UK! You both should be very proud of yourselves! Great job! Scott and Sonja, Singita June 29, 2016, 12:14 p.m.
Add a commentAt anchor in Falmouth
| Date: | June 25, 2016, noon |
| Position: | 50 9.56 N, 5 3.35 W |
| Wind Speed (kts): | 10.0 |
| Wind Direction (True): | 300.0 |
A pint of English ale after all...
When we have turned on the engine for maneuvering the last couple of days the oil pressure has been low, causing concern. So after much agonizing about missing the last of this amazing weather run we've been experiencing, (and pulling out of our race with Dutch boat "Deesse" with whom we have been neck and neck with since departing the Azores together) we decided to pull into Falmouth. While it is a little disappointing not to continue, it will be a lot less stressful to know we have the engine fully working to maneuver in the traffic of the English Channel. To add to this, our Steaming Navigation lights (for when motoring) have mysteriously stopped working, we have a little hand held back up but we would really like to be as visible as possible whilst weaving in between tankers. Mark is further consoled by the fact that he will finally be able to enjoy a pint of good English Ale.
Perhaps it was our optimism of sailing all the way to Denmark on this weather run that jinxed us but it is hard to complain about the stunning run we've enjoyed through the North Atlantic. We'll hopefully get these two niggling issues resolved over the next few days and be back on our way by mid-week.
Azores to English Channel: Day 9
| Date: | June 24, 2016, noon |
| Position: | 49 22.47 N, 7 56.24 W |
| Speed over Ground: | 6.5 |
| Heading (True): | 90.0 |
| Wind Speed (kts): | 17.0 |
| Wind Direction (True): | 315.0 |
| Sea state: | Moderate |
| Swell (m): | 0.5 |
A slowish night last night with light-to-moderate winds, however it was from the West which allowed us to make some good Northing. This afternoon the wind picked up and swung more to the NW so we're making good speed on a broad-reach entering the English Channel. The sea is remarkably flat and moderate and we're making good speed in smooth conditions. We're now 60 miles SW of the Scilly Islands and should pass south of them tonight and be well into the Channel by tomorrow.
Although there are many places of interest to stop along the way, we always said we would go as far down the Channel as this weather windows would allow us. We never in our wildest imagination expected to be considering making it directly to the Kiel Canal in Northern Germany in one hit. Currently, the weather forecast keeps improving for giving us a downwind run that might take us through the Channel and across the North Sea all the way to Denmark by the end of next week. Although it is still a ways off and everything could quickly change. The advantage of this would be that we can go and get our Danish visa sorted out, and with deadlines ticking in the back of our minds it would be far more relaxing to have that resolved. We can always back-track later this summer to see some of the things that we might miss like the Dutch canals or even the English coast, but there's also great cruising around the Danish archipelago. We feel quite spoilt for choice really.
We'll make the call on whether to continue to the Kiel Canal once we are approaching Holland. At this stage we are still just focusing on heading for Flushing (Vlissingen) in southern Holland where the forecast looks like we might make arrival there by Tuesday or Wednesday next week.
Today was our first wedding anniversary. Cat has just finished knitting me a nice thick New Zealand merino wool jumper, in preparation for Danish winters. As is usually the case with major anniversaries Cat gets a "luxury cruise" (she always seems to have her birthday at sea). In this case, it really has been a luxury cruise through a very comfortable North Atlantic (so far).
Azores to English Channel: Day 8
| Date: | June 23, 2016, noon |
| Position: | 48 19.89 N, 10 50.30 W |
| Speed over Ground: | 5.5 |
| Heading (True): | 50.0 |
| Wind Speed (kts): | 14.0 |
| Wind Direction (True): | 270.0 |
| Sea state: | Slight-Moderate |
| Swell (m): | 0.5 |
Another calm slow day, we can't complain about how comfortable it is though. We motored for about 5-6 hours last night when conditions glassed off. We've been sailing slowly all day with between 10-14 knots of wind however we've been able to keep our speed up due to some current-assistance. Thus we've still managed 122 miles in the past 24-hours even though conditions have been very calm. We could have probably covered 150 miles if we had flown the spinnaker today however we were expecting conditions to pick up a little with the passing of a frontal system but that never seemed to happen so we plodded along slowly with our full main and genoa goosewinged.
We're starting to see some more ships on the AIS but its still not very busy. We're starting to feel like we're closing in on the land and we're pretty excited about that. Sighted a few more pilot whales today about 50 meters from the boat.
With the weather forecast looking good we're contemplating several options for making landfall much further up the Channel than Falmouth. Perhaps even making it all the way to Flushing in the Netherlands in one hit. If we stop further down the UK south coast near the Isle of Wight it would be on Monday or Tuesday. Or if we continue we should be able to reach Flushing by Thursday/Friday next week.
Azores to English Channel: Day 7
| Date: | June 22, 2016, noon |
| Position: | 47 11.40 N, 13 20.85 W |
| Speed over Ground: | 3.0 |
| Heading (True): | 60.0 |
| Wind Speed (kts): | 6.0 |
| Wind Direction (True): | 315.0 |
| Sea state: | Slight |
| Swell (m): | 0.5 |
A very relaxing day sailing along in more calm conditions. It's so calm that Cat and I ask each other why we're whispering when we say something. The boat isn't rocking or anything and it just feels like we're not moving. It's eerily quite and calm. The wind hovered between 7-9 knots all day from the NNW and we've been sailing along with everything up making about 4 knots on average. Clear skies and pleasant weather.
We're now 370 miles from Falmouth and should be able to cover that distance in about 72-hours or so. However the weather still looks favorable for continuing down the Channel so we may still continue on further. We'll make a decision on that over the next 24-48 hours.
We've resisted the urge to turn on the motor even though its been painfully slow progress. That said, we still made 117 miles in the past 24-hours from 6pm by taking advantage of every little gust up to 9 knots. Now around sunset the wind is fading a bit and the sea is going glassy but we're still scratching out 3 knots or so of speed.
Not much happened today other than resting and relaxing. We saw some small whales that looked like Pilot whales. I saw the biggest whale-spout blow into the air that I have ever seen before, but it was too far away and I couldn't identify the whale. The size of it was enormous and rivalled the Blue-whale spout that we saw off the Rowley Shoals in Western Australia. A few dolphins come around the boat from time to time also. Very few ships on AIS, nothing within visible range. Very quiet and calm all around.
Azores to English Channel: Day 6
| Date: | June 21, 2016, noon |
| Position: | 46 14.46 N, 15 50.88 W |
| Speed over Ground: | 4.0 |
| Heading (True): | 45.0 |
| Wind Speed (kts): | 9.0 |
| Wind Direction (True): | 270.0 |
| Sea state: | Slight |
| Swell (m): | 0.5 |
Another very calm day, the sea has now gone almost completely flat-calm and it looks like we could be a lake somewhere. After a day of mostly motoring or bobbing around at 1-2 knots we're now under spinnaker making reasonable speed. Although there is cloud, conditions look quite stable, and we have an almost full-moon, so we might carry the spinnaker into the night again.
We're now less than 480nm from Lands End and it looks like we should be able to make landfall in Falmouth this weekend, probably Sunday. However we may go another day or two further along the south-coast towards the Isle of Wight/Solent if the conditions remain ideal. We'll confirm our final destination for landfall in another post over the next few days.
Latest forecast from last night and radiofaxes from the UK and Germany indicate unusually calm conditions for an unusually long period of time in these waters. The grib run from last night indicated we'll have a maximum of 10-15 knots interspersed with many calms all the way to Lands End. All our fingers and toes are crossed that the forecast might hold and we don't get any sudden changes/surprises in the weather. The entire North Atlantic is turning into a lake from an extremely large and strong Azores High of 1037hPa which is going to cover almost the entire North Atlantic basin from the Carib to Newfoundland to the UK and down to Morocco. For us, it looks like it might be slow-going with a lot of motoring in between. Its a shame to have to motor so much, but when the conditions are just-right for the spinnaker it is superb "brochure-like" sailing.
We motored most of last night and this morning in glassy conditions. Today the skies cleared and we had pleasant conditions, this afternoon cloud has increased again to about 80 percent cover. We tried briefly sailing in the morning when we got excited about a 7-knot prolonged squall, but we ended up just bobbing along at about 1-2 knots for a few hours while we gave the engine a bit of a rest. We did more motoring for a few hours this afternoon where it went from "standard-glassy" to "extreme-glassy". Later this afternoon the wind has picked up to a steady 7-9 knots from a perfect direction for a light spinnaker run so we're making the most of it.
Azores to English Channel: Day 5
| Date: | June 20, 2016, noon |
| Position: | 44 55.30 N, 17 52.14 W |
| Speed over Ground: | 3.0 |
| Heading (True): | 40.0 |
| Wind Speed (kts): | 7.0 |
| Wind Direction (True): | 270.0 |
| Sea state: | Slight |
| Swell (m): | 1.0 |
Last night we gybed and took a more northerly course to try to cut through the warm front that has been approaching us. The wind picked up as we approached the front and we were flying along at 8 to 9 knots. Once we were through the wind died away and we have had very overcast skies with fog and light rain at times. The wind was so light and steady this morning that we tried running the spinnaker for a few hours. Flying the spinnaker in rain and fog was a new experience. Around midday the wind completely died away so we motored for a few hours which was good because we needed to recharge the batteries and make more hot water for hot showers anyway.
In the past few hours the wind has just come up enough to keep our main and genoa full so we're plodding along slowly at 3-4 knots. Hopefully the wind will pick up a bit tomorrow as the gribs indicate we might have 10-15 knots on the beam which will be very nice if it comes to fruition.
Azores to English Channel: Day 4
| Date: | June 19, 2016, noon |
| Position: | 43 20.26 N, 19 57.03 W |
| Speed over Ground: | 6.5 |
| Heading (True): | 60.0 |
| Wind Speed (kts): | 18.0 |
| Wind Direction (True): | 230.0 |
| Sea state: | Moderate |
| Swell (m): | 1.0 |
We've had a great run covering 160 miles in the past 24 hours. Conditions remained close to perfect as we have been skirting the edge of this high pressure system. The wind picked up a bit at one stage so we headed off on a starboard tack to get closer to the center and within a few hours we were happily running down 16-18 knots of wind again in flat seas. There was barely a cloud in the sky today, it was warm, and you could have thought we were sailing inside the Great Barrier Reef as opposed to 43-degrees North... but all good things must come to an end...
As I've been getting the weather forecasts for this part of the world I've been reminded of our friend Richard who, being from the UK but now living in Perth, once told me how it was funny that they put the weather forecast on the news in Perth because having every day "Sunny and 30-degrees with an afternoon seabreeze" is not really weather. He was hitting at the point that the word "weather" implies changeability whereas the summer weather in Perth is a rather static entity. At the time I didn't quite get what he meant - now sailing around these parts I understand thoroughly. Here they have weather. Real. Weather.
A look at a synoptic chart makes your head spin: Cold fronts; warm fronts; troughs; highs; lows and a bunch of things I've never even seen before float around on a chart that encompasses the rather small area of the North Atlantic. The distance from Newfoundland to Lands End is barely more than the width of Australia. But while we in Australia might get a single high-pressure sitting over the Australian Bight and/or a front shedding into the Tasman Sea. The North Atlantic is packed full of... well... everything. Its a swirling chaotic mess of pure "weather".
The cause of this is due to significantly more land-mass in the northern hemisphere as opposed to the south. With very little land to hinder them in the southern hemisphere the weather-systems march around the south in a rather orderly fashion. The famous "roaring forties" are just the winds created on the top-edge of a series of low-pressure systems that march around the Antarctic. In the north however the land masses of North America and Eurasia really mess things up. The land masses also have the added effect of making the weather much more season-affected.
The funny thing is that the locals we meet returning home just sort of take it as a given and don't think too much about it. They have such faith in the regularity of their seasonal weather patterns. For someone from the southern hemisphere analyzing the weather too much can get a bit daunting. This is what I was referring to in my post yesterday about Cook bobbing around north of La Coruna with all sorts of variable winds. It just didn't bother them. If a southerner was left bobbing around off the south coast of New Zealand for 7 days he'd start to think the world had come to and end or something. It just doesn't happen down there.
I'm also routinely reminded of another thing a New Zealand friend of ours (Brett) said to me when we first started sailing... he pointed at a cloud in the sky (another rare thing in Perth in the summer) and said: "You'd better get used to those."
Our forecasts for the past few days have been changing a lot each day which indicates that the forecast is not as "stable" as I would like. Based on yesterday's forecast we should be taking a more northern track as our optimal route. However one of the forecasts indicated the possibility of a low-pressure system developing in the Bay of Biscay. As a result, we have continued to follow the weather to the East as it gives us the possibility of running to La Coruna if the weather deteriorates. The downside of this is that if the forecast changes again we may miss this opportunity to make our Northing on this weather window and be forced to pull in to La Coruna anyway. We are a few weeks ahead of schedule though so that wouldn't be a bad thing all told.
Azores to English Channel: Day 3
| Date: | June 18, 2016, noon |
| Position: | 42 10.08 N, 23 7.88 W |
| Speed over Ground: | 5.5 |
| Heading (True): | 60.0 |
| Wind Speed (kts): | 13.0 |
| Wind Direction (True): | 190.0 |
| Sea state: | Slight |
| Swell (m): | 0.5 |
We've had incredibly good sailing conditions the past 48-hours since turning the engine off. We ran the spinnaker all throughout the night last night in a glorious steady 12 knots of wind or so. We handed in the spinnaker today around midday and have since been sailing with full main and genoa at about 6-knots in very flat seas. We're following the edge of a high pressure system trying to stay in the "sweet spot"... not too close that we get no wind but not too far that we get an abundance of wind, seas and rain.
Yesterday we crossed the track of the Endeavour and passed very close to Cook's logged position from the 23rd of June, thus we sailed across the same piece of water 6 days before the Endeavour passed here 245 years ago. Without the benefit of a stopover in the Azores like us, and also lacking any weather forecast information, the Endeavour was dogged by Northerly winds thus they were sailing almost directly East as they passed about 140 miles north of the island of Terceira where we made our departure. The Endeavour had a tough slog home from this point hampered by persistent Northerly winds which they muddled their way through tacking and changing direction. They ended up about 100 miles off La Coruna in Spain and then were stuck with very light winds against - in a over 1 week they only managed to cover about 100 miles, on one particular day reporting a logged distance of only 8 miles! Cook didn't seem to perturbed by the experience as this seemed to be par for the course and, having local knowledge of this area it would have been expected somewhat. The crew's spirits would also have been buoyed by the idea that they were only a few days from home.
With the benefit of modern weather forecasts (and an engine) we are hoping to have a better run. That said, our weather forecast keeps changing for the worse. It is indicating we might also get persistent headwinds from the Channel for most of next week. So we may very well end up following a similar track to the Endeavour in the end.
Cherylle Stone: Hi Cath and Mark. Having sailed on the Endeavour replica from Pt Lincoln to Adelaide I can confirm that those ships can only point at about 80 degrees so 8 miles made good is good. Safe landfall in Pommie Land. June 19, 2016, 1:48 a.m.
Add a commentAzores to English Channel: Day 2
| Date: | June 17, 2016, noon |
| Position: | 40 57.21 N, 25 24.89 W |
| Speed over Ground: | 5.0 |
| Heading (True): | 40.0 |
| Wind Speed (kts): | 11.0 |
| Wind Direction (True): | 180.0 |
| Sea state: | Slight |
| Swell (m): | 0.5 |
We turned the engine off at around 0700 this morning after 18 hours or so of motoring through glassy calm conditions. It was so calm and clear last night that the stars were reflected in the water surface.
Since turning off the engine we have been running with spinnaker on a light southerly breeze as per forecast on the gribs. We had a clear morning but some high cloud cover has moved in this afternoon. The wind has been very steady however so we may decide to run the spinnaker throughout the night.
We have been plagued by whales all day today. In the mid-morning we saw a relatively small sperm-whale about 50 meters off the boat which is close enough to cause some worry. Later in the day we have been surrounded by large Sei Whales, about 5 or 6 in number and about 17 meters long (our boat is only 14 meters). Two of them got much too close for comfort which leads us to suspect that our boat is attracting them somehow. They came right alongside the boat and you could have jumped on their back before diving to cross to the other side of the hull just below the surface. Fortunately they seemed to just be checking us out as they swam next to and under us turning on their side to look up like dolphins do.
Malcolm: probably tourists out on a people watching trip...ok as long as they don't try and stroke you. June 18, 2016, 6:10 a.m.
Add a commentDeparting Angra do Heroismo, Terceira Island
| Date: | June 16, 2016, 4 a.m. |
| Position: | 38 39.06 N, 27 13.16 W |
| Speed over Ground: | 0.0 |
| Heading (True): | 0.0 |
| Wind Speed (kts): | 5.0 |
| Wind Direction (True): | 120.0 |
| Sea state: | Slight |
| Swell (m): | 0.5 |
A new logbook! Azores to Copenhagen - this should be about 2000 miles of distance. This is pretty exciting because its our last large open-ocean passage. Once we reach the English Channel we are able to navigate almost all the way to Copenhagen via protected inland-waterways and short coastal-hops.
The interesting thing is that we are starting at 38N and finishing at 55N. On the exact opposite side of the world this would be roughly equivalent to sailing from Eden to the Auckland Islands south of New Zealand. This just goes to show that 40+ degrees south is not quite the same as 40+ north, as that equivalent passage in the southern hemisphere is reserved for the ultra-hardcore racers and others with a penchant for misery.
We departed from Velas on Sao Jorge island yesterday morning but it turned out to be a false-start. After a fantastic day of sailing down the lee of the long island of Sao Jorge we turned and had a perfect tight-reach across the polite distance of 20 miles or so to Terceira. We were planning to continue on toward the English Channel but the wind put us right in front of the town of Angra do Heroismo directly on sunset - we didn't have much to lose so we stopped for our last night of full sleep in the anchorage off the beach. Cat really enjoyed the ability to go ashore and see the heritage architecture, it is one of the more spectacular towns/villages we have seen.
We're now preparing to set off at midday. The forecast indicates that we'll have a day or so of motoring through calms at the start. Some other boats are waiting until the calms pass over on Saturday but we are wanting to leave now to get a "head start" on the weather. The forecasts indicate that after Tuesday there is an increased chance of N to NE winds (headwinds) south of 44N so its a case of motoring now through calms or later through headwinds. We're taking the "motor now through calms" option.
The forecast for the passage looks (at this stage) generally favorable with a series of high-pressure systems moving across the North Atlantic. We will hopefully complete the passage within the span of two high-pressure systems with having to encounter a weak cold-front system between them at about the half-way point. The high pressure systems are good because they will (hopefully) push the low-pressure systems and storms away from us. As we approach the channel the biggest concern will be potential headwinds but by getting a bit of a head-start now we should hopefully sneek in to somewhere before they cause us too much grief (see prior posts about our lack of windward-sailing ability).
There are several other boats doing this passage on the same weather window as us. A Dutch boat "Deesee" just took off an hour or so ago. A US boat "Robin Leigh" looks set to go tomorrow. "Zen Again" on Saturday. And "Iona" and "Gallinago" departed on Tuesday. I expect that there will be many many more and if you look at an AIS tracker on the internet then you should see a veritable armada of boats from all countries heading north from Horta.
The boat is going well but is looking forward to a hard-earned rest once we are in Denmark. I have cut open a hole in the top of the water-tank and managed to get inside the tank and plastic-weld as many of the holes as possible. The problem with the water-tank seems to be that it has simply reached the end of its service-life and the plastic is starting to degrade. On the bottom it has a "crazed" appearance like a polycarbonate window that has been in the sun too long. As a result the tank is pretty much just constantly leaking through all the millions of little cracks in it. Some are bigger than others and I have been able to weld those. We're now losing only about 1 bucket of water per day. The problem is that the man-hole which I cut into the top is not easily sealable again so I have simply duct-taped the hole back in place. If we have very rough seas then the water will leak out of the duct-tape at the top.... so that's some motivation to sail very carefully. As a result we are still relying on our jerry-can and bladder-solution as we did from Ascension... but hopefully the water-tank will hang in there long enough to give us a few hot-water showers before we lose all of our water out of it.
Other niggling issues are mostly cosmetic or non-critical. I dived on the boat yesterday before we left Sao Jorge and the bottom is very clean still. There is only a very light slime which I didn't rub off because I probably would have removed more anti-fouling than slime. The propeller was also quite clean but I still gave it a good scrub to get it shiny-clean as we'll be doing a fair bit of motoring on this passage.
Søren Nielsen: Velkommen til Tuborg Havn. De fleste danskere elsker at øve sig på at tale engelsk, men insisterer på at kommunikere på dansk, så skal I nok lære det. Der må da være sprogskoler eller private "tutorer", I kan få hjælp fra. Vi savner jer her i Troense. Kh. Søren havnefoged Sept. 24, 2016, 4:28 p.m.
gumbo rich: Hooray! Well Done :-) Sept. 26, 2016, 4:57 a.m.
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