Winter

A weekend of polishing and servicing of the engine and other pieces of equipment and with Struana now safely inside should see her nicely through the winter ahead.

IJmuiden - Scheveningen - IJmuiden II

A much more pleasant weekend than the one two weeks earlier. Arrived on Friday evening and spent my time with a recurring theme: fixing things. Here the VHF gets bolted on properly and hooked up:

A temporary crew of hardy friends & family stepped on board during the sunny but rather windy Saturday morning. Following a thorough briefing one reef was put into the main and the genoa 3 was hauled on deck. Again, despite slightly more favourable forecasts, the wind was stronger than expected reaching about 20 knots over deck as we beat our way to Scheveningen into the SSW wind and quite a challenging sea.

So here is the crew:

Bro' encouraging early alcohol consumption. (Actually no, that's my beer being looked after.)

And a very fresh shot of the G3 tackling the North Sea:

Struana beating determinedly into the fresh breeze. Here the spare cloth of the reefed main can be seen top right with the genoa not quite hard in to make the ride a bit more comfortable, especially for the kids for whom this was a first. Later, applying some more tension on the sheet with the block perhaps an inch or two too far forward, the leech may have experienced too much tension and the entire sail parted along a horizontal seam. I think the glue holding this sail together had aged since later inspection found most seams ready to be picked lose quite readily. The G3 is no more.

This photo also brings out the drawbacks of short trips, there's hardly the time to get everything set nicely, the halyard could also have used a bit more tension...

We entered Scheveningen quite smartly, even the manoeuvring is becoming more relaxed. Quite excellent dinner in Scheveningen with the parents of all the friends and the Sunday presented the North Sea the way it should be more often: calm with a gentle following wind for our trip back to IJmuiden. An attempt was made at catching some fish from the aft deck, all firmly tied on, of course.

Self portrait on the bow, I was hoping the speed at which we making our way along the Dutch coast would be more evident here, but no, it all looks like a drift across a mill pond.

This time no mad rush to get back into the berth and recover, like last time, instead a relaxed anchor session within the break water of IJmuiden. Struana's underwater ship was given a scrub using the snorkel and she was tidied up ready to be put away, though not before refuelling:

IJmuiden - Scheveningen - IJmuiden I

The weekend of 6 and 7 August proved to be a bit of a disaster. The journey to IJmuiden from Zurich was marred with traffic jams in Germany (in the middle of the night, when we were supposed to have been nicely tucked away in a hotel) resulting in a late arrival in IJmuiden. The weather was forecast to be OK but thundery storms were presented instead. When early afternoon arrived the decision should have been to remain nicely in port, but to Scheveningen we decided to go, 25 miles to the south along the North Sea coast.

It was an OK trip, but the weather wasn't great, with Struana close reaching into the wet westerly wind gusting to 20 knots at times. We arrived too late in Scheveningen to still have a degree of enjoyment.

On Sunday the wind had backed slightly to south south west so it was a dead run back to IJmuiden. But by this time the wind had picked up to 25 knots or a good force 6 so on a full main we powered back to our temporary home port, reaching speeds of 12 knots as the waves started to build. It was nothing out of the ordinary but for a first experience it was quite hairy... These downwind tracks with a building sea are not dissimilar to riding a bike, you've got to keep steering to prevent things from swerving out of control.

During our debrief, reflecting on the weekend and the rather challenging weather we had had three weeks earlier, the seeds for hiring a truck and moving Struana to the Med in 2012 were sown...

Amsterdam to IJmuiden

Following a break of one week consisting of work, football and sightseeing, we embarked on the final leg through the Noordzeekanaal to IJmuiden. Quite boring really but luckily the weather cooperated. The days before had been horrendous with horizontal rain and strong winds....

So we motored out of Amsterdam and successfully negotiated the locks heading out into the North Sea at IJmuiden. But no more sailing at sea for Struana this time, which was just as well as the weather deteriorated rapidly, from grey to rain + wind, and lots of it. It was tough to moor neatly but moor we did and there we were, in the homeport for Struana for a while. Home away from home, with her true homeport remaining Aberdeen, of course!

Struana was made ready for some time by herself and we all left by bus and fast ferry back to Amsterdam to catch the overnight train back to Zurich.

Distance: 12 Nm

Volendam to Amsterdam (Sixhaven)

The Friday brought end of vacation blues, not helped by a strong south westerly wind which meant a short hop on the engine into het IJ, which is the main waterway through Amsterdam.

We wanted to arrive early -midday- to ensure a space in the small, very conveniently located, Sixhaven, opposite Amsterdam Central Station. This we achieved and Struana was safely moored in her home for the following week. Some more bitterballen, biertjes and relaxation followed.

During the week Frederik would go to football camp and Maria and Sofia would be able to see some sights, with the final leg of the journey - to IJmuiden on the North Sea coast - to be completed the following weekend.

But not before a mini family reunion ....

Distance 10 Nm

Den Helder to Volendam

A break from sailing on Wednesday to allow for some resting, the consumption of kroketten, bitterballen and heineken and a visit to the various museums, in particular the display of a submarine, was followed by the continuation of the journey on Thursday.

On a tide flowing into the Waddenzee we headed towards Den Oever where we left the salty waters and entered the fresh IJsselmeer. Mooring and other manoeuvres were getting better, and we happily continued our sail into the IJsselmeer towards Enkhuizen on the full main and no 3 genoa. It was a very pleasant close reach into a southerly force 4.

Little to report otherwise except to say that following the locks at Enkhuizen, some fatigue began to set in and hence we motored the remaining 12 miles to Volendam.

Distance: 38 Nm
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Cuxhaven to Den Helder

On Sunday night and Monday morning the weather reports came through with more encouraging forecasts, changing their tune from north westerly 6's occasionally 7 to variable 3 or 4. So we decided to head out at around 15:00 on Monday to catch the last hour of tide coming in to be followed by a nice sweep out of the Elbe, albeit still with strong headwinds at first.

We crossed the shipping lane to follow the proper right hand side of the lane and worked our way out of the Elbe into the 2 to 3 metre swell which had had the chance to build over the last 4 days. It wasn't so nice. But even this stretch inevitably came to an end and as we mingled with the various ships anchored offshore, we hoisted the full main (still in anticipation of a dying wind, which was still close to 6), selected a quiet moment in the traffic and headed due south for about a mile to cross the shipping lane again. The No 3 genoa also went up and as we cleared all traffic we headed west to south west for the 150 mile stretch or so around the top of the Friesian islands. With the engine relieved of its duties - at last - things started to quieten down.

As the night fell, the sailing was yet again glorious. However, the wind was dying and, as the night progressed and as windy as it had been previously, calm descended upon us. We left it for what is was for a while while the speed slowly dropped to 0, but with the residual swell, it soon became uncomfortable with the sails doing little but make a lot of noise, slamming from side to side. So the engine came back on and as dawn came on Tuesday we found ourselves in the midst of a mirror like sea.

This continued into Tuesday but luckily the wind did come back, just off Schiermonnikoog, and we continued sailing. Peace again....

Some other events of note were the sighting of seals poking their heads out and taking a look around and the visit of a Dutch customs launch to check our papers, in the afternoon. The palavre of getting Struana properly registered paid off handsomely, it was a brief visit indeed.

And then as night fell again, and on a high tide, we made it passed Texel to set course for our final destination, Den Helder. The old saying about relaxing when the harbour is in sight proved too true, with a near existential brush with a sandbank at midnight following a collosal and damning error in navigation tarnishing an otherwise fine voyage.

We entered Den Helder at 01:00 on Wednesday.

Distance 180 Nm.

Cuxhaven

Stuck in Cuxhaven from yesterday probably till Monday 4th of July, NW6 occasionally near gale 7. Main problem is the direction, straight into the Elbe...

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Brunsbuttel to Cuxhaven

As expected, appalling weather. We headed out of our temporary noisy overnight location at around 11:30 to catch the last hour of so of tide against once through the lock into the Elbe. It was grey, wet and very windy.

Progress, straight into the wind and tide, was slow. The wind was strong and the bow regularly dug itself entirely into oncoming waves as we headed north west. Speed over ground was about 1 knot with the engine doing all the work.

But progress we did make and as the tide turned, propelling us out to the North Sea though making the swell only worse, we happily found ourselves getting closer to Cuxhaven. Final challenge was not to overshoot given the substantial tidal stream but following a smart manoeuvre we were safely moored in calm waters.

Brunsbuttel 53 deg 53.7'N 009 deg 08.8'E
Cuxhaven 53 deg 52.5'N 008 deg 42.4'E
Wind speed 25-35 knots dir WNW cloud cover 5/8 visibility good
Distance 17 nm

Rendsburg to Brunsbuttel

Fairly dull stretch on the motor + main along the second 2/3s of the Kiel Canal. Nothing much to say except that we are now moored along the entrance of a major lock with fairly substantial ships entering and leaving. It's grey, windy and raining. It will be a noisy and turbulent night... Alongside we have a Swedish Jeanneau, length about 46 feet, just returning from a pan meditterranean and trans atlantic tour. The owner is sure he will sell the boat and do no more sailing...

Tomorrow we head out to sea. Despite all preparations (tide tables, charts, atlasses) I have little idea of what to expect. It's the main and only channel into Hamburg, it's narrow, and heads west to north west. So tomorrow we are also heading west to north west with an area of low pressure passing through producing force 6 winds from.... west to north west. So we will aim for the mouth of the Elbe and go for Cuxhaven, 15 miles into this weather and 2m waves will probably be enough.

Rendsburg 54 deg 18.4'N 009 deg 40.2'E
Brunsbuttel 53 deg 53.7'N 009 deg 08.8'E
Wind 5-12 knots, clouds 7/8, visibility good
Distance 34 nm

Kiel to Rendsburg

A bit of a quiet day today with a midday cast-off and a hop across the Kieler Fjord into the locks at Holtenau. Then a 3 hour trip on the engine and main heading west along the Kiel Canal to reach Rendsburg at about 5 pm.

Kiel 54 deg 20.3'N 010 deg 09.5'E
Rendsburg 54 deg 18.4'N 009 deg 40.2'E
8-10 knts wind, 1/8 cloud cover, good visibility
Distance 20 nm

Sonderborg to Kiel

The morning was cloudless with no wind. It was promising to be another lazy day at sea which was not quite so good since we had some distance to cover (not a stretch as such, but boring to do on the engine). Spent part of the morning doing some shopping, hosing down the deck and cockpit and giving the ship a general tidy up.

We headed out and then the wind started to come in. So we got the No 3 (genoa) hooked up and secured the No 1 further aft along the railings. On exiting the marina the sails went up quite smoothly and Struana took off. Beating into 18 knots of wind and a growing sea: she was in her element.

But it was a bit much for our program of slowly getting used to her. So we put in a reef and continued on our beat away from Sonderborg at a convincing 7.5 knots. And the outperformance relative to others was simply breath taking, both in angle to the wind and speed.

Continuing on our way SE to the lighthouse on Kalkgrund we were thereafter presented with a 30 mile close haul all the way to Kiel. With the building sea and a wind speed reaching 23 knots it was a remarkable experience.



4 hours later we were in Kiel. A very nice day sailing. Tomorrow into the Kiel Canal.

Sonderborg 54 deg 53.9'N 009 deg 47.6'E

Kiel 54 deg 20.3'N 010 deg 09.5'E

10-23 knts wind, 1/8 cloud cover, good visibility
Distance 45 nm