I liked Antwerp!
The people were loose, happy and they spoke English. The city was a combination of feudal old and new buildings, and their beer is the best in the world. And for a change, the weather was warm!
The Old
The New
The Whimsical
The adjacent boats in the harbor were the largest and nicest of the cruise so far. How often does one dock next to 2 square riggers? And Belgium seems to be the most diverse and integrated country in Europe.
On to Holland
More Canal than Ocean Sailing!
It took 2 days to sail past the docks of Antwerp and through the Dutch canals to Amsterdam. Antwerp's harbor is second in size only to Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The many freighters, tankers, barges, tugs and cruise ships made for a very interesting voyage.
Willemstad, Netherlands
Carl Tricke and Jos Andries... my Belgian Crew!
Amsterdam
We pulled into IJ Dock about 19:00 (5 pm) and used a cell phone to open the bridge remotely with a password. Go technology!
Docked near the Amsterdam Train Station
This part of the city is built on reclaimed land from the sea. The Dutch have a saying, "God made the heavens and the earth, but the Dutch made Holland!"
Buildings that grew up from the Sea
Most people who see "No Regrets, Los Angeles, CA" on the transom with an American flag flying above it, come up with the same question: "Did you sail here from the US?"
So when a young student asked the question, I gave him my stock answer: "Of course....... And we went around the Horn........ Because Panama is for pussies!"
Most people laugh, or look surprised, then I tell them the truth about buying her in England. The further north we sail, the more we stand out and have this conversation.
Nando Bennis, the eighteen year old Dutch student, laughed immediately and we struck up a conversation and a friendship for the 3 weeks that I was in Amsterdam. We went to the Concertgebouw to hear Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto, my favorite classical music piece along with Dean, his roomie living on a barge in the canals... and we had a blast. Peggy, my stepmother, was laughing and clapping all the way from heaven.
We ended up in a cafe drinking beers and singing Hallelujah. Memorable evening even more so after the police told Nando and Dean to, "Pull over Pancakes!" while riding their bikes home at 01:30 in the morning.
Nando, the Sea Turtle and Dean
Nando offered to cook real pancakes, a Dutch staple, and they were amazing! A cross between an American pancake and a French crepe, with each round having a different topping, plain, then with syrup, honey, cheese, bacon, apple, Nutella etc. Fun!
Pancake Wednesday on No Regrets
Bicycles
Amsterdam is the bicycle capital of the world. There are more bikes than people, and one needs to watch out for them on the streets. It's not the cars, trains and trolleys that will run you over, it's the bikes!
Amsterdam parking lot
Not to be left out, I finally scored my boat bike, a Di Blasi stainless steel folding bike that stores well and hopefully won't rust.
The bike, along with the launching of the dingy and making friends with the outboard motor, expanded my range for exploring and made cruising the canals better than on a tour boat.
Boat Toys
I could live in Amsterdam! It is so young and vibrant, alive and exciting. The canals are gorgeous (The Venice of the north), the art and architecture are spectacular, and there is a museum for everything. The only one missing was a Museum about Museums!
Tulips in Amsterdam?
Cafes on the canals
Enkhuizen
David Wood and his wife Penny flew over from Ramsgate, England, to help move the boat into the Baltic and up to Copenhagen, Denmark. Nando also crewed for the 1st day from Amsterdam to Enkhuizen, a charming little Dutch village with a living museum dedicated to the Zuider Zee, a part of the old dyke system. There was even a museum there about ships in bottles. Every boat in this old harbor was immaculately maintained... the whole village was Bristol!
Enkhuizen, Netherlands
Dean Kappen and his girl Senna joined us by train in Enkhuizen, and Nando took that train back for a final exam. It was so much fun to learn about their country, and to spend time and see the world through those young and hungry eyes... So many choices... So many possibilities!
Terscelling
Flat fresh water sailing inside the Ijsselmeer Dyke, then flat saltwater sailing outside of the Dyke through the mud flats and channels to Terscelling, a low barrier island with sand dunes, one of the Frisian coastal Islands. Terscelling is to them like Catalina Island is to Nance, Drake, Esther, Marissa, the Geller kids and me!
A typical Dutch sailing sloop.
Note the blunt bow, erect bowsprit, lee board, transom hung
rudder and gaff rigged main with that curved Dutch gaff.
Sanne and Deanne at Meivuur, an annual beach
bonfire celebrated by Terscelling's 2,000 residents!
We set off on an overnight sail across the Germain Bight at 13:00 the next day. The kids videoed our exit from the Harbor while waiting for their ferry back to the mainland.
We headed east northeast for the 160 miles across the Germain Bight to Cuxhaven. We sailed past the low lying East Frisian Islands at night, as there are few places to stop short of Cuxhaven on the Elbe River in Germany. It is really good to be sailing again with David. We both know and love the boat, and are very comfortable and compatible together. And David is a solid sailor, with 3 Atlantic crossings under his keel.
We only had white lights in the pilothouse, but I taped 2 layers of red cellophane over half of the LED light bulbs, so now we are ready to sail at night. White lights turned on in the dark will dilate ones pupils and diminish the ability to see ships and marks at night.
Strong winds grew from the starboard quarter then moved abeam, plus a building sea made for a bouncy ride. Poor Penny was seasick.
Dawn came about 05:00 as we were approaching the Elbe River mark. Many Freighters use the Elbe River on their way up to Hamburg, Germany. Two more hours of running with the 25 knot wind dead astern brought us into Cuxhaven.
We tied onto the last side pontoon in the hail and cold wind. Was this the second or third day in a row that it was too cold to snow, and it hailed instead? What we did know however, is that we were in hell, or at least weather hail!
A nice tradition that the Cuxhaven Yacht Club practices, is the hoisting of a courtesy flag for each country represented by boats in the harbor. I'll bet it's been awhile since the stars and stripes flew from that flagpole!
After an afternoon of rest, a wash of the boat and a good Schnitzel and shrimp dinner, we were ready for the Kiel Canal tomorrow and into the Baltic Sea!
Kiel Canal
We were away early and motored upriver for the 15 miles to Brunsbuttel and the lock into the Kiel Canal. We were very surprised that there was only one lock and we actually went down about 12" from sea level to the flat water level of the canal. Maybe the tide was high on the North Atlantic side?
The Canal is wide and deep, with many large freighters and tankers going both ways. We transversed the 57 mile canal in 6 hours, but had to wait about 5 hours when we reached Holtenau and the second lock that exits the canal near Kiel, Germany.
The delay was because they were only operating 1 out of the 4 locks. The 2 old pleasure boat locks had been closed for several years, and one of the large big ship locks was closed for maintenance Unlike the western lock, where we passed right through, we had to wait for several cycles to get into the east lock, as the priority was in locking through the commercial traffic.
They put 6 large freighters in... 2 abreast and three in a row. If there was any space left over, then the stacked up yachts could squeeze in.
Ships coming out of the Lock
When we were finally radioed that we could join the sardine can lock full of large ships, we gingerly squeezed in between two big boys.
Not much room for No Regrets
We moved vertically only a foot, but I couldn't tell if we went up or down?
After 45 nerve racking minutes, we exited the lock uncrushed, and picked our way through the dark into the marina at Lebow, just outside of Kiel.
After the 14 hour voyage, we were tired, cold and hungry, and had made it safely thru the Kiel Canal shortcut and avoided sailing around the Danish Jutland peninsula. Good job Team Wood!!!
No Regrets has made it into the Baltic Sea... And without a Bust!
