Ijmuiden i-sore

Two days in Ijmuiden have been spent recovering from the long passage and preparing for the next leg by the huge North Sea Canal to Amsterdam.

We checked our insurance and discovered belatedly that we weren't covered for inland waterways of Holland. Called the insurer by mobile and rectified it.

Nic had to phone Ofcom to get them to update our VHF radio licence so we can use it in inland waterways.  Aargh. More humdrum stuff.

We had to check the height of the mast known as the 'air draught'. It's surprisingly important when the lifting bridges only clear up to a certain height of mast! How do you measure your mast? That set us thinking.

In the end Nic measured one rope that goes up to the mast and back, measuring it metre by metre while pulling it through.

The answer is 45 feet which is fine for us to get through the Standing Mast route from Amsterdam to the south of Holland. Phew. 

Along the way we took a bus into the unlovely edges of Ijmuiden. We looked long and hard at the sea lock which we will pass through tomorrow and the open vista of the canal stretching away. (See photo.) 

We walked to a fish restaurant near the pictured trawler dock and had passable cod and chips. But the rest of our walk around the alleged old town was disappointing. Dull housing schemes and zero cafes or shops. The bus back was all too welcome.

Roll on Amsterdam.

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North Sea passage (continued)

When I took over at 5am it was light. The sun rose invisibly behind grey clouds and suddenly spilt gold over their edge. Motored on without enough wind to sail, taking evading action from large coasters and tankers crossing the North Sea.

 At 7am when I went off watch I made porridge in fairly tricky conditions. First hot food since Harwich. 

Continued motoring like this, now in bright sun until 11am when a fine welcome sailing wind sprang up. ..10 to 15 knots on the beam. Jib out. Engine off.

The trouble was that as we neared the Dutch coast the swell got worse and worse. Sirena rolled and plunged and for me, helming under sail became harder. Muscles in my arms and shoulders burned as I wrenched the boat back on course when the swell rolled her off it. Two hours of constantly doing that was a challenge.

We saw Ijmuiden from many miles away. Actually, we saw the giant pall of steam from the Tata steelworks. Ijmuiden is not what you'd call scenic. As you can see from the photo of the marina overshadowed by smoking chimneys.

The problem now was how to get the main sail down in the big confused seas. One of us had to go to the mast (clipped on with a safety line) to help the sail down and zip up the cover. I volunteered but Nic eventually persuaded me he should go.

I turned the boat into the teeth of the wind with engine on and we bucked and plunged wildly as Nic dealt efficiently with the sail. All done, we got back on course heading for the wide harbour entrance. Once inside the walls we realised we could have dropped the sail there in relative peace! 

We motored into the large Seaport marina, ignoring the wide inviting channel that takes you to the locked canals leading to Amsterdam and the rest of the inland waterways of Netherlands. That's for later this week. For now, we were exhausted and content to have made the 140 mile journey (our longest leg) in one piece.

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North Sea Night Passage

21:30 on 5 Aug. I'm off watch. Roughly 20 nm out from Harwich bound for Ijmuiden. Two persons on board. Our bearing as advised by the North Sea Pilot is 077 degrees true. There's hardly any magnetic variation, definitely less than our steering error. We'll let the tide sweep us up and down over 4 tide sets then adjust over the last 20nm. 

The question arises as the dark settles in ... is this wise? We don't have a life raft so have the dinghy blown up on the foredeck. The chart plotter is going through a phase of randomly restarting. Apart from that the boat is in great shape, perhaps better than us. I guess this a mixture of challenge,  adventure and experiment. 

0300. You see some odd things at night. A steady red light with large white flash under, 2 short 1 long. Nothing on the chart plotter and the map is up to date and I can see a whole pack of trawlers ahead on AIS. Distance is impossible at night but as it's taking a long time to change bearing it's either stalking us or a long way off. Bearing 305 from 50 09N 002 43E

There's no appreciable wind. Have been motoring since 2300. The Beta purrs along at 1600 revs giving us 5kn in calm water. Rather a confused swell so we had 3.5-4kn against tide now 6-7kn with tide. We furled the genoa long ago but taking the main down means going forward in the pitch dark. We could do it if it was necessary but why take the risk. Let it slat. 

0400. Suddenly I can see beyond the bow. There's a tiny bit of light in the sky already. When Lesley comes on in an hour we'll get the main down if no sign of wind other than the current puff up the chuff which is no good to this boat especially in a rolling swell. 

0445. Autohelm had been occasionally losing connection. Cable needed a wiggle to get it going. Then it stopped unless some pressure applied to cable. A bit of string did the job for now. Only 14 hours to go. 

Updated plan to Netherlands

Due to weather window we're going Harwich to Ijmuiden 12 hours (one tide) earlier, leaving 5pm Fri arrival roughly 9pm Sat. No blogging tomorrow. 

Thames Estuary to Harwich

The usual Estuary crossing in many ways. Left Qboro in a stiff breeze with main double reefed because we're being cautious this early in our season. F6 SW and very lumpy across shipping channels with tide against wind. Made good time with a top spring tide behind us from East of Southend all the way to Harwich. Planned 11 hrs and took 9.5 so we arrived in the light just. Hence the picture of sunset. Shepherds will be v happy. Only problem arriving early was being at low water and the approaches from S to Harwich are v shallow. At one point a mile offshore we only had 90cm of water under the keel. 

rgds/Nic

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Learning the ropes again

Today was all planned. We meant to go all the way from our home port of Gillingham across the tricky Thames Estuary and to Shotley marina at Harwich. But then the inshore forecast made us think twice.

Southwesterly force 5 to 7 across the shallow treacherous waters of the estuary? Maybe not today, first outing after a 10 month absence of sailing. 

Instead we motored to Queenborough which is the only real place to stop right on  the way. Only 2 hours but when we arrived to pick up a visitor's buoy there was 25 to 27 knots gusting through the narrow moorings with boats close up to the only remaining vacant buoys. 

Time after time Lesley lined up the boat to pass a red hulled yacht and then close in on the chosen buoy..trying to avoid being blown on to the boat and yet slow down enough for Nic to pick up the buoy.

It was a learning curve which was intensely frustrating and tiring for both.

At last Nic whooped with joy as he caught the warp around the buoy.

The adrenalin ebbed and we had a short nap before passage planning to Harwich for tomorrow and a large bowl of pasta.

All day we had been doing things uncertainly, forgetting the old accustomed ways.  Tonight it feels like we are settling in, back on our beloved boat.

 

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Packing & vittling

Can it really be that we're leaving the day after tomorrow.  I don't think it will seem real until we exit the lock at Gillingham Marina - there is so much land stuff going on, the house is upside down with projects, there's work stuff and family.  Will we really cut loose?  I suppose the lure of technology is that don't have to, entirely, although experience suggests that getting online can be a flakey business, and it ain't gonna happen in the middle of the southern North Sea.

We've been to the boat today, doing some last checks.  She's ready - far better prepared than we are in fact.  Now Lesley is frantically packing, as she is away working all day tomorrow in Oxford.  Meanwhile I shouldn't be writing this because I have tons of marketing to do for my new book, and many other 'tomorrow tasks' where I have run out of tomorrows ... but I have to think of posterity - these blogs don't write themselves you know (one day, one day). Still, I do have one more tomorrow ... which includes going to Sainsburys for a huge shop that will settle SIRENA IV an inch lower in the water.

Oh yes, and finish the back-up passage plan onto paper charts to go via Ramsgate & Dunkerque Est, in case PassageWeather suggests the North Sea is going to be too bumpy for the two of us to do a 30 hour crossing.