Hoorn

Bryony in charge

Today we had a ladies' race from Edam. Each boat had to have a lady in command with any gentlemen aboard just obeying orders. Some gaffers had some rather unlikely looking females in charge but we had Bryony with her proven race-winning skills. It was a hot day with light fair winds and sadly some boats had much more sail than we did. However everyone had a good day.

East Breeze

The second picture shows East Breeze with Marion in charge and Barry helping out.

We are now in Hoorn, a picturesque old shipbuilding and fishing town. Cape Horn was named after Hoorn.

Jan Coen

The third picture shows a statue in the town centre. This self-confident son of Hoorn is Jan Coen, who built up the Dutch East India company and founded Jakarta in Indonesia. He was clearly a man of great energy and imagination. Unfortunately his reputation was damaged when he lead a campaign against the native Banda islanders which resulted in a massacre. The reason for this was that they were selling nutmeg to English traders, contrary to company policy. The statue doesn't seem to give much indication of remorse or self-doubt.

We are concerned about the prospects for the weather over the next few days as the situation seems rather unstable. We plan to head south tomorrow in the hope of getting a day or two of reasonable winds for the journey home.