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 After days of strong SW winds we are now promised a few days of summery weather and light winds. Dave and I left the Roompot marina at around 5am and locked out into the North Sea at first light, about 6am Dutch time. The passage planning for a trip back to England is more complicated than it used to be a few years ago as there is now a huge windfarm off the Dutch coast, and yachts are not allowed to go through this - we had to divert down towards the south for a trip towards Kent. We had the sails up which makes the boat more visible to shipping, but the wind was very light and we ended up motoring the whole way. Chugging across the North Sea and along the Kent coast to the Swale took 30 hours and half a tank of fuel.

This is Daves photo of the sun rising behind the (much smaller) Thanet windfarm off the North Foreland.  Bonita is now back on her mooring after more than a month in Dutch waters. Thanks to all my crew for help in negotiating the difficulties in taking the old boat on a trip never imagined by her original builders. We have had a marvellous time as guests of the Dutch Old Gaffers and enjoyed meeting many old and new friends.

Roompot again

We have come back to the Roompot marina ready to clear customs ( have our passports stamped) and lock out into the North Sea as soon as the weather looks reasonable. We have had strong SW winds for days, but all the forecasts say it should be more favourable tomorrow and Wednesday. We are here with Transcur and Clytie, also keen to get back to the Thames area.

There doesnt seem to be much permanent habitation here. Apart from the marina, there is a large holiday camp with beaches etc. We were puzzled that all the signs seem to be in English and Dutch, despite the fact that there are no English visitors apart from a few yachtsmen.

Most of the visitors cars have German number plates, and of course Germany has very little North Sea coastline or coastal resorts and so many take their holidays in the Netherlands. We were interested that sensitivities are clearly such that signs for foreign visitors are in English rather than German.

On a more practical note, we hope to be locking out at first light tomorrow......

Colijnsplaat

It was not quite so windy today but still a brisk S - SW wind mostly force 6 with gusts up to force 8. We left Willamstadt this morning and progressed south through two sets of huge locks.Mostly we were motor- sailing with jib, staysail and mizzen, though we were able to rest the engine for a bit. We  had planned to meet up with Transcur and Clytie in Zierikzee, but this is approached by a long canal running SW, ending in a congested harbour. I was anxious about Bonitas manoeverability is a strong following wind, so instead we came to Colijnstaat, on the other (south) side of the waterway. I have not been here before: it is a fishing port but also has plenty of yachts. There is an active yachtclub- they had races planned for this afternoon which were cancelled due to the bad weather.

There is also some history here: unusually for Dutch towns this is known to have been a Roman settlement. Ships traded from here along the coast and also accross the Noth Sea to Britain. We can only admire the skills of those who sailed primitive boats along this featureless coast with few if any navigational aids.

There is a model of a Roman trading ship in the village known as Caudicaria Navis. The original would apparantly have been about 25m long. It is supposed to be an accurate model, though  we werent clear how good the evidence for this was. I was surprised to see that the model has two steering oars, one each side. I has read that Roman ships only had one steerboard, always of course mounted on the starboard side.

Windy in Willemstadt

With deteriorating weather forecast yesterday we wanted to move on from the rather limited attractions of Strijensas. We extracted the boat from the box berth and in company with Barbara on Moon River travelled the 7 or so miles west to Willemstadt. The wind was SW force 6-7 and its impossible to tack down the Hollandsch Diep here due to the constant stream of barge traffic, so we motored slowly into the wind with a little help from the mizzen. Last time we came to Willemstadt the old harbour in the centre of town looked very congested, so we went to the nearby Batterij marina instead. This time though the harbour looked less crowded and we tied up at the town quay overlooked by shops and restaurants. We were soon joined by Transcur, Clytie and Moon River.

We found a local restaurant that had a table for 9 a few yards from the boats and enjoyed a sociable evening. 

Its very windy today ( Friday) and there are gale warnings in nearly all sea areas but is supposed to be slowly getting better in the next few days. We stayed in port today but hope to be on the move again soon. Its frustrating not to be making better progress. However prolonged bad weather such as this during summer is very unusual.

Strijensas

Due to bad weather and worse forecasts much of the English gaffer fleet is gradually making its way home going inland through the Dutch canals. In company with Barbara on Moon River we seem to be a bit ahead of most. After a peaceful night at Kaag we motored down the canals to Alphen aan den Rign. Here there is a rail bridge that is supposed to lift but is undergoing repair. There is no way round it so once we got to it we tied up to the bank nearby to wait. Sadly D had run out of time: there was too much at home that either she or one of us had to do, so she left the boat and got home by train in a few hours. It will take Dave and me a good bit longer.

The rail bridge was fixed at 6am today and we got up early to go through on the first opening. There followed a day of motoring into strong head winds through Gouda, Dordrecht and many miles of Dutch countryside reclaimed from the sea and used for productive farming.

We have now got to the  open water of Hollandsch Diep. We were tired after a long day and so put into the little harbour of Strijensas.I have never been in this harbour before. It was small and very crowded and I was quite anxious about entering it in Bonita with a strong crosswind and no realistic plan B.
However with Dave wielding the boathook we eventually managed to back her into a box berth.
We felt we had definitely earned supper in the excellent restaurant attached to the marina.

Most boats today have aerials, anemometers and other unfriendly hardware at the masthead. The traditional burgee provides a much more comfortable resting place.

kaag

Sadly Sian and Ant have had to leave us to go home in the comfort of the Eurostar. Yesterday after the end of the OGA NL 20 celebrations D and I left Enkhausen at first light - about 6.30am. We motored south down to Amsterdam. It was warm and there was virtually no wind and the trip was mostly memorable for the very large number of flies - many million- that settled on the boat. At the marina in Amsterdam we were joined by Dave Patuck who has come to help us get the boat back. Indian Runner and Moon River were also there and we enjoyed supper in the marina restaurant.

Today we left at about 6am. I had hoped to head accros the North Sea to England, but though the weather seemed quite calm, the forecast for the next few days is for strong SW winds. Its temptimg to disregard this, but the purpose of the forecast is not to tell you how it is, but to give the best guide as to how its going to be. So rather reluctantly we headed down south through the canals. For much of the time there was a brisk SW wind which was reassuring. We stopped for a couple of hours in Harlem to stock up with fuel, water and food, and then in company with Barbara on Moon River motored down as far as Kaag.

Here we stopped for the night, with a peaceful rural mooring providing a contrast with the many bridges we have negotiated today on our journey.

Last day of Dutch OGA rally

Light winds and sun today: and a battle between the English and the Dutch. Rik set us a complicated course across the Ijsselmere, which involved a circuit around a barge allegedly containing artists keen to record nautical scenes.However when we approached the barge it turned out to have a large number of young people armed with buckets of water and water bombs. In due course after much water had been thrown and received the English were declared the winners, although it was never clear quite why.

In the evening we had a dinner ashore with presentation of prizes, singing and general merriment.

So this brings to an end the organised part of our Dutch cruise. We have very much enjoyed it - it has been a really good experience, and organised with typical dutch efficiency. Tomorrow we head south and hope that the weather is kind to us as we head back home