Monday 18 August 2014

Middelburg to Wemeldinge - and party time!

Friday 25th July, booking in day for the Cross Country Tour.

In the guides and pilot books it mentions that Middelburg is a port of entry and Schengen forms can be submitted there rather than stop at Vlissingen, so I duly take my form to the HM where I am advised that he is not interested, nobody is interested, haven't been for ages and to just keep the form with my boat documents in case a jobsworth does a check. Seems an efficient method of dealing with bureaucracy. Middelburg is an attractive town and worthy of more time but not on this trip, one to keep for the future.

Today is registration day for the OGA (NL) Cross Country Tour 2014 and the reception party starts at 17:00.  With 19Nm of inland waterway to cover plus a sluis (lock) or two to negotiate Hyrst and Alice set off in company at 9 a.m., a time dictated by the fact that Alice is moored on an inner "harbour" in the town and has to await a bridge opening to escape. This stretch of the canal is free of bridges so it is possible to settle down and take in the new experience of motoring along (still head to wind) on a wide canal, with yachts sailing downwind towards us, sheep and cattle on the banks and folk cycling merrily along the tracks alongside the canal. My CEVNI knowledge is getting a rapid check out, and I have to admit to needing a reference handy.

Kanaal door Walchereen heading for Veere



The trip to Veere at the northern end of the canal is soon covered and we negotiate the lock and exit into the Veerse Meer, a tideless salt water lake. At this point I am trying to get my head around what waterways are salt or fresh water, if they are tidal or subject to river flows (or both) and if so what direction when! However this soon becomes a secondary activity when faced with an array of buoyage liberally sprinkled with preferred channel marks, stripey port and starboard marks, standard cardinal and channel marks and no certainty of flow direction. There also seems to be a complete absence of identifiable landmarks. The chart plotter is not overly helpful and the ANWB charts on my Nexus 7 Tablet come to the rescue. Once I have adjusted to the proliferation of buoys and channels all is well. The Veerse Meer is a popular cruising water and I note there are plenty of informal landing points and overnight stops, some with pontoons and on shore water supplies and toilet facilities (think Thunderbox).

The Zandkreek Sluis is reached at midday and we pass through into the Oosterschelde for the final leg of the day to Wemeldinge. The tour opening event is hosted in Wemeldinge Marina which turns out to be a large, modern, well equipped marina and waiting on the arrivals pontoon is a Dutch OGA welcoming team ready with berthing information. For the final twist to the days sailing we have to negotiate a tight channel to an inner marina accessed via an opening pedestrian bridge - great for some more boat handling practice.



The lock into the Oosterschelde was a tad busy.

I moor Hyrst rafted out with the smaller gaffers in the fleet and acquaint myself with the reception committee in the marquee, where to my delight a Belgian lady produces my goody bag marked with boat name and perfectly pronounces Hyrst of Eremue as it should be done with a hard "H" and the "y" in Hyrst emphasised. Quite natural to her and great to hear.

The evening starts with a formal welcome then moves onto the social activities with a great international atmosphere developing amongst the Dutch, Belgian and British crews present. The comperes, all OGA members, hop between languages quite naturally and carry the sense of humour across well. A great band makes for the icing on the cake - a very good welcome event and party.


Gaffers making their own music in band down time.

Sunday 17 August 2014

Blankenberge to Vlissingen ... and on

Thursday 24th July, we should be in Dutch waters by the end of the day.

With a passage distance of 23 Nm to Vlissingen Dutch waters should be a relatively easy days sail, however, I have been warned to make plenty of allowance for the strength of tide in the Westerschelde estuary and time arrival accordingly, otherwise it will be sailing with negative progress. Once again the wind is on the nose, yet another NE F5 forecast and wind against tide to get into the estuary.

Still in company with Alice Pellow we depart Blankenberge at 08:45 local making sure to clear the drying shallows on the route out for the first leg to a point safely offshore of Zeebrugge entrance. The sea already has a nasty chop to it and in the shallow water of the area is kicking up a lot of sand from the sea bottom, and true to the pilot book warnings the sea off Zeebrugge became decidedly worse, yet another motor-sailing beat with two reefs in the main. Progress seems painfully slow in the conditions but the tide means we are managing the required SOG to beat the 15:00 tide turn. I reach the Zeebrugge channel at 10:55 and take 30 minutes to cross it, having to divert astern of an incoming container ship in the process - why did he have to time his approach to inconvenience me in these conditions! The flog to windward continued, staying south of the buoyed large ship route to Vlissingen Roads where we have to run in on the south side of the estuary towards Breskens before turning due North on the small boat crossing to Vlissingen. By now the wind has increased to F6 and the sea state is foul, Dave and I note that a lot of locally flagged yachts are ignoring the small boat crossing and making a beeline direct to Vlissingen, after a quick radio chat we alter course to join them.

By 13:45 we are outside of the lock at Vlissingen, in Dutch waters and about to enter their inland waterways. I remember to turn the VHF ATIS facility on whilst waiting for the lock and hold position waiting on the lock signal lights. On the green light there is a bit of a surge by waiting boats for the lock space but I had been warned to expect it as we Brits are the only ones who queue. All is going well until the lights turn red on us whereupon the boats not within the gates try to recover to a waiting position again (within the confines of the lock approach walls). Unfortunately for me the Dutch boat ahead promptly went full astern without looking behind until the children on board started frantically pointing to Hyrst with a bowsprit about to engage his rear. I decided there was no alternative but to go hard astern with Hyrst to at least stop my forward momentum, however, Hyrst does not go astern predictably and we do a dramatic sideways astern arc to starboard, towards another Dutch boat still going ahead. No options left but to go full ahead to port to clear both of them which we achieve but with the embarrassment of Hyrst head butting the lock wall with the bowsprit before we lose way. Not how I wanted my entry to the inland waterways to start but on analysis not a lot of choice without crew to fend off. No serious damage done other than a bowsprit mount that needs tightening and our mark on the lock wall. During the activity I did rename the skipper of the reversing Dutch boat. One other failure rounded off the farce when I used my boathook to pull the boat alongside the lock wall, only to end up with the boathook coming apart leaving me posing with the handle end and the hook end dangling uselessly from the wall. I should have gone round with a hat.

Subsequent progress through the lock goes without incident and we push on along the Kanaal door Walcheren for an overnight stop at Middelburg. Four bridge openings later we are at the HM's pontoon at Middelburg and I am allocated my first box mooring to contend with, which I achieve well enough other than my stern lines are not long enough for the length of box so a bit of quick action with a spare line was necessary. The sun is out and the evening is fine, time for some R&R. I join Dave and Kay, who have already cycled around the town and selected a bar cum eatery where we sample the local food and then move on to the Yacht Club for a further drink or two or ..., can't recall exactly.



Hyrst of Eremue (centre) on the box mooring at Middelburg.

And the crew of Alice Pellow sampling the Yacht Club hospitality.




The trip to the start of the Dutch OGA Cross Country Tour has turned out to be the hardest and longest I have ever worked a boat and there is still the tour and return trip to complete.

Nieuwpoort to Blankenberge


Wednesday 23rd July, an 18Nm passage

Another relatively short trip today as the weather doesn't look set to stop our progress and we have time to reach Wemeldinge for the start of the tour proper.

The wind as ever is on the nose, a F3/4 NE with a NNE swell of a metre plus but not as unpleasant as the last couple of passages. At least it is dry and bright although with some haze.

Alice in close company.


Blankenberge is another port with warnings of uncomfortable to dangerous approaches in strong onshore winds together with a shallow entrance that should be avoided at low water springs. With a departure from Nieuwpoort at 08:40 we are off Oostende by 10:40 and moored up in the VVW marina at Blankenberge for 12:40. But that F4 wind and swell were enough to make yet another rock n' roll session for getting sails down and running in between the entrance piers/wave breaks.

The harbour was absolutely rammed with boats given the fine weather and local holidays, but the HM fitted Hyrst in bows first on his reception pontoon - very handy.





Note the first use of the cockpit cover made up at short notice by Gerry at Solent Covers the day before I left. Needed as a sunshade rather than rain cover. An upside (for a discerning gent like me) to the sun and heat was the prevalence of some very nice deck candy around the marina, brought to my attention by the fact that swimming in the marina seems common practice.

Time available for some shopping in Blankenberge and a view out to sea from the promenade and beach. A bit touristy but another decent stopover.


Dunkerque to Nieuwpoort


Monday 21st July, a possible rest day now a sailing day.

Following a chat with Dave and Kay, the crew of Alice Pellow, I opt to join them on a short passage to Nieuwpoort, like myself they have been pushing hard to get to the event in time and Kay suggested that an early arrival at a port allowing some afternoon leisure was needed. In their case especially so, their mast broke two weeks previously whilst sailing in the Solent and they had worked all the hours imaginable to get a new timber mast built prepared and rigged, resulting in a late departure but not having to cancel the trip.

The passage to Nieuwpoort is only 14Nm but requires some careful attention to navigation due to the extensive sandbanks, the route being via the Rade de Dunkerque, Passe de Zuydcoote and then a buoyed channel into the port. Once again the wind is NE F5 and with wind against tide a bumpy trip is expected.

My departure from the mooring was a bit tricky with Hyrst being rafted one boat out but with a raft of three beamy boats ahead of me and the wind pushing me on to the mooring (no astern option). The crew of the french boat inside of me, 4 blokes, arrived and started preparing their boat (seemed like a race school boat) but not one offered to assist with my departure, even after I asked if one of them would go on the outside boat ahead to fend off if necessary. I did get away with out any drama and with a condescending casting off by one of the crew of my aft line used to spring out. Obviously not cruising types. Alice Pellow was waiting for me in the harbour and we set off in company.

The passage turned out to be a rough one with short steep seas due to the shallow water, tide and what turned out to be a F5 rising to F6 head wind. Motor sailing with two reefs in the main it proved to be slow progress especially through the Passe de Zuydcoote. Alice Pellow pulled away from me and was about a mile ahead by the time we were offshore of Nieuwpoort as I watched them turn into wind and drop their main. The next time I looked at them they were running down wind under foresails, a quick call to them on the VHF in case of problems and the response was engine failure. My response to get to them asap and standby was not a lot of use under the conditions but the best I could offer. Not good, difficult conditions, unknown harbour with narrow entrance and no ready assistance. Dave opted to sail the boat in and to their credit they sailed the boat into and down the long entrance onto a hammerhead pontoon on a marina berth. Cool work by the pair of them.


 I followed in and rafted alongside them, the marina dockmaster having picked up on the situation and taken the lines from Alice Pellow on arrival, then giving us berthing there overnight. So much for Kay's afternoon of sightseeing, Dave was into investigating the engine failure. The rough passage was a clue and checking the fuel filters revealed a severe dose of the dreaded diesel bug. No engineering support was available that afternoon but a local company agreed to fetch the boat the next day and see what could be done.

Hyrst of Eremue had another good rock n' roll session getting the main down and into the harbour but once inside all was (relatively) calm.



Pictures thanks to a local Belgian sailing couple out walking who saw us entering the harbour, took the snaps and happened to be moored on an adjacent marina berth.


Tuesday 22nd July was Alice Pellow fixing day as first priority, with the boat yard proving up to their promise (after a lot of chasing by Dave and Kay)

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The fuel and tank were duly cleaned and filters replaced, with Dave relieved of a substantial amount of money for the work. The charge obviously took into account the "no option" situation.

During the day whilst Alice was at the doctors I joined Dave and Kay for a tour of Nieuwpoort, using the free cycle loan provided by the marina. A pleasant harbour town and one I would enjoy visiting again.

The day was not a lost sailing day either as the morning was poor visibility and strong winds all day so would have been an enforced rest day.