After two weeks cruising the canals and lakes of Holland along the standing mast route, Molly is now back to more open water.

From Haarlem, we passed under the Spaarnespoor railway bridge and through the Rijnlsndsluis onto the North Sea canal, passing through the centre of Amsterdam and out of the Oranjesluis onto the Markermeer.

The Markermeer is part of a former inland sea, the Zuiderzee, which has been gradually reclaimed under the Zuiderzee Works. The Markermeer is a body of fresh water, separated by a dyke from the IJsselmeer to the north.

It was incredibly hot as we approached Durgerdam, so chose to anchor in the bay outside the harbour for a swim. Lots of other boats had the same idea and vessels of all sorts were scattered across the bay.

Refreshed, we entered the Het Y sailing club for the NL OGA 20 party. With formalities and many beers exchanged between the Dutch and English fleets, the rules of engagement for the following day’s Battle of the Zuiderzee were exchanged.

Each boat had been decorating a clog, which was to be towed astern on the passage to Hoorn. The object was to capture the opposing team’s clogs, whilst avoiding losing one’s own.

There was very little wind as we made our way out and it was a case of “death in slow motion” as one boat drew up to another, those with the biggest sails at the advantage. Molly scored an early victory, capturing a Dutch clog early on. She was raided twice, on the first occasion the raiders (Bluebird), having snagged our clog with their boat hook, dropped it and I dived in to retrieve it. On the second raid, our clog was captured by Persis.

The air was hot and still, so after we lost our clog, we started the engine to create a breeze of our own, but before long the true breeze filled in and we had a lovely sail for the last few miles into Hoorn.

During this leg, we encountered the dreaded weed. The Markermeer is an almost uniform 4m deep in this area and there are large patches of water plant in places. This has long fronds which can entangle boats. We could hear the fronds brushing Molly’s underside at times and several times under engine we could hear the revs drop. Clearly we had passed over weed beds and some had caught around the stern. I found that a big burst of astern cleared it, but our centre plate makes us vulnerable. We seem to have escaped unscathed but next time we anchor, I’ll don my mask and take a look for myself.