Tag: Gaff rig

From Dordrecht to Gouda and Haarlem

Passing through one of the huge lifting bridges to Gouda

The NL OGA 20 armada left the lovely Wijnhaven Marina in Dordrecht in two enormous streams, when the bridge lifted at 0820 and again at 0850. Shipping had been warned of this by the rally organisers and this seemed to have worked because there was little traffic ax we crossed the wide Oude Maas and made our way up the Noord on our route to Gouda. Molly squeezed under the Alblasserdamsebrug railway bridge, the first of many on our way through the countryside.

Our hopes of staying in the museum harbour of Gouda had been blocked by a broken lock, but no sooner had we arrived and moored on the main canal outside the town than we were told the lock was fixed! It took us over 2 hours to negotiate all the bridges and the lock to enter the city, but it meant we were right in the heart of things and the boats looked wonderful dressed all over.

Apart from the usual socialising, we went to see the “cheese pantomime market” in the town centre, stock up on provisions and generally eat well.

It took us two more days to reach Haarlem, passing through very rural parts of North Holland, punctuated with small, neat towns . It’s very obvious that the general land level is below that of the canals and only remains habitable through the pumps that keep the waters out. The countryside was very beautiful and we saw much wildlife as we travelled.

We made our overnight stop on a lake near the town of Kaag and were led to a lovely secluded harbour called Meldsteiger where we were serenaded by musicians from the traditional barge which had joined our fleet.

We completed our journey to Haarlem the next day, traversing 11 bridges. Our convoy of over 30 boats looked wonderful and the bridges opened in turn like magic as the fleet approached. We attracted quite a bit of attention as we passed, giving the trip a party feel, though it required a great deal of concentration to travel so close to so many other boats.

The fleet massing before the railway bridge, to pass north to Haarlem

Arriving in Haarlem, we had two nights in the centre of the city, giving us a chance to re supply ourselves and enjoy the beautiful city. We had a tour of the reconstructed mill of Adriaan, which had successively ground mortar for building, tobacco for snuff and grain for bread and brewing.

On the second night we tasted some of the different beers at the Jopen brewery, housed in a repurposed church. The weather was scorching hot, so cold beers were very welcome! We invited the crews of Puffin and Windbreker aboard Molly for dinner and had a most enjoyable evening – beef dhansak from the thermal cooker.

The rally begins

Our group of boats which had gathered at Wemeldinge began their journey to Hellevoetsluis by first visiting the picturesque town of Willemstad. The fleet rafted to the town quay made a wonderful sight and we enjoyed another alfresco meal that evening. The passage to Hellevoetsluis the next day was begun under sail, downwind in increasingly light airs. As the boat speed dwindled to a crawl, Ben and I took turns to swim off the boat, which was very refreshing on such a hot day. We then reluctantly fired up the engine and motored across the glassy water.

We were all greeted in Hellevoetsluis by local organiser Else, who we had met at previous events in the UK. One of the treats of a rally is receiving the goody bag of items. Apart from the beautifully produced rally program and T-shirt, we found, among other little treats, stroopwaffels, a mysterious foam-filled clog (evidently for turning into a boat), a flashlight and a lovely laser-cut plaque.

Hostilities between Dutch and English navies begin…

The reception party was a very jolly affair at an old armoury in this historically important town. We were served a stream of delicious shared pizzas from a “pizza van”, followed by a sea battle between the Dutch and British navies in the form of a game of skittles devised by organised Rijk.

We stayed two days in Hellevoetsluis and enjoyed a race on each day. In the first race we sailed really well in a good breeze and managed to beat the other two Crabber 26’s racing but did not fare so well on the second day in some very light airs.

Molly had the legs of Lahloo on a breezy day…

…but we didn’t do so well the next day in light airs

“Admiral De Reuter” giving us a tour of Hellevoetsluis

On Saturday afternoon Niki joined the boat and we attended the formal opening of the rally and on Monday made our way to the next port, Dordrecht. We chose a river route, following the tidal Spui to join the Oude Maas (“old river Maas”). The former was very rural surrounded by fields and dotted with swimming places, whereas the latter was busier and more industrial with a lot of commercial traffic. We had to negotiate a couple of major junctions, the AIS was really useful here for being able to spot commercial traffic coming round the corner.

Colin of Plum making good use of a parasol

No locks on this journey but an enormous bridge, carrying a busy railway line, as well as a road bridge. This opens once an hour in a meticulously synchronised operation. We just made an opening time and I was glad not to have to wait for an hour in these busy and choppy waters.

We saw a train cross the bridge and, seconds later, the middle section started to slowly rise, whilst the bascules of the road bridge also hinged upward. As soon as there was enough air draught, the boats began motoring through, under the watchful eye of the bridge master. We brought up the rear, at full revs to get under in time. The rail bridge was already lowering as we passed through and had been up for less than two minutes!

The second bridge of the day was at the narrow entrance to Wijnhaven and after the usual boat dancing, the fleet was rafted three-deep to the pontoon.

The next day was a rest day and we enjoyed an Indonesian meal, walks around the picturesque city and generally trying to keep cool in the wonderful hot sunny weather.

I wanted to top up the fuel but the fuel berth is designed for commercial vessels and is not safe for small boats to moor, so I ended up carrying two 10-litre cans back to Molly.

We waved Ben off back to Falmouth in Dordrecht. It had been good to have his experience on board, particularly for the channel crossing. It would be just Niki and I for the next couple of weeks, until Alice and her friends join us near the end of the rally.

The palaver on the pontoon (briefing for the next day)

Winding through Zeeland

Having entered the canals and reached Middleburg, our next task was to cross the Zeeland region to reach the pre-rally gathering in Wemeldinge.

After fuelling up, we motored down the wide straight canal to the lock at Veere which opens onto the Verse Meere. This is a brackish lagoon created as part of the system to control water levels. It’s evidently very popular for all kinds of water sports and is bordered by beaches, camp sites and sailing clubs. The buoyed channel is quite narrow and winding and it’s necessary to stay within its path as we found out to our cost!

We threaded our way under sail – our course always seemed to be a beat, despite the twists and turns of the channel. Every time we thought we could sail straight to the next mark, the wind would shift to head us off! After an hour or two of short tacking back and forth in the narrow channel, we gave up and motored, as we’d been warned not to turn up late to our destination that night, Goes (pronounced like a Scot might refer to his home: “hoose”).

We needn’t have worried, when we reached the lock to leave the Verse Meer, we discovered it was broken and quite a few boats were waiting. We rafted onto the waiting pontoon and, er, waited. It was no hardship in the sun!

After something over an hour, the lock was fixed and disgorged its waiting flotilla of boats. I had been worried that we might not get into the lock as so many boats were waiting. However, the lock was huge and after over 30 boats had emerged, we were cleared to enter – all the waiting boats fitted easily.

Indian Runner and Molly on the Oosterschelde

Even though it was now late, we were still determined to reach Goes, so motored a short distance along the tidal Eastern Scheldt to our final lock and the short canal to Goes. As we entered that lock we were told there was a problem with one of the bridges ahead but we went ahead anyway. It was early evening by then but engineers were working to fix it and, by the time reached it, it was opened. We passed up to the town, moored and walked to the town square for our evening meal.

The Mary Magdalen church in the centre of Goes

The following day our target was to travel the six miles or so to Wemeldinge, for the “pre-rally rally”. Many of the boats travelling to Hellevoetsluis for the main rally were to gather at Wemeldinge and travel onward in convoy.

We left our moorings in Goes and made our way along the short canal to the sea lock, only to be stopped at a bridge in the small village of Wilheminasdorf. We had two red lights, indicating a delay and we received local information that the bridge was broken and it would be several hours until it opened, so we made fast as best we could. It was a very hot day but I could think of worse places to be trapped!

Plum, Moon River, Molly, Indian Runner and Puffin Bach trapped in Wilhelminasdorf

After a while, we we visited by local fellow gaffer owner Rik who offered us a lift to the bar whilst we waited. As I knew we had a couple more hours to wait, I inflated our tender and ferried some of our party ashore. Rik very kindly drove us to the sailing club bar, where we bought ice creams back for everyone.

Just before the engineer was due to arrive, a large fleet of boats arrived behind us from Goes. The bridge was lifted as soon as the engineer arrived and there was a general jostle to reach the lock. It took two lock cycles to pass all the waiting boats through, but we were soon in Wemeldinge.

We took the next day as a rest day, hired bikes for a tour of the local area and sampled the excellent seafood in nearby Yerseke. Later, a reception had been arranged to welcome all the travellers and we spent the evening getting to know our travelling companions.

Into the canals

We made a 4.30am start from Blankenburg, leaving the port in the darkness with the bright lights of Zeebrugge port ahead. It was a very calm morning and we motored down tied with just the staysail to stabilise us. Despite being a neap tide, the current was very strong and we were making over 6kt as Zeeland hove into view. We had to wait for a large container ship to pass before turning across the Westerschelde to enter Vlissingen. There were a number of other boats waiting for the ship lock into the canal, as apparently there had been a problem with the lock. We passed through a few minutes after the time for the “blue wave”, where a convoy of boats passes through the bridges opening in sequence.

Our destination was just a few miles up in the historic city of Middleburg. Before we could relax and have a kip after our early start, we were introduced to box moorings. I’m sure we entertained the onlookers but with help, managed to get settled.

Molly motoring up to Middleburg (photo courtesy of E. Frenks)

Cruising along Belgium

Saturday sound Molly of Mylor, Puffin Bach, Plum and Moon River in Nieuwport. We had a morning to available to explore before moving on to Blankenburg with the afternoon tide.

The impressive West Front museum. Nieuwpoort was totally destroyed during the Great War and this museum has many artefacts from that time and focusses on the regeneration of the town after the conflict. The walkway around the top of the museum provides and excellent view of the old town.

The “Goose’s Foot” – the river feeds six canals. Early in WW1, and attempt was made to stop the advancing Germans by opening all the gates and flooding the land with seawater. This was only partially successful. The largest canal has a lock which leads to Bruges and beyond.

The ketch Catherina crossing the bows of Plum off Oostende

Molly and Plum moored at Blankenburg with Puffin and Moon river behind

Dinner and planning for the next day’s entry to the Zeeland canals aboard Molly

Channel Crossing

This summer’s main event is to attend the NL OGA 20th anniversary rally in the centre of The Netherlands.

The first leg was a night departure from Gosport, to Eastbourne. After a couple of days visiting my parents, this was followed by a passage to Dover in the company of my father. At Dover, I was joined by my friend Ben, ready for the Channel crossing itself.

We slipped our lines just after 5am and were cleared by VTS through the Eastern entrance. We motored to SW Goodwin and then turned towards France and crossed into the shipping lanes. AIS makes it much easier to judge when to cross.

By the time we had cleared both lanes, the tide had turned against us. The wind was dead astern and we made good boat speed along the French coast but our speed over the ground slowed to just below 3kt at worst. Eventually the tide turned back in our favour, so the last 15M of coastline passed at 5-6kt and we gratefully entered the river leading up to Nieuwpoort harbour about 13 hours after leaving Dover.

Video: Gosport to Eastbourne

Bembridge Rally

The weekend of July 20-21st saw Molly attend a gathering of gaffers at Duver marina in Bembridge. Niki and I had a lovely sail across to the Island and rafted up with the fleet. This was our first rally of the season and it was most enjoyable to catch up with friends.

Afternoon tea at Mark and Rosy Hickman’s boat workshop

Molly crossing the Solent back to Portsmouth (picture by Huw Hallebone)

Drills on the river

Less than favourable weather made a trip out of the harbour an unattractive prospect today. Nevertheless Niki and I spent the day gainfully employed in the harbour calibrating the log, some drills up at the Wicor pontoons and a lovely downwind sail back to our berth.

The millennium bridge raised at low tide

Dramatic sky over Portsmouth (we were in the pub by this time!)

Bank holiday ramble

A busy bank holiday at Portsmouth harbour entrance

Looking for a relaxing way to enjoy some slightly mixed bank holiday weather, we arranged to meet Puffin Bach and her skipper Brian (with whom we cruised to Suffolk last summer) at The Folly Inn on the Medina. We had a very pleasant downwind sail from Portsmouth to Cowes and motored up the river to arrive not long after Puffin and were directed to raft alongside on the mid-stream pontoon.

Molly and Puffin rafted at The Folly Inn

Having enjoyed a sunny afternoon with a few drinks in the cockpit, we elected to have some exercise. The water taxi took us ashore and we followed the riverside footpath past Island Harbour into the island’s county town for a curry at Tamarind.

We had decided to visit our friends Grant and Amanda whose boat Meagan is moored on the Beaulieu river. This was both upwind and uptide, so Molly and Puffin motored across from Cowes and then up the beautiful river. We both easily found visitor moorings and Grant graciously picked us up in his tender. We spent a lovely afternoon chatting in the sun and enjoying the fizz we intended to drink during the OGA60 rally last summer, but which was rather precluded by the deluge during the parade of sail.

Brian joined niki and I aboard Molly for supper, after which I rowed Brian back to Puffin. The river is such a peaceful place to spend the night and I enjoyed the range of woodland and coastal bird calls to greet us on the following morning.

Just after low water we dropped the mooring and trickled down a peaceful river to its mouth and then back out into the Solent. The fair tide and and gentle breeze carried us back to Portsmouth and our home berth.

Contessa 32 rally fleet at Buckler’s Hard

Fellow Cornish Crabber 26 going great guns off Cowes

Afloat for the new season

Molly has been ashore for the winter, giving me a chance to more easily carry out some maintenance. When people ask me if I had much to do, I’d reply that I didn’t, but I kept a list and it seems pretty long in hindsight. Most of it was normal maintenance but a couple of things were significant- I have fixed the holding tank pump and I also stripped the spars back to bare wood and varnished them to match the mast, restored last winter.

Molly spent the winter with mast down, sporting a mast cover which Niki made, so was well protected from the elements. The varnish stood up well during a very active sailing season last year and only needed touching up in a couple of places. Raising the mast went very smoothly – it was certainly easier doing this whilst ashore, rather than afloat!

With Molly on her new berth for this season, I spent a day cleaning the topsides and bending the sails back on. To my relief, I had not made any mistakes in my preparation and all went remarkably easily, except for dropping a main sheet shackle in the drink!

Hanging a spanner from the pennant halyard to check mast rake (as nearly vertical as possible)

Easter Monday saw Niki and I take Molly out for a shake down sail. We popped out into the Solent and beat out to the Spitbank Fort on first reef before running back into harbour and sailing up to Fareham, trying second reef and both jibs. To our amazement, all the rigging had been assembled correctly (or at least the same as last year).

Obligatory “first sail of the season” photo. First reef not looking especially tidy.

The only exception was perhaps a change needed to the arrangement of the reefing lines. We also had a chance to practice man overboard drills. Fred Fender was quite happy to be the victim for this task and was successfully retrieved on multiple occasions – we’re not expecting to lose any crew, but thought we’d better practice, ahead of our forthcoming ICC assessment.

Scrambled eggs for brunch in the cockpit

Winter jobs completed

Y Make mast crutches x2

Y Service then winterise engine (oil, filter, impeller, fuel filter, gearbox oil)

Y Fix holding tank pump

Y Clean undersides, sand copper coat

Y Lower rudder bolts

Y Check centre plate wire

Y Check prop shaft for play

Y Check/Replace anodes

Y Lube prop

Y Make mast cover

Y Strip and varnish spars

Y Repair spray hood

Y Fit suppressor to VHF – suppressor fitted

Y Chart locker

Y Water tank lid seal

Y Fit pictures and OGA plate in saloon

Y Change water filter+improve plumbing to cure small leak

Y fix Eberspacher

Y Main sail rings in reef points