Sailing trip to East England
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Monday and Tuesday, 18 and 19 May 2009
On this day we left Amsterdam with the beautiful Koopmans 40 “Neeltje S”with the destination East England.
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Monday and Tuesday, 18 and 19 May 2009
On this day we left Amsterdam with the beautiful Koopmans 40 “Neeltje S”with the destination East England.
The Neeltje S
Rob, the skipper
The wind was blowing from the west with a force 5 and 6 from the West, so right on the nose!
Leaving the gate of IJmuiden we hesitated if the waves and the wind would not be too strong to reach our destination. But we continued.
It was quite a rough passage. Battling against steep waves and a strong wind.
We ended up on a course to Scotland! In the night we tacked and in the last two hours we used the motor to reach Lowestoft where we arrived after approximately 26 hours.
Leaving the gate of IJmuiden we hesitated if the waves and the wind would not be too strong to reach our destination. But we continued.
It was quite a rough passage. Battling against steep waves and a strong wind.
We ended up on a course to Scotland! In the night we tacked and in the last two hours we used the motor to reach Lowestoft where we arrived after approximately 26 hours.
The Royal Norfolk & Suffolk Yacht Club
Carl in Lowestoft
Wednesday, 20 May 2009
In the morning, after a good rest, we left for the Ore.
Alas we had to motor for three hours to reach the entrance.
At 17.00 we were to early. The tide was just beginning to go inwards.
At the bar at the entrance we got stuck on the bottom. But the Neeltje S is a very strong steel boat and after a quarter of an hour we managed to get in with the rising tide.
After this difficult entry we had a beautiful three hour sail up the river, passing Orford, and ending up in Aldenburgh. Here we picked up a mooring.
The little sailing boats of the local sailing club were all sailing around our ship and around the buoys. A beautiful sight in the evening sun.
Wednesday, 20 May 2009
In the morning, after a good rest, we left for the Ore.
Alas we had to motor for three hours to reach the entrance.
At 17.00 we were to early. The tide was just beginning to go inwards.
At the bar at the entrance we got stuck on the bottom. But the Neeltje S is a very strong steel boat and after a quarter of an hour we managed to get in with the rising tide.
After this difficult entry we had a beautiful three hour sail up the river, passing Orford, and ending up in Aldenburgh. Here we picked up a mooring.
The little sailing boats of the local sailing club were all sailing around our ship and around the buoys. A beautiful sight in the evening sun.
Orford
Aldenburgh
Sailing thames barge
Thursday, 21 May 2009
In a beautiful morning we motored all the way back to the sea and passed the bar at around 10.30.
We tried sailing against the wind and the current to Harwich which is not far away.
In the meantime we tried fishing, but no success!
After a few hours we decided to motor again to Harwich.
At the entrance of the Orwell we had a little trouble with the gearbox and the skipper Rob decided to enter the Suffolk Yacht Club. The gearbox made strange noises but worked.
We had a wonderful dinner at a nearby restaurant “The Ship” which we can recommend to everybody.
Felixstowe
East coast sailing boat
Friday, 22 May 2009
Again wonderful weather. There were a lot of boats sailing and motoring on the Orwell.
We motored up to Pin Mill and took a mooring in front of the famous bar/restaurant
“Butt & Oyster”.
We did some shopping, took a walk along the river to Woolverstone and ended on the terrace of the Butt & Oyster. At low water the hard is very slippery with the famous East English mud and our shoes and trousers were all smeared with it when we hoisted the dinghy ashore and on the way back in the water.
Thames barge at Pin Mill
Rob & Carl at the Butt & Oyster
Pin Mill
Saturday and Sunday, 23 and 24 May 2009
At the moment we left for Holland the wind turned to the east!! On the nose again.
Later the wind died completely. So we motored nearly all the way to IJmuiden.
We arrived at sunset at the gates of IJmuiden and were at 9 am in the marina Twellegea in Amsterdam
It was a week with wonderful weather, some good sailing and too much motoring.The landscape of East England is always very nice and it is so wonderful to be able to enter these rivers without gates
Sunset at the North Sea
Carl with his luggage
Again in Nieuwendam, Amsterdam.
