Sailing to England again

Rob, the captain

Bart

Dien

Carl

Neeltje S

On friday 24th of july we left Amsterdam on the sailing yacht "Neeltje S" with destination Schotland. The owner Rob with crew of Dien, Bart and myself. All four are boat owners with a lot of experience. When we left there was a lot of rain: see photo of Rob in the rain.

After a day and a night of rough sailing we received a bad weatherforecast and decided to go to Lowestoft and wait for better weather.

The next morning on sunday we left and ended on monday in Newcastle on Tyne.

Sunset on the North Sea

Newcastle

Arcade in Newcastle

St Peter's Basin in Newcastle

The marina office



The market in Newcastle

Horrible english breakfast

After a day's visit of Newcastle we planned to go to Holy Island.

That is near the border of England with Schotland.

Alas we had the Island in sight when again a bad weatherforecast arrived. Force 9 !

So we went to the village Amble which was really nice.

Amble Marina

The lobsters we ate, good idea of Dien!

The Coble: local fishing boat with beautifull curves

Description of the Coble

On the way back we had a wonderfull sail along the coast of East England.

But the wind turned to the south east and we had to motor 24 hours to reach IJmuiden on saturday 1th of august. We had sailed nearly 800 miles in 8,5 days!!

New domes

At last I found a not too expensive manufacturer for two new domes.
They are not as high as the old ones but maybe less vulnerable for big waves and storms.

Domes

I removed the two perspex domes. New ones are made and I am waiting for them.

FanFan in the Ostar 2009

Here a photo of the finish in the Ostar 2009 of the FanFan with the german solosailer
Uwe Rottgering.
Uwe finished on the 10th place overall in Newport USA.
A very good result with such an old boat.
He did a thorough refit of the boat.
This boat is a sistership of my Greyhound and was also built in 1985, designed by Dick Zaal.
Earlier on this website are more photo's of this beautifull ship.

Sailing trip to East England

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.

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.

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.

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.

Greyhound in the water!!!

Before going in the water I put the greyhound on the boat:



At last the boat is ready for launching:

Antifouling ready!!