Anchorage Kooizand Enkhuizen to Oosterhaven Enkhuizen: 1,6 nautical miles
We were woken early by being jolted hither and thither by the waves. The wind direction had changed, but the waves were still coming from the same angle from which the wind blew before. And it was blowing much harder than forecasted. Oh well…the unpredictability of the weather. We tied everything up that was flapping about and were just in time to see a beautiful sunrise.
One of the first sunrises we’ve seen from our boat
Since it was quite early we tried to catch some more sleep. When we woke again it was blowing even harder and from another direction than predicted. We chose the spot because the wind was supposed to turn from easterly to south-westerly during the night. But now it was more northerly, causing us to be exposed to the waves and the wind. On top of that we were also dragging a bit, probably because the wind had turned 180 degrees, or that the chain we had let out wasn’t long enough for the increased wind and waves. But first things first: we were not going to leave without breakfast and some coffee first like we did at the Braassemermeer. The coffee was made with the very last drops of water. We had just managed to stretch our water supply to nine days.
From the anchorage it was just a short distance to the Oosterhaven. When we hailed the harbour master about an available slip, he said that I didn’t need my glasses this time because it was a familiar spot. Still the running gag…
After filling up the water tank, connecting shore power and all the other usual mooring stuff we went to the ticket machine to pay the fee. We treated ourselves to a nice lunch with soles and fries, bought some bread on the way back and spend a relaxed afternoon on the boat.
We had to repair the hatch today, a piece of wood had broken off when we opened it this morning. Of course a prepared sailor has everything aboard for emergency repairs. Not that we are that prepared, but we do have montage glue. An hour later the hatch was as good as new again.
In the meantime the wind was already picking up, but our mooring in the middle of the city was quite sheltered from the wind. How sheltered it actually was, we only noticed when we went out for a walk. A row of buildings separates the Oosterhaven from the open waters of the IJsselmeer. When we left the shelter of the buildings to have a look at what was happening at the harbour entrance, the difference in wind strength was enormous. We could hardly walk upright. We watched the boats moored in the Buitenhaven for a while. They didn’t have the protection from the wind that we have in the Oosterhaven, and lay bumping and jolting against the bulwark. The storm is going to hit us tonight, and after feeling the wind force which isn’t even up to speed yet, it probably was a wise decision to move back to the marina.
Anchorage Enkhuizen Zuiderzee museum to Enkhuizen Oosterhaven: 1,1 nautical miles
We decided to move back to the municipality marina of Enkhuizen today. The weather would continue to take a turn for the worst with predictions for a south-westerly storm for Friday and Saturday. And honestly we could do with a good night’s sleep. So we’re going to wait out the storm in the shelter of the marina.
Because the wind had changed direction early this morning, the idiot next to us was right on top of our anchor. Slowly we hauled in the chain manually. Lucky for our neighbour the wind shifted a bit, causing the other boat to swing slightly away from our anchor. The anchor had dug in deep, but we managed to wriggle it free with the anchor winch without bumping into the other boat. But frankly we were so fed up with the blundering idiot that we couldn’t have cared less.
When we entered the marina we hailed the harbour master to ask if there was still a spot available in the Oosterhaven, and if possibly slip 51 would still be free. “Ah, sail yacht De Kim! Are you wearing your glasses this time?” he responded. It seems to have become the running gag. For years to come we will be known as the people who docked in the wrong slip because they were not wearing their glasses.
We felt wretched by the lack of sleep and were grateful to be able to dock in a familiar spot. And luckily it was a familiar spot, because the docking didn’t go all too well. Our reactions were so sluggish, that docking in an unfamiliar spot would have been even more disastrous.
We went to the ticket machine and paid the fee for the coming days, bought some fresh bread along the way and spent the day recovering from our anchorage adventure.
Our little boat in her secluded spot in the Oosterhaven
Change of plans, we’re not leaving today. We had initially planned to sail to an anchorage we found on the map, but yesterday evening when we went out to get a shower we already saw the number of boats in the marinas accumulating fast. And this morning it only had gotten worse. Considering the amount of boats we figured that it might be overcrowded at the anchorage we chose, so it probably would be wise to stay put and wait until Monday. Without further ado we went to the ticket machine to pay for two extra days. On our way back from the ticket machine we spoke to the harbour master who told us that this weekend and coming weekend are the indeed busiest weekends of the year, confirming our suspicion that the anchorage might be overcrowded.
More confirmation came when we took a walk later on to the harbour entrance at the ‘Buitenhaven’, another municipality marina, and saw one boat after another coming into the already packed marina. Literally every 5 minutes another boat came along, shepherded by the harbour master in a RIB (reinforced inflatable boat) to a designated spot. Very skilfully she had stacked rows of more than 5 boats thick with military precision alongside each other, filling the marina to the brim. It was no different in the other city marina. Only our marina was still relatively quiet. But unlike the other two city marinas there isn’t really the possibility to stack here, due to all the separate berths with mooring poles and finger docks. You can imagine that we were very glad to have arrived early and that we were moored in such a good spot. So after watching the mayhem whilst enjoying an ice cream we went back to our peaceful corner of the city and enjoyed the sunshine.
The municipality marina was supposed to have a washing machine, but since all the facilities are spread over the three locations, it took a while before we found out where it was. There was only one machine which was already in use. Bummer. It was also quite far away from our boat so walking back and forth with two batches of laundry would be really cumbersome. The washing program had just started, and since we had to wait for an hour anyway we went in search for a launderette. After a quick internet search we found one nearby, but when we got there it turned out it indeed used to be a launderette, but was now a lifestyle shop called ‘t oude Washhuys (washhuys is old Dutch for launderette). There was one other option though. The Compagnieshaven, which is the commercial marina, was just on the other side of the street from where our berth in the Oosterhaven was. We saw on the internet that they also had laundry facilities, and decided to try our luck there. And yes! Four big washing machines and two dryers, all empty. We got our laundry, bought the necessary tokens at their marina office, put our stuff in the washing machine and took a shower while we waited. We felt a bit like stowaways, but clean ones, fully refreshed and with clean clothes.
The weather forecast predicted 3 to 4 Beaufort for today and blowing straight towards Enkhuizen, so we decided to leave. We left the marina and hoisted our genoa first to see what the wind would do. It started out fine, we had a steady breeze and made good speed. But then the wind started to increase rapidly and soon it was blowing a steady 4 to 5 Beaufort. Our genoa is really big, and since it is probably one of the original sails it would be 40 years old, just as old as our boat is. After all these years it has completely lost its shape. It would only blow up like a balloon, trapping the air flow and tilting the boat over forwards which was not really pleasant. And since we’re not very experienced yet, we don’t know how to handle the ever increasing wind with the shapeless sail. We tried furling in the genoa a bit to minimize the amount sail, but that didn’t really change much. After the wind had increased even more with gusts up to 36 knots we had enough and decided to furl in the genoa and continue by engine. So much for 3 to 4 Beaufort.
Jeroen looking anxiously at the waves behind us
We were in for a bumpy ride. We were already halfway the Markermeer and the waves had time to build up on the open water, resulting in short but relatively big waves. The waves were sometimes even crashing into the cockpit from behind.
After being tossed hither and thither for almost 4 hours we finally reached the lock where we could exit the Markermeer and enter the IJsselmeer, also marking our destination. The marina of Enkhuizen lies right behind the lock.
No shortage on marinas here in Enkhuizen. There is a big municipality marina spread over three locations in the inner city. There is a also club marina near the train station and a huge commercial marina. Enkhuizen must be a popular spot since all the marinas were already quite full, and it isn’t even mid season yet. We chose to moor in the Oosterhaven, one of the three the municipality marinas.
After we had left the locks we hailed the harbour master who directed us to slip nr.66 in the Oosterhaven. Upon arrival it looked quite narrow, but since the harbour master had directed us to that slip knowing our width, we must assume that it will fit. But it didn’t. We entered slip but got stuck one third in. It was way too narrow. With some effort we prised ourselves loose, moored temporarily on the opposite side of the canal and hailed him again over VHF to say it didn’t fit. “Impossible!” he said “The slip should be almost 4 meters wide!”. We assured him that it really wasn’t, since we were 3,20 meters wide. He couldn’t appoint another slip immediately, since he was on his bike opening bridges and all, and had forgotten to bring the list. So if we could stay afloat for a while he would race to the harbour office and check for available spaces and hail us again. In the meantime we had seen that slip 55 was empty, looked broad enough and had a finger dock thus we suggested to dock there. The harbour master agreed, so we started the engine again and docked in slip 55. Or so we thought. When we were fastening the mooring lines we saw that it wasn’t 55 but 51. Wrong slip! We didn’t feel like relocating after the rough trip, so we hailed the harbour master again and told them that we had docked in the wrong slip. “My bad” I said, “ I wasn’t wearing my glasses”. Fortunately it wasn’t a problem to stay here. We were relieved to be done with it all.
We went to the harbour office to pay. In Enkhuizen paying for a slip is fully automated. Another first today, paying at a ticket machine. The machine printed a sticker we had to attach to the boat. We also had to buy a card from the machine to pay for electricity, water and showers.
After the usual post-mooring stuff like connecting shore power, cleaning up sail gear and reverse the saloon into living mode again we settled down in the cockpit to recover from the bumpy ride. The weather was cooperative for once. The wind had died down and there was even a ray of sunshine peeping through the clouds. Captain Fluffy didn’t need to recover from the passage. Although he had spent the whole trip in the V-berth, he almost immediately jumped on the finger dock and went off exploring. It looks like he already feels at home here.
