Today we’re sailing to Stellendam. It was the perfect day for a trip: Blue skies, light winds and reasonably warm temperatures for March. We had to wait a bit for the extreme low tide to pass, otherwise our keel would get stuck in the mud in the marina.
Around noon we awkwardly untied the lines and set off. It seems our sailing skills have become a bit rusty during our winter break. But soon we were on our way again, just like we used to.
It was quiet on the waterways. Almost no commercial traffic, and we’ve just spotted two other pleasure crafts during the whole trip. On the shore however, it was a completely different story. On the cycle- and walking path along the river banks it looked like a procession with so many people walking, cycling and riding horses. We’re glad to be far from the crowd alone in our floating nutshell on the water.
After quite a pleasant trip we arrived in Stellendam. The slip we were able to hire was coincidentally next to our old slip. Probably due to all the familiarity, docking went a lot better than when we untied the lines this morning.
It’s a bit strange but also nice to be back again, almost a year after we started our journey here.
Anchorage Enkhuizen Zuiderzeemuseum to Makkum Prins van Oranje: 25 nautical miles
It is time to really leave Enkhuizen behind us. In contradistiction to what we thought a few days ago, it isn’t easier to leave from an anchorage. But we’re easier inclined to leave from an anchorage because we have run out of a.water b.electricity or c.food. And today we really have to leave because we’re running out of water. We were in doubt whether we should refill the tank before we left or that it could wait until we arrived in Makkum. We chose to do it upon arrival because as usual we were on the late side again and set sail for Makkum.
We left the sheltered bay near the Zuiderzee museum and hoisted the main sail and unfurled the genoa. The wind was forecasted to be somewhere between 3 to 4 Beaufort, but in reality it was more like 2 to 3 Beaufort. The sun was shining abundantly so we turned on the autopilot and spent the day being pulled behind the boat in the water and lounging in shade of the genoa.
A refreshing dive
The speed of our boat was considerably faster than last time we did this jumping in the water thing. You can’t just jump of a boat if it has some speed. It goes a lot faster than you can swim, and the boat would soon be out of sight. So if you jump in you hold on to a rope which is tied to the stern of the boat. We jump in from the bow, and when you surface you see the rear of the boat speeding past, that’s how fast the boat moves. A second later you feel a jolt and the boat starts pulling you forward like a water skier. This time the pull was so strong that it costed a lot of strength to pull yourself towards the boat to get a hold of the swimming ladder.
Late afternoon all of a sudden the wind died. It was forecasted to turn to the west, so we figured this was the moment that the wind would turn. We tacked and changed course to anticipate the changing wind direction. But suddenly, before we even had set the sails properly, Booom! The wind banged in the sails with a force that almost knocked us from our feet and the wind speed jumped from 0 to 16 knots in just a few seconds. Luckily we weren’t dangling behind the boat at that time. The wind kept increasing and we shot forward like we were catapulted and sped over the water towards Makkum. We covered the last third of of the trip in just under an hour, whereas it took us six hours to cover the first two thirds.
Entering the channel of Makkum
When we tacked again to make the turn to enter the channel to Makkum the wind dropped a bit, allowing us to gently sail up the channel in stead of covering the last bit by engine. We had hoped to find a spot in the municipality marina, but what we saw on the way didn’t look very promising. We passed two marinas in the canal absolutely packed with screaming children, yelling men and hysterical women, smoking barbecues and loud music while left and right roaring speedboats sped past. Our spirits fell. This looked more like an Italian camping site than the peaceful marina we had imagined.
We sailed all the way to the end of the channel where the Municipality marina was. Our fears were confirmed. It was completely filled to the brim. We decided to anchor somewhere for the night and see if we could find a spot tomorrow. But we were a bit reluctant to do that, because we were almost out of water. Another thing we’ve learned. Never miss an opportunity to refill the water tank, because you’ll never know what you might find at the end of your passage. We could have easily refilled our tank in Enkhuizen, but decided against it. Stupid. If we would have taken the time to fill our water tank, we could have anchored without a care.
On the way back through the channel we saw another marina, the Prins van Oranje Makkum. It only had a sign with its name on it, but no VHF channel or phone number to call which is unusual. We decided to dock at what looked like a reception dock to ask if it would be alright if we stayed here for the night.
We had just tied ourselves to the dock and had got of the boat to search for the harbour master, when we saw him already coming towards us. It turned out he wasn’t just a harbour master but a yacht broker with a small private marina. Normally he didn’t accept guests, but made an exception for us because, as he put it, we looked like good folk. He showed us a berth where we could stay and soon we were safely docked in a quiet marina with a lovely view. What a day.
Anchorage IJsseloog to anchorage Kooizand Enkhuizen: 20 nautical miles
We’re leaving today, destination Enkhuizen. This is such a wonderful spot, if it wasn’t for the dentist appointment we have in two days, we would probably stay indefinitely. There are worse days to leave, though. The sun was shining abundantly, the temperatures were tropical and we had nice light winds for a downwind sail. We quickly forgot our sadness, because when we had hoisted the sails and shut down the engine it was great to be sailing again.
Time also to try something new. When we bought the boat it came with a steering pilot. We’d never used it before, because there wasn’t really a need for it plus we wanted learn how to sail and get a feel for the subtleties of the wheel before delegating it to an automaton. And since it was almost a straight line from our anchorage to Enkhuizen, it was the ideal passage to try it out. You enter a course with degrees, and then the pilot steers the wheel and holds the course. It took some getting used to. The rudder responds slower to the pilot than to hand steering which led to overcompensating and nervous pressing of buttons. But after a while we got the hang of it and were able to relax and let the pilot steer for us. Although an oldie, it still worked perfectly.
We had to cross the Ketelbrug again, so we started the engine and lowered our sails. The lazy jack we made works great as well. The sail just drops into a heap in between the lines, without it flapping all over the place. And after we had passed the bridge we could easily hoist it again. Another success!
After the bridge the only thing we had to do was sit back and find something to do for the next 6 coming hours. We found the perfect way to entertain ourselves on a boat with tropical temperatures: jumping off the boat. Without the need for constant hand steering we could take turns in taking a dive to cope with the heat. Although it looks like the boat is practically standing still, it still has a speed of 2,8 knots. It doesn’t sound like much, but if you are in the water the boat moves incredibly fast. We jumped in from the bow holding a line, and the moment you surface again the boat has already past. That’s how fast the boat moves. You feel a jerk of the line and then you’re towed behind the boat. Way to slow to do any waterskiing or wake boarding, but the force you feel is already tremendous.
We also discovered that the best place to sit was on the bow in the shade of the genoa. From there we also had a better view on what happened before us. When we spotted someone who had right of way or big freight ships, we could walk back to the pilot easily and adjust the course, after which we could continue lounging on deck.
On the lookout for oncoming traffic from a shady spot on the bow
However there were not only success stories today. There was one technical issue, not with the pilot, but with the wind meter. It just suddenly stopped working. A few quick interventions we could think of didn’t work. A detailed investigation has to wait until we’re in a marina. Hopefully we don’t have to go up in the mast again…
After 5 hours of sailing the wind started to die down slowly. We saw our speed dropping from 2,8 knots to 1,8 knots and finally to less than a knot. Since we were already quite close to Enkhuizen, we turned on the engine and motored the last 15 minutes. It was already after eight, too late to moor in the Oosterhaven because the bridge is only operated till 5 o’clock. That’s a pity. We had hoped to moor in a marina this evening because our water tank was almost empty. Hopefully our water supply will last till tomorrow morning. We decided to drop the anchor at Kooizand, the recreational beach of Enkhuizen. There were already quite a few boats there, but we found a spot amongst them, anchored successfully and shut down the engine. Another first, we never have sailed from anchorage to anchorage before.
We took an evening dive to refresh ourselves a bit and contemplated the day in the cockpit whilst the sun was going down. It was an amazing day, glorious weather and the most relaxed and magical passage we ever had.
