Sailing – Page 12 – The Gray Route

It’s a small world after all

Exploring the city of Middelharnis

April 17th 2019

Yesterday was quite exhausting so we weren’t in the mood to leave immediately. Not only our physical state was a reason to prolong our stay, but we also want to visit the town of Middelharnis and do some small chores before we leave again. So we asked the harbour master if we could stay two days longer, which was not a problem, and went for a walk to Middelharnis.

A lot of small towns in this region are connected to the big sea arms via a long canal. In the past there were no Delta Works, no dykes and other measures to close off the sea arms. Towns like Middelharnis were built on the shore line and the fishing boats had easy access to the sea. But slowly the silt formed new patches of highly fertile land left and right from the reinforced harbour entrance, which the farmers then claimed for agriculture. The land grew, and canals were dug to maintain the connection to those sea arms. But the silt kept building up thus the canals were getting longer and longer. The canal to Middelharnis is now over 2 kilometers long, and since our marina was situated at the start of the canal, right after the lock, we had to follow the canal all the way towards the town.

It turned out to be a pleasant walk through a landscape with lots of remnants of a maritime past. Old tow paths, derelict molds for hulls, shipyards still in business since their establishment in 1750 and finally the old harbour in the town center.

There are lots of fashion stores in this small town, although fashion might be a bit of a stretch to describe the goods these shops sell. It seemed like all the clothes of all the shops came from the same forgotten warehouse with a big stash of early eighties clothes. Weird.

We met a friend of ours who works in a store in Middelharnis. They are liveaboards as well and used to live in Marina Stellendam too before they moved to another marina. It was great to do a bit of catching up. It turned out they’ve moved again and are now living in the city marina of Middelharnis. What a small world.

Meanwhile we were getting a bit peckish, so we stopped at the local tea room to eat a pastry and watch the inhabitants of Middelharnis go about their business. And after visiting all the touristic sights we took the path on the other side of the canal back to the boat again to enjoy a quiet evening with Captain Fluffy.

Captain Fluffy exploring Middelharnis

Operation car retrieval

эксплуатация автомобиля поиска

April 16th 2019

Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Polish, Swedish and Russian language guides

Busy day today. We’re going to retrieve our car which is still in Stellendam. The car rental was only a short walk away from the marina, just over half an hour walking distance. Hmmm…are we already getting used to the whole walking thing? Normally half an hour walking we would definitely haven’t called short.

Thus began operation car retrieval. Collect the van at the rental, then drive to Stellendam to pick up our car. With the car and the van we drove to Carmen’s parents place where the car will stay for the coming months. When we had ordered the new connector for the solar panels we had them delivered there as well, and they had arrived just in time. We also had ordered handy language guides in Danish, Polish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish and Russian. These ‘Wat & Hoe’ (What & How) booklets contain useful sentences like “Where is the supermarket?”, but also sentences like “If you don’t leave now, I will start to scream”. You can imagine we already have had a lot of pleasurable anticipation with the booklets before we’ve even set foot in those countries.

Of course we made use of the opportunity to pick up some groceries and diesel before we said our goodbyes and drove back with the rental van again. In Middelharnis we dropped the diesel and groceries off at the boat first before returning the car to the rental place.

And there we found ourselves, walking in the middle of nowhere back to our boat in the dead of night. No car anymore to conveniently drive you home. Feels like we’ve really untied all the lines now.

Punctual people

Sailing to Middelharnis

Willemstad to Middelharnis: 13,8 nautical miles

April 15th 2017

The next stage of our adventure! Today we leave for Middelharnis. Not to the municipality marina in the city center, but the ‘Parkhaven Middelharnis’ which is a commercial marina. The reason we choose a marina far away from the old city center, is that this marina lies just over a kilometer away from the place where we’re going to rent a car tomorrow. Well a van actually, they were out of cars. Our car is still in Stellendam, so we need to retrieve it.

It was going to be a sunny day again, slightly warmer than yesterday but still cold. So after putting on all the sail gear minus the Ushanka hat, we untied the lines and left. First we had to cross a traffic lane with big container ships bound for Germany or coming back. Always a bit intimidating to cross those traffic lanes. Their appearances are deceiving. They look so plump and slow when in fact they go over 20 knots per hour, where our maximum speed is 6 knots. So the rule of thump is, if you can see them, they are crossing in front of you.

After the crossing we had to tread water again whilst we waited for the Haringvliet bridge to open. Always funny to see the massive traffic jam caused by a few tiny boats bobbing about.

After we had cleared the bridge we had the wind in our back and the current with us, so we unrolled our genoa and shut down the engine. It is so peaceful sailing with the wind in your back. No noise of the engine, only the soft sounds of the waves you’re surfing. There was something wrong with the jib though. It wouldn’t unfurl completely and furl in completely again. Like it was stuck somewhere at the end. Despite the problem with the jib and the light winds that varied between 9 and 15 knots, we still had an average speed of 4 knots so were making good time.

After a great sail we approached the lock of Middelharnis. Right behind the lock lies the Parkhaven. The harbour master was already waiting for us. We called earlier to asked for an available slip and gave 5 o’clock as estimated time of arrival. And it was exactly 5 o’clock when we entered the marina. “Punctual people aren’t you”, he joked. It must be obvious that we actually aren’t. Parkhaven is a lovely small marina with friendly harbour masters, Arthur and Saskia. They have seen a thing or two during their own sail adventures in the Caribbean and Mediterranean where they’ve worked and sailed for years, so it was great to have a chat.

For the first time this year we were able to sit in the cockpit till evening. Summer is coming!

Our trip to Middelharnis

Greetings from Willemstad

The most well kept and groomed city

April 14th 2019

Today was relaxing day, with a slow start.

Although cold (only 7 degrees Celsius) the sun was shining most of the time so we went for a walk through the old town. You can also walk atop the fortifications, which was quite a pleasant walk with lots of things to see. Most of the fortifications you can still enter are more recent, stemming from either the 18th century to keep out the English or remnants from World War II.

The old architecture and fortifications are very well preserved, in fact it all looked brand new in stead of 400 years old. Willemstad must be the most well kept and groomed city in the Netherlands. There even was a museum, but we didn’t feel like visiting so we passed on that one.

Because the winds were not too strong we could fly the drone. Hopefully we’ll be able to get some good footage of the star shaped fortified city.

We made ourselves a delicious paella for dinner and started planning our next trip. Tomorrow we’re going to leave for Middelharnis.

A short passage to Willemstad

In winter gear to Willemstad

Sailing to the star-shaped fortified city

April 13th 2019

Noordschans to Willemstad: 3,7 nautical miles

After a relaxed breakfast and a refreshing shower we paid our bills, said goodbye and untied the lines. Today we will leave for Willemstad, a small historical town with well preserved fortifications. The fortifications were once built to keep out the Spanish army by Willem of Orange. The fortified city is star shaped, and the seven ‘arms’ of the star are named after the seven provinces that had united against the Spanish in the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands, the foundation of the Netherlands we know today.

What a change in weather, last week when we sailed here it was 20 degrees Celsius and we’re wearing shorts, and today it was barely 8 degrees Celsius, heavenly overcast with chances of wintery showers and we were wearing full sail gear, Russian Ushanka hat and thermo underwear. What a difference a week makes. But when we left the marina the sun peeped through the clouds and the world looked a lot better.

Ready for St. Petersburg with an Ushanka hat

Short trip today, only 3,7 nautical miles to Willemstad. And with the light winds we choose not to hoist the sails. Maybe subconsciously considering our recent experience with light winds and failing engines from a week ago? But we had no engine problems, on the contrary. After her service she purred like a kitten.

The real kitten however wasn’t purring happily. Captain fluffy was just about to jump on the stairs to come into the cockpit when a large towing vessel sped by. These vessels have an enormous wake due to their draft. And just at the moment Captain Fluffy wanted to jump, the wake reached our boat, throwing him off the staircase. We heard a pitiful yelp after which a seriously disgruntled Captain Fluffy turned on his heels, jumped into the v-berth instead and didn’t came out again.

We called marina Willemstad on our way their to ask them if they had a slip for us. They had, and gave us the directions to find the particular slip. When we entered the marina we found out that they didn’t have finger docks. We’ve never docked before without a finger dock. Oh well, there’s a first for everything. It was quite a large slip for our size boat, so although it didn’t go too shabby, we found out that we might have to invest in slightly longer mooring lines. Chances are this won’t be the last time that we have to dock like this. Our mooring lines were just, and really only just long enough.

Willemstad has got two marinas, a commercial one and one run by the municipality. We choose the municipality marina. Often municipality marinas and marinas run by sail clubs are less luxurious, but they are more sociable and quite a lot cheaper. This one was pretty decent for a municipality marina. It had a dock specially for mooring a few hours so you can have a bite to eat or shop in the old city. The sanitary building ran on solar energy and was spacious, clean and warm, something we tend to value.

After visiting the really helpful harbourmaster who loves a joke or two, we went for a walk in the small town. We got our first view of the really picturesque city from atop the fortifications.

First we had to find a grocery store. Marina Noordschans was quite a long way from the nearest supermarket. And since we have enough supplies to survive a Siberian winter, we rather used that than going for a 50 minutes walk to the store. But it’s nice to have some fresh bread and veggies again.

We were quite hungry after the trip from Noordschans and walking around in a supermarket full of food doesn’t really lessen your appetite. So after stocking up and depositing our groceries at our boat we went out to have dinner somewhere in the town. We found a restaurant called ‘De Rosmolen’, which turned out to be a real find. The courses were truly exquisite, and the service swift an welcoming. No we’re not getting paid to say this. It was genuinely good, and it actually has been a long time since we had something so delicious to eat whilst going out for dinner.

After our culinary experience we happily settled for a nice and quiet evening on our boat. Captain Fluffy finally left the safety of the v-berth to join us in the salon and is now fast asleep. Tomorrow we’re going to explore the town.

Reasons to celebrate

No more Morse problems!

April 12th 2019

Today the mechanic came to inspect our work on the morse cable. After a thorough examination he concluded that we had done an excellent job. Jay!

And the restaurant was open again (during low season it is only open from Friday to Sunday) so we celebrated by having dinner there. The owner of the restaurant still remembered us from when we bought the boat. They too live on a boat, and like to go on extensive trips with their camper van, so she was curious to learn of our plans for the upcoming trip.

Tonight was ‘Harbour night’ here in Noordschans, a monthly get-together for all the regular berth holders organized in the restaurant. This evening they invited someone to talk about fire prevention and the workings of all the different fire extinguishers aboard boats. It turned out to be not only a tasty but also a very educational dinner. Interesting facts we learned: a regular powder extinguisher (ABC extinguisher) only spurts for 15 seconds. So you better have a steady aim…

And some boats have a capped hole in the staircase, which can be used to aim the mouth of the extinguisher through in case of fire in the engine compartment. That way you won’t have to open the engine compartment, allowing more oxygen to enter the space, aggravating the fire.

It has been nice here in Noordschans, the people here are all very friendly and make time to help you. It also felt rather special because we bought our boat here and tomorrow this is the place where our adventure will really start.

Because tomorrow we will leave for Willemstad.

Not a Morse cable day

But an everlasting supply of prop shaft grease

April 11th 2019

Today we’re taking things slow. The mechanic said he didn’t have time to check our installed Morse cable today, so maybe it’s the universe telling us to relax and enjoy.

So we only got two small jobs done. We’ve connected the lines for the tethers to attach to the life jackets, which keeps you attached to the boat if you fall off.

The pump to lubricate the prop shaft had also arrived. We thought it was a nice small pump, easy to stow away somewhere, but it turned out to be a humongous thing. The guy at the marine store said that it would last a lifetime. “You never have to buy one again, and you can help out everyone you encounter as well” he joked. But he had ordered this one because the special yacht version was indeed half the size, but trice the price.

So after we figured out how to get the pump connected to the nipple that lubricates the prop shaft we had lots of time for a walk and to practice flying with the drone.

Marina Noordschans with our little boat from above

A good day!

The tinkering trip

The mysteries of a Morse cable

April 10th 2019

Day 3 of our transmission cable episode. Nothing to be found on the internet about how it exactly works, so how to know if we’ve installed it correctly? We only found some cryptic mentions like “it needs to fold open equally on both sides.” What does it mean?? Nothing to it but to wait until the mechanic has time to check our handiwork.

Although the Morse cable project is on hold, we got lot of other chores done today. We’ve fixed the contact for the auto pilot, added the mandatory extra hose clamps on the through hole hoses and installed an extra fire extinguisher (all necessary for the insurance). We’ve already dubbed this adventure the tinkering trip…

We concluded the day with a well deserved glass of wine, some cheese and dried sausages in the cockpit. This feels like a proper vacation!

Captain Fluffy, our helping hand

More Morse troubles

Disconnecting the morse cable and connecting new fuses.

April 9th 2019

We spend the remainder of yesterday afternoon and a good deal of this day to figure out how to pry the Morse cable loose. We found out that both ends are held in place by a split pin or cotter pin. Thing is, it looks like it isn’t supposed to by pried loose. You can reach the one that is connected to the transmission, but the end that is connected to the Morse throttle control is almost unreachable. There is only 5 mm space to reach behind with a pair of very small pliers to unfold the split pin.

After a lot of wriggling, cursing and desperation, the split pin finally came loose. Now we could determine the length of the cable and buy a new one at the marine store. We also ordered a prop shaft grease pump which they didn’t have in store anymore. According to the mechanic it was something that needed to be done as well.

The fun side of boat work -especially if you live on the boat- is that with every job you have to do, before you can even start, you have to reorganize the whole content of your boat. In this case everything had to be removed from the quarter berth for the end of the morse cable that is attached to the morse lever, and the complete cockpit locker had to be emptied to reach the end that is attached to the transmission. The space in a boat is limited, so you have to stack everything somewhere else, on the couch for instance which means you can’t sit anymore. And at the end of the day, even if you’re not finished, you have to put everything back, just to take it out again tomorrow to continue. Captain Fluffy is the only one who enjoys this daily workout…

We also test started the engine today, and it failed again. So although the day was almost over we decided to dive into the faulty wires. After a thorough inspection we concluded that not only the connector was corroded, the whole fuse it was connected to and the wire running to and from it were totally green and needed dire replacement. So we cut away the corroded wire and replaced the fuse. Turn the key and…Vroooom! It started in an instant. Success!

We always knew we had to give our engine compartment some tender love and care, especially the whole electric circuit. We have always found excuses and postponed it because the engine felt like a looming, growling, unfamiliar creature, something to keep a respectful distance from. It really helped to have an expert to examining it and that he clearly explained what he was doing. It’s still a big slightly unfamiliar creature, but less threatening now and with a lot less growl.

Crash course Diesel engines

Learning how to service a Volvo Penta MD11C

April 8th 2019

This morning the diesel heater started without complaints, so it probably was due to the heat in the engine compartment that it wouldn’t start yesterday.

Despite gloomy forecasts the day turned out to be nice and warm again. The morning was quite relaxed, and we had a superb lunch of confit de canard in the cockpit. After lunch the mechanic found the time to service our engine and turned it into a crash course in Diesel engines. Since we are complete novices and want to prevent another ‘eventful day’ on the water we paid close attention to what he explained.

We learned to change the oil and oil filter, how to change the fuel filters, how to clean the air filters if necessary and the correct way to measure the oil level. We also learned that we shouldn’t have waited much longer with servicing the engine; there was a big tear in the impeller and there was almost no oil left in the transmission. The malfunction yesterday was indeed caused by a rusty contact, so he changed that as well. Later on he took us to the workshop where he explained everything we couldn’t see properly when he was working on our engine with a demo model. We’re really grateful for this crash course, it helped a lot. Especially because the engine in our boat is so boxed in that with some of the jobs you can’t see what you’re doing, and you have to rely on touch.

He also explained how we could start our engine manually if we were in dire need. Our boat came with a hand crank. We have tried it, we turned the crank until our arms fell off, but nothing happened. So we de-rusted it, painted it again and stacked it neatly far far away.

The trick is to open the levers for the compression chambers, so that there’s no compression. Then you start swiveling, and once you have gained momentum you quickly close the levers and -hopefully- you’ll get a spark. In theory that is.

Our mechanic also discovered that the Morse cable , the remote control cable for the transmission, was almost worn through. Something that needed immediate replacement. He didn’t have time this week to do it, not because it’s a difficult job, only a very fiddly one. So he thought that we might be capable of replacing it ourselves, and he would come and check later in the week if we had done it correctly.

No time to relax anymore, how to get the freakin’ thing loose?