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 morning view was still looking pretty agreeable, no sign of thunder and rain.
We both had a poor night’s sleep. Every sound woke us with a start, but fortunately nothing had hit us during the night.
In contradistiction to previous weather forecasts, the wind was going to pick up and the barometer had already dropped significantly. A bad weather front was moving in, with thunder, hail and gusts of wind. Not a good day to go sailing. But should we go back to the marina then? The spot where we were anchored was relatively sheltered from the wind, and the gusts weren’t going to be too severe tonight, so we decided to stay. We were a bit worried about the idiot who was still moored close to us. But if the wind predictions were correct for once, we would end up parallel from each other, so he couldn’t cause much harm.
The weather in the afternoon was still relatively agreeable, but after dinner rain and thunder made their appearance. The wind was howling, the groaning caused by the constant strain on the anchor chain was getting louder and the rain slashed against the windows. There were so many discharges that it almost looked like a sunny day. If a thunderstorm passes over and you’re anchored in a boat, it makes you feel quite small and vulnerable. We sat in the saloon, too anxious to sleep, watching the force of nature at work. On top of that the anchor alarm went off. Not because we were dragging, but only to notify us that the battery of the iPad was low. We were already a bit tense, so the fright of the alarm didn’t really help.
You can imagine that we had yet another sleepless night…
Enkhuizen Oosterhaven to Enkhuizen anchorage Zuiderzee museum: 1,1 nautical miles
Today we left Enkhuizen to anchor in … Enkhuizen. A whopping 1,1 nautical miles further is a nice secluded anchorage in a bay next to the Zuiderzee museum. We had seen it earlier, but it had been so overcrowded during the holiday weekend that we didn’t even bother to try. But all the holiday makers have gone back home, so hopefully it won’t get too busy today.
There were only 3 other boats in the little bay today, enough space to allow us to anchor as well. Everything went according to plan this time. The anchor was set on the first go, we activated the anchor alert app the moment we released the anchor, and we had a perfect position. Not too close to the others and not too far away from the shelter of the embankment.
It was a glorious day. Nice and warm, no wind at all, the perfect weather to enjoy life at anchor. From our cockpit we had a good view on the museum. Funny to look at all the buildings from a different angle. It almost looks as if we were watching the past from our cockpit, were it not for the humans in their brightly coloured branded clothes.
Captain Fluffy is checking the water to extinguish the barbecue
We had a barbecue in the cockpit, and were about to go inside because the wind was picking up and it started to get cold, when an idiot was anchoring almost on top of us. We called out to him to ask what he thought he was doing. The wind direction was going to change, and then revert back again tonight, so we urged him to at least give more anchor line so we wouldn’t get entangled during the night. Why do people do that? There was enough space elsewhere, but he had to anchor just one boat length away. The sun was setting, the wind started to turn and the other boat was really getting too close for comfort. Should we lift the anchor and relocate? What if the other boat would start to drag and dislodge our anchor? What if he would hit us during the night? The guy in the other boat obviously wasn’t concerned at all. We saw him extinguish the lights to assumedly go to sleep. From what we could judge in the dark, we both had just enough space to turn around our axis. So technically it shouldn’t be a problem, if we both wouldn’t start dragging. But since we are so inexperienced the whole situation was quite disconcerting.
It was less tropical than yesterday, a good day to do boat chores. Cleaning the boat is one of them. Never our favourite job, but one of the good things about living in a tiny floating house is that it doesn’t take too long to clean it all.
After the cleaning operation we needed to get some groceries for the coming passage. Doing groceries is also a bit different when you are cruising. Normally we just got a cart and piled in everything we needed for the coming week, put it all in the car and drove home. But now we have to rely on the strength in our arms, and although we are sailors, we are not Popeye. And even if we were Popeye the Sailorman, it wouldn’t fit in our tiny fridge anyway. So in stead of the cart we take a basket. As long as the basket is still not too heavy to carry, it is the right amount to fit in our backpacks, we’ll be able to carry it back and it will fit in the fridge.
In the evening we heard funny splashing sounds, and we wondered what kind of big birds were passing our boat. Turned out to be a flock of humans, swimming back and forth in our stretch of the canal. They looked a bit like funny birds though, with their brightly coloured floating devices.
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.
During our last attempt to sail we came to the conclusion that we needed to switch our genoa. The one we use now is quite old and torn, but the main problem with it is that it’s too big, at least for us. We changed it with a smaller genoa which looked definitely smaller and easier to handle. And the smaller size solved one of our problems with the safety net for Captain Fluffy, because the jib sheet didn’t need to cross underneath the life lines anymore.
We also checked our main sail, and adjusted the reef lines. Let’s try this new configuration.
Today we went for a stroll in the old city. Enkhuizen is a city with beautiful old architecture and a rich history. It used to be the fourth biggest city of the Netherlands thanks to its importance for the the VOC, The Dutch East India Trading Company. A lot of street names and buildings are reminders of the Golden Age when the Netherlands was one of the important naval countries, dominating the high seas. Enkhuizen was also the residence of Jan Huygen. Here revered as a hero, others could argue Jan Huygen was nothing more than a common thief who stole the sea maps of the Portuguese and passed that knowledge on to the Dutch and the English. Without this theft the Netherlands wouldn’t have become such a powerful maritime state and the VOC probably wouldn’t have existed. Funny that what is nothing more than industrial espionage now is remembered like an act of bravery.
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.
