Due to work pressures, Kim had to put back the Friday night departure to Saturday morning. Once we arrived at the marina, we found they had their annual Havendag Festival on, so Saturday afternoon, after getting provisions from the local shops, Kim set about the jobs on the list whilst Stewart & Tom amused themselves around the village before returning to the boat to chill.
Kim got all the jobs on the list completed except for the wiring to the binnacle for the Garmin - which was always likely to be a job too many. So all in all, a successful afternoon.
We sat up late watching a DVD of the Godfather whilst listening to the live music from the festival outside the pub.
Sunday we set off for Veere, but as is often the case with a westerly wind, we chose to motor most of the way. The plan had been to stay on the outer visitor jetty, but it was packed out with dinghys, so we had a few futile attempts at anchoring, before heading off to find an island jetty. More about anchoring (or not as is the case) on another occaision.
We were fortunate to find space (and sufficient water depth) on the island of Haringvreter. Another one to add to the list of jetties we can use.
This is a large island with cattle and even deer on it. The boys had great fun exploring by foot and by tender.
We had a very sucessful Cobb "Bar-B-Que" on Sunday night and a relatively early night. All too soon it was Monday morning and time to head back to the marina. The wind was blowing off the jetty, so whilst we fired the engine up, we actually left the jetty entirely under sail - genoa only. Sailing back in the opposite direction from Sunday we were able to do a bit of sailing, but as is often the case, the clock was against us, so we finished off charging back under power at 6.5 knots!
Got packed away, after cleaning up ready for the next contingent of guests and caught the 6.00pm ferry from Dunkerque.
The Black Swans?
Here they are. They came to visit on Monday morning before we left Haringvreter.
Many months ago. we got a letter, first from Clipper Marine, then from Lombard Marine and finally from our insurers, all alerting us to a recall on part of the electrical panel. Despite several calls to Clipper, nothing much happened, no doubt due to the boat not being in the UK. Finally Clipper have agreed to post the panel to us so that Kim might take it over to Holland and fix it himself.
A 'phone call today, confirmed that it is being posted out tonight, so we should have it for this weekend.
Kim will be going over with Stewart & Tom for a boy's weekend and hopefully to do the following jobs:-
Adjust all the doors so they open & shut properly
Change the electrical panel
Connect up the new 240 volt socket in the saloon
Connect up the new 12 volt socket in the saloon
Run the secondary wiring for the Garmin chart plotter to the binacle
The ferry is booked for Friday night out and Monday night back, so hopefully all the work will get done and we'll get a sail.
Last Sunday, after we had got back to the marina, Kim had a good look around the engine compartment and discovered that there was a bit of oil under the sump. After cleaning it up with kitchen towel, we then discovered the presence of some red liquid in addition to the grey oil. Quite where the red liquid had come from was not clear, it was only evident on the kitchen towel and on Kim's hand - then of course, on Kim's T-shirt, on the bed linen etc, etc !!
A phone call to Volspec - a UK Volvo dealer, suggested the red liquid might be transmission fluid, but in any case, on a year old engine with only 110 hours on it, there should not be any leaks at all.
A 'phone call to the marina technical department and a conversation with Peter has resulted in arranging for them to have a look at the engine next week. We are next over to the boat the following weekend, so hopefully it will not prove to be anything major.
We got an early shuttle over on Saturday morning and Wendy, Maggie and Zach walked/waddled/trotted respectively to the village for some essential supplies while Kim and James got ready. Zach was then kitted out in his life jacket, which he took to immediately without objection and we got ready to set off. The wind was much stronger than forecast (a good F6 out on the lake), so we motored all the way , losing count of how many times Zach looked around him, with a big grin on his face, and said, "We're on a boat"!
There was also quite a swell on the water and we even got a bit wet as some waves broke over the bow, but nevertheless we made it to Veere in record time (1 3/4 hours), choosing to moor up to the visitor pontoon, which was surprisingly empty. As the pontoon was on the windward shore, Wendy brought the boat in faster than usual and at a steeper angle, only to have to change approach completely in the last few boat lengths as we came into the lee of the land and totally different conditions. It was scorchingly hot in Veere and we were grateful for the breeze by then.
A walk around the town proved that even after so many visits, this beautiful little place still holds some surprises. Zach was very taken with the fortified Napoleonic tunnel and we never did make it to the cannon.
Dinner was, predictably, a bit late, especially for our little pirate who almost fell asleep in his sausages, but it had been an excellent day with everyone enjoying themselves. Interestingly, as the day went on, the boat changed from being Grandad's boat, to our boat to Zach's boat!
Sunday was a bit cloudier but with much less wind, so we were able to sail back some of the way with just the genoa, though we did put the engine on a few times to speed things up. Our arrival in the berth was marred by Wendy over-compensating for the wind and hitting the bow on the pontoon. A classic case of needing to trust instincts rather than do everything by rote, but no damage was done and still more lessons were learned.
The trip back to Calais was uneventful but rather spoilt by a long wait at the tunnel. Predictably Zach was an angel and just took it all in his stride, though by the time he got his takeaway pizza back here in England he was too tired to eat it!
All in all a lovely weekend with Maggie, James and Zach and we look forward to doing it all again next year!
Another short and frantic weekend break. This one was particularly tiring Friday night, after both Wendy & Kim had had busy weeks, with Wendy only finishing work half an hour before departure and little time to prepare properly.
We set off on Saturday for Middelburg via Veere and the Walcheren Kanal, without having been shopping and thus not properly victualled. Lunch was the sandwiches bought for the ferry crossing, but not eaten and the plan was to go out for a meal Saturday night in Middelburg. After walking around Middelburg, which was very pleasant, we discovered there was no suitable restaurant near to the mooring that had any space, so it was back to the boat for Fray Bentos, tinned veg & Smash (again!).
After some heavy rain overnight, Sunday dawned rather cloudy, but soon cleared up into a bright sunny day. We had noticed on arrival yesterday at the Havenmeester's office, that there was a holding tank pump out facility, easily accessible so decided to try pumping out. After moooring up, we then found it didn't work, so the mysteries of pumping out the holding tank remain.
We then had a very pleasant trip back up the Walcheren Kanal to Veere Sluis.
The lock , however was not such a pleasant experience. We were first in and went for our customary "port side to". The lock at Veere has an offset bay to port and we were right up the front staring at a brick wall on the nose. We decided, when exiting, to let everyone else out first - there were a lot of boats packed into the lock. We then motored back a bit to give us enough room to make a dogleg turn to line up with the exit gates. However, we didn't reverse back enough which, together with the wind, made the turn all too tight and some frantic use of fenders was required as we bounced our way through the lock gates. Going through on Saturday, we had been on the other side of the lock which is not offset. Anyway the lesson for Veere lock is to let at least 4 boats in first and then raft up to someone.
The trip back home was mostly with the wind abaft the beam so we got lazy and just used the genoa. Even so we still got speeds up to 4.8 knots. The weather remained warm and sunny, except for when the sun dissappeared behind a cloud, Kim still managed to get a bit burnt and all the usual suspects were present.
Got back to the marina at about 2.30pm, went down to the campsite shop to get some rolls, ham & cheese for lunch, had lunch, packed up and were away by 3.50pm - a bit later than we would have preferred, but still arrived in Dunkerque with time to spare.
Norfolk Line have recently introduced a table service restaurant that is not really any more expensive than the cafeteria, so we tried that and had a very nice meal which made the crossing so much more pleasant than it usually is.
Finally back home by 9.30pm - knackered !
As a result of this weekend, we are begining to think that, out Friday night and back Sunday night is a bit much at "our age" and perhaps we should use some holiday so we can have long weekends. That way we could go out in the morning which would be a lot more relaxing.
The next trip is in a fortnight's time with Maggie, James & Zach. That will be a real short taster for them as we are going out Saturday morning on the shuttle and back Sunday evening. Let's hope for some good weather so that little Zach can get off and have a run round while we cook his favourite sausages on the BBQ!
Amazingly it is 8.30 pm on Saturday and we are moored up between piles in a lovely, peaceful little spot. After a few thundery showers this morning, it has turned into a beautiful day/evening.
Middelburg is a beautiful place to visit lots of 17th century houses along the many quaysides. Sort of Goes does Zierikzee with a touch of Veere.
There are miles of these quaysides and numerous opening bridges with some old but still fully functional "Victorian" ironmongery:
We had a great sail to get here, with lots of short tacking (sorry Kim), some deft lock work and close-quarters boat handling (nothing phases Wendy now - not even a 40+ foot racing boat full of Belgian men getting in her way just as she wants to turn between the piles!). Roll on tomorrow for part 2!
Are all booked and ready to leave as usual on the 6 pm ferry tomorrow night, the first of numerous alternate weekend trips between now and September. Sadly the forecast is not looking too great, but do we care? Well, yes, actually - but we'll no doubt have a good time whatever. Are thinking of going up to Middelburg but that might well change. Report (and no doubt a video clip) to follow early next week.
It’s only Saturday afternoon as I’m writing this and it’s already been quite a weekend!We had both had very stressful weeks and rushing to leave on Thursday evening did nothing to make it any easier. Add the poor night's sleep as a result of waves knocking against the side of the boat and the result was that by Friday tempers were extremely frayed - the phrase too many chiefs and not enough Indians just about sums it up!Anyway, we battled the wind and each other and made it down to Yerseke in the increasing gloom.The original plan had been to spend the night on one of a group of three mooring buoys we had identified just off the entrance to Yerseke but the shallow water and complete absence of any lateral marks on the channel, combined with the deteriorating visibility resulted in a hasty (and untypically unanimous!) change of plan and we headed into Yerseke marina.This in itself proved quite an adventure as the channel is very narrow and twisty and there didn’t initially appear to be any room but we slotted in ok and were soon secure and “debating” the events of the day, before tucking into tasty home made Chinese chicken.
By Saturday, egos had recovered, the sun was shining and the wind blowing quite hard, leaving us with a bit of a tricky departure, but as the other boats left, it all appeared a lot easier and we planned to spring the stern out and reverse out.As I do not like reversing our boat (it does some very odd things!), Kim took the helm for a change, but just as were getting ready to go, a whole fleet of mobos arrived, wedging us in even tighter than before.The system worked well, however, until Kim started reversing down the main channel and the wind caught the bow and we didn’t quite go where we intended.It needed a lot of throttle to go out through the narrow entrance against the wind and tide and Kim certainly gave it some throttle, but unfortunately forgot to do the 90 degree turn to follow the channel – and ran us aground, much to the amusement of the passing fishing boat, who had obviously seen it all before!Fortunately the bottom is only soft and we came off again quite easily, having learned a number of lessons: always do a pilotage plan, always have the chart plotter on and don't be rushed by a fleet of mobos!
Thereafter for a couple of hours we had a really good sail, getting well over 6 knots off 12 to 15 knots of wind, even reaching 7.5 kn at one point.As usual, the further up the Oosterschelde we got, the stronger the wind became, blowing a constant 20 knots plus, making for some very exciting sailing.Unfortunately we didn’t quite get the sails down in time to make the half-hourly opening of the Zeelandbrug and the red light came on as we were just a few boat lengths away.So we did the very British thing of putting the kettle on to have a cup of tea, or rather I did as Kim is not at his best down below when there’s a swell.I even made some sarnies to keep us going and was very careful to pour the boiling water into the mugs in the sink and then to put the mugs in a baking tray for passing them up into the cockpit.I was just about to bring them up top when Kim called out that he was turning the boat.I thought the mugs were safely wedged behind the fiddle rail around the galley, and indeed they were, but the contents sadly were not and spilt all over my foot!Whilst I was screaming and ripping my sock off, poor Kim just had to carry on.We had a few minutes before the bridge opened and I managed to hobble up top with my foot in a cold flannel, relieved that I wasn’t required to do anything for a while – or so I thought!Just as we came through the bridge and started heading up towards the canal to Zierikzee, a very loud alarm sounded.First thoughts were that is must be the engine overheating, so before either of us needed to say anything, I was already looking to get the genoa up.We then realised that the noise stopped when we turned VHF the radio off, so panic averted.
Listen out for the sheep in the video clip!
As we were arriving in Zierikzee by 3.15 Dutch time, we didn’t anticipate any problems with finding a mooring but in fact it was aready packed and very windy.The harbour master told us which boat to raft up to and I bought Emjaytoo in beautifully (even if I do say so myself!) to deposit Kim perfectly on the other boat, leaving him scrabbling to find a suitable cleat to make fast to. By 6 o'clock we had 2 more boats rafted to the outside of us, with the inevitable mesh of associated lines and power cables. Sunday morning saw a deterioration in the weather and no one in a particular hurry to go anywhere, especially the two chaps on the outside of the raft who had come back sometime around 2 am (I didn't think Zierikzee had anywhere that lively!).
The trip back saw us in full foulies all the way, but there was only the odd spell of drizzle and even that had cleared by the time we got to the Zandkreeksluis. Once again we managed to get tied up in our berth (eventually, after a bit of a cock up on my part as a result of a strong gust at just the wrong moment) just before the heavens opened, even accompanied by a few bursts of thunder. It was lovely to sit in the warm and dry with a cup of tea not having to worry about getting packed up to go. The weather then cleared and we had a walk in the evening sunshine before tucking into the Fray Bentos and instant mash. As a precaution, Kim rigged up his "anti-slapper" device, as suggested by someone on the forum, namely some lengths of pipe insulation strung on a bit of old rope and floated on the water behind the stern of the boat. We still got some noise but it was much better, especially as the wind got up quite a lot overnight.
Red = day 1, green = day 2, yellow = day 3
All in all another excellent weekend with even more lessons learned, and in spite of what I said on Friday, I just might go sailing with Kim again - if he's not too bossy!
Apr. 29, 2008 - Great sail - shame about the Belgians!
The weekend got off to a bit of a shakey start when we had to share the crossing (Seafrance) with 12 coachloads of unruly and very noisy French school children (Kim says they should be given a bottle of pop each and shut in their coaches for the duration of the crossing!). Thereafter things went very well and we were on the boat by 9.30 pm, though it took us a while to unpack everything.
On Saturday morning Wendy made the usual trip to the supermarket, then we tidied up and got ready to set off. By late morning the sun was shining and it was very warm, which was a pleasant contrast to the snow of only 5 weeks ago. We hoisted the main almost as soon as we got onto the Veerse Meer and lost count of the number of short tacks as we made our way up. We couldn't believe that we were getting 7.2 knots to windward off only 12 knots of wind. Hard work but fun and good practice.
We got to Zandkreekplaat and were thinking about a (late) lunch stop when we noticed there was space on the outer side of the jetty, so instead of anchoring we decided to creep up to the jetty and see how much water there was. We got to within 2 boat lengths of the jetty and there was still minimum 1.8 m so we rigged some fenders and lines and in we went. By the time we were tied up we were actually sitting in 2 m of water. Being fairly well acquainted with the island of Zandkreekplaat we didn't waste too much time exploring ! Instead we retired to the cockpit to soak up the sun and read our books. As the afternoon wore on, out came the barbecue and we had an excellent evening meal.
Unfortunately, during the night we were plagued by the slappers. The wind had shifted onto the stern and we heard every little wave slapping against the hull, resulting in us having to move into the forepeak at 3 am to stand any chance of getting some sleep.
Our departure the next day was hampered by a strong wind blowing us onto the jetty. We were quite happy about our technique of using a bow spring and springing the stern out, but a brief foray on deck to check things out was taken by the Belgians on the mobo next to us as a sign of weakness and they insisted on taking charge and imparting the benefit of their experience, even to the point of rearranging our fenders. Short of being extremely rude and then looking really stupid if something had gone wrong, we had no option but to grin and bear it. However, Wendy was fuming on the helm and the departure was not her greatest hour, partly as a result of being flustered but mainly as a result of having 3 conflicting sets of instructions yelled at her simultaneously.
We got back to the marina in just over an hour and used the time we had left to give the boat a good clean. It was pleasing to leave the boat looking "homely" again with cushions left out and beds made up, and also to only be taking a few things home with us. It's amazing how much stuff is loaded onto that boat in the summer. Roll on the next trip - we've got to do at least 11 miles to bring Wendy's total up to 1000!
I 'phoned the Marina this morning and spoke to Peter. He said Emjaytoo had just been put back in the water and would be back in her box by lunchtime.
The weather for the weekend looks pretty good and the ferry is booked for Friday night, so we are looking forward to getting the season off to a good start. No real plans, other than to head off somewhere for a Saturday overnighter and maybe a bar-b-que on one of the islands in the Veerse Meer
This was certainly a whirlwind visit! We got the shuttle at 6.20 on Thursday evening and were home again by 6.45 on Friday evening, but it was nevertheless a most enjoyable and productive 24 hours.
The boat was booked in for her lift out at 9 am Dutch time (8 am to us!) so there wasn't much time for the niceties of breakfast (though we still had our cup of tea in bed!). I popped into the village for some rolls to have later, then it was a case of motoring round to the other part of the marina.
Fortunately the wind conditions were excellent, albeit with the wind from the opposite direction to usual, and it proved to be a piece of cake to manoeuvre the boat into the right position for the lift. Watching our "baby" being manhandled was a bit nerve-racking, but as the morning progressed it became obvious that the marina people do this operation a dozen or more times every day, so it was very mundane for them.
Then it was time for her to have her bottom washed!
Inspection after jet washing showed virtually no damage to the bottom of the main hull from barnacles etc., though the keel, rudder and propeller were more badly affected, as was the anode mounted on the sail drive. All in all it was agreed that the marina will do the necessary anti-fouling and put the boat back in her berth within 2 weeks.
We then settled back to a few hours of life in a cradle 10 feet above the car park. Very strange at first, but ok once you got used to it. We were also blessed with a glorious day and I was able to sit up in the cockpit sewing, cup of tea beside me, keeping out of Kim's way below. Kim managed to shave the bit off the floor panel to make it sit flat and fit the catches to hold the forward cabin and heads doors open.
We then drove to Vrouwenpolder and bought lunch from the Lekkerbek cafe, which we took up onto the dam to eat in the sunshine, without a coat or fleece in sight! According to Metowallie, the maximum temperature in Vrouwenpolder today was 16 degrees, so no wonder it felt so lovely. Let's just hope that we are as lucky when we next go over in a couple of weeks so that we can actually sail.
Easter in the snow on our boat in the Netherlands had been lovely,
we had a real snow fall as you can see
and on Easter Monday we cheerfully loaded everything into the car to come home.Having Tom (my 20 year old) made the whole process much quicker than normal, so we planned to stop for some chips and mayonnaise en route.Tom was just on his last trip from the car back to the boat, down the pontoon, when he put his hands into his pocket and ping, the car “key” (in reality an electronic card not much bigger than a thick credit card) fell out, bounced off the pontoon and into the water!
Although the water was clear and relatively shallow, we were unable to see the key.A magnet supposedly capable of carrying 64 kilos recovered nothing more than an old cigarette lighter.Meanwhile, Kim inflated the dinghy and leant out of it for ages at a very dangerous angle, even borrowing a face mask at one stage to get a clearer view of the bottom, but after more than an hour, and with the blizzard now starting again, we were forced to admit defeat.We had insurance for this type of event after all.
Wrong!A call to AA insurance confirmed that we were not covered for loss of keys, on the basis that we should carry a spare set.However, Kim had only ever been given one set of keys as the car is a lease car and we couldn’t contact the lease company until the Tuesday morning.Still, we could see the funny side and headed off into the village for another excellent meal, where it was decided that I would leave very early the next day and get home in time to have the spare key sent by courier for me to drive back over with on Wednesday, if necessary.
Wrong again!I left the boat at 5.30 in the morning and got the first bus into Goes, only to find the ticket office closed.I bought a ticket from the machine to the first big town on the mainland 10 miles away.A month long programme of engineering works in the area, meant that buses were replacing all trains and being the first working day of the new arrangements, it was pandemonium. I was even interviewed about it by a Dutch radio reporter!
Things did not improve much after the 50 minute bus journey.Again the ticket office was shut and when I asked the Dutch “Can I help you” man how to get to Calais, his response was, “That’s a long way to go!” He advised me to go to the next big town, Roosendaal, which is on the InterCity routes, and ask there.By this time I had just missed one train, so had to wait 35 minutes for the next one.
Roosendaal was a large station and looked promising, but once again the information offices were shut and the best I could manage was a ticket to Brussels, with a train leaving in 4 minutes.I made a breathless dash across the station, only to find that the Brussels train was running 20 minutes late.By this time, Kim had contacted the lease company and it was agreed that the key would be sent by 24 hour courier to Holland, to arrive by 1 pm on Wednesday.
It was still barely 9 o’clock UK time when I got the train to Brussels, so I rang the kennels to say that I would be “a bit late” picking up the dog and settled back to enjoy the journey.At Brussels Midi station I immediately set about finding a functioning information office and was surprised to be greeted with the same disinterested shrugs and “booofs” as I know from living in Paris.Eventually an only slightly more interested lady looked it up and told me that I had to go to Lille, change stations and get on a train at 11.57, arriving in Calais at 13.10.Excellent, I was going to be home by 4.30 latest.
Wrong again.I have changed stations at Lille before so knew my way, but whichever way you look at it, it is still a long way to walk in 12 minutes.I entered Lille Flandres station alongside platform 13 with 2 minutes to spare, only to see from the board that the 11.57 left from platform 0, right at the opposite side of the station.By the time I reached the train and jumped into the first carriage seconds before it pulled away, I was feeling quite ill but still chuffed that I would be in Calais by 1.10.
Yes.. wrong again!I soon had the feeling that this train was not going where I wanted to go.Eventually the ticket man came round, looked it up in his book and informed me that the only 11.57 from Lille goes to Amiens (not that far north of Paris), from where I could get a train to Boulogne at 14.35, arriving 16.00, and from there a train at 16.31 arriving in Calais at 17.15.
From this point on the journey ceased to be fun, but I did at least manage to just catch a train to Calais leaving 30 minutes earlier than planned and after a brisk walk to the ferry terminal, had bought my ticket by about 5.30.I was told that the next crossing was in 2½ hours, arriving in Dover at 21.10.I wasn’t happy but could do nothing about it.Whilst waiting I was accosted by a youngish chap of obviously non-UK origin wanting 20 euros for the crossing because his hotel room had been broken into (I later heard him recounting that he had been mugged!).I then realised that SeaFrance had a sailing an hour earlier, so I tried to get my money back from P&O but was stuck behind another “dodgy” but much older individual who claimed that he worked for “British Rail” and could get a reduced ticket.Ten minutes later and he stormed off shouting abuse, eventually buying a full-price ticket with SeaFrance.
The contingent of foot passengers in the laughingly named “departure lounge” for the crossing, consisted of me, the chap who had been mugged or whatever, another dubious looking chap with a black bin bag who took ages to get through immigration, the bolshy British Rail worker and another chap with a patch over one eye who looked like he hadn’t seen the inside of a shower for weeks!A motley crew indeed.
Fortunately we docked in Dover on time, but as foot passengers we had to hold back at the end until the footbridge was lowered.As I was standing waiting, I was accosted by an American lady who proceeded to tell me that my announcements were not loud enough and that my toilets were smelly - obviously mistaking the sailing jacket I was wearing for a SeaFrance uniform!
I eventually walked in the door at 8.50, only just over 15 hours since I had left the boat, jumped into my own car and went straight to the pub up the road where Lucy and her friend had been waiting for 3 hours because she didn’t have a key to get in.But if you think it ends there, then you are…
Wrong!After much chasing and complaining to Parcel Force, the “24 hour” delivery eventually arrived at the marina at 2.30 on Friday afternoon, almost exactly 72 hours after it was picked up, with Tom and Kim arriving home at 10 that evening.For a few hours, even Kim didn’t talk about going back to the boat!
After much consideration, having booked a ferry for Thursday night to Monday night, over Easter, then deciding to cancel due to the weather, we are now heading over to Holland Saturday lunch time and coming back Monday night. The weather forecast for sailing in the Veerse Meer Sunday/Monday is for moderate winds (force 2 - 4) and probably snow! So we shall see how we get on. The plan is to head up to Veere Sunday and return Monday morning, spending the night in the Kaai, which we have not been into before, previously staying on the visitor pontoon outside. Wendy's son Tom will be coming with us and it will be his first visit to Emjaytoo.
Decided to have a working weekend on Emjaytoo and Wendy came along for the ride. Caught the Shuttle Saturday morning and arrived lunchtime. It was as well we had booked the shuttle as the weather was very windy and Dover ferry crossings were severely affected with Operation Stack in place and the M20 blocked with parked up lorries.
We had three main jobs to do:
Install a 240 volt socket and a 12 volt socket up at the forward bulkead end of the saloon, for the TV and digi-box;
Fix our new blinds to the aft cabin and heads;
Fix a bracket to the nav station to sit the note-pad computer on.
The first job started well with the sockets set into the panelling under the port settee berth. The problems then started with trying to get the wiring across under the saloon floor to the starboard side where the power had to come from. In the end Kim gave up, at least temporarily, until he comes up with some new ideas.
Fixing the new blinds was a success and they look very good either open or closed.
Kim had part made the bracket and needed to check dimensions before finishing it on board. The bracket now needs staining and varnishing. May post a picture of the finished item later on.
Saturday night we went out for a very nice meal in the village and then settled down to a stormy night. The wind howled and the boat rocked violently all night. We did not get a lot of sleep, but at least it was not cold.
In the morning we switched the wind instrument on and even though the wind had subsided somewhat we still recorded nearly 30 knots through the marina.
Whilst on the boat we decided to start up the engine as it had not been run since last October. It fired up immediately, which seemed impressive, but maybe no less than one might expect of a less than one year old engine. We let it run, in gear, for about 15 minutes with occaisional bursts of full power.
With all the tasks completed as far as was possible we headed off with the intention of stopping off in Ghent, which we had never been to before, despite driving past it each time we go to the boat. We found the middle of the city which is full of very old buildings around the canal side.
We found a nice restaurant nearby and had an excellent lunch.
Our next trip over is booked for the Easter Weekend, which is only 3 weeks away. This will be our first sailing weekend of the year - weather permitting.
Phoned the Marina this week and spoke to Peter (the really nice guy in the Technical Centre, who speaks excellent English - it's all so easy!) who told me there was a waiting list for people who want their boats lifted for a short period, due to all the cradles now being occupied by boats out of the water for the winter. I asked when the situation would change and he said when the winter lift outs start going back in the water which would be throughout March. It was left that they would 'phone me.
So, our next trip is unlikely to be to supervise a lift out. In fact we have booked a ferry to go over for the Easter weekend 21st - 24th March and we are now planning where we will go. Dependant on the weather (and isn't always!) we might try and get up to Willemstad.
We went over Saturday morning hoping the strong winds we have had all week would ease. Arrived at the boat lunchtime and whilst there was hazy sunshine it was pretty cold. Add to that 25 knots of wind, and we decided to just have a relaxing weekend on the boat. The wind blew all afternoon and well into Sunday, although by Sunday afternoon it was easing off - typical, just as we were leaving to drive home!
The big surprise was that the Digitenne TV was still working. Because we have never had any charges taken from our bank account, we assumed it must have been disconnected. It now seems possible that because we haven't used it since October of last year (which was the first month for free), the charges haven't kicked in. Now we have used it we will keep an eye on the bank account.
Although we didn't get to sail, it was still great to be back and now we can't wait to go over again. The next trip is likely to be to be to supervise a lift out and jetwash plus general inspection of the hull. We now have to 'phone the Marina to arrange it.
2007 was our third year of big boat sailing, our second year in The Netherlands and our first year with Emjaytoo. So, did it live up to expectations?
We had finished 2006 with serious intentions of getting a bigger boat and had already looked at some older boats. Wendy loved the "lived-in ness" and character of the older boats (with the exception of Westerly's!), but was concerned at the possible hidden costs, yet at the same time buying a brand new boat - even for the same cost as an old one - seemed too decadent. However, after seeing the Bavaria 30 Cruiser again at the London Boat Show in January and talking through the finance options, the rest, as they say, is history.
With this done, our sailing went on hold 'til the arrival of Emjaytoo on the 4th May. We had a trip over to The Netherlands to bring Maggie-Jane back to the UK in February, but that was it.
The commissioning cruise in Ipswich was something of an anti-climax, especially for Wendy, as the weather was appalling and did little to increase our confidence in the new boat. But before we knew it, Emjaytoo was settled in to her Dutch marina berth, and our season then took off. We managed seven trips to the boat, including several trips out of the Veerse Meer into the Oosterschelde and even getting as far as the Grevellingenmeer. We visited some excellent traditional Dutch harbours such as Goes & Zierikzee and had some great over night stops on islands such as Archipel in the Grevellingenmeer.
In answer to the initial question, Emjaytoo has enabled us to expand our horizons beyond the limitations of a MacGregor and we are now planning trips next year to the Harringvliet and also into the Westerschelde and down to Oostende.
Kim's Sister Julie and Trevor came out with us for a whole week in September and next year we are looking forward to entertaining more guests on board, as this was very much one of the attractions of a larger boat but the short season did not enable us to share the fun with others as much as we would have liked.
Including the trip across from Ipswich, we covered 390 miles in Emjaytoo, not much by some people's standards, but not a bad start for us.
We are hoping to get our first trip of 2008 in January - weather permitting.
Finally, if one picture sums up our first year with Emjaytoo, then this is it :-
No, Kim is not having a pee !
The view is looking out from Archipel across the Grevellingenmeer.
In spite of Kim's new office being closer to home than before, we made the Friday night ferry with the least ever time to spare - checking in about 25 minutes before depature! We were on Norfolk Line for the first time this year, for the incredibly cheap price of £29 return. Alas, they don't appear to have improved at all since last year. Nevertheless, we were still on board Emjaytoo, gear unpacked and beer/tea in hand by 11 pm.
Saturday morning saw an extremely leisurely start, followed by a walk into the village and a trip over to the marina office to pay the bill and request a breakdown of the costs. We need to know the cost of removing and reinstating the autohelm following its repair by Raymarine under warranty. The hope is that we can get Raymarine to pay the marina's charges for their work.
The weather by lunchtime was pretty grotty and very cold and we were of two minds whether to bother going out for a sail. However we made the effort, donning full foulies and thermal layers.
Helming the boat out of our berth was a bit nerve-racking after nearly 6 weeks, but it all went beautifully and we were pleasantly surprised at how well the boat sailed to windward, getting more than 4 knots at less than 30 degrees off the wind out of 8 to 10 knots of wind - and all in spite of Wendy being on the helm most of the time! As we turned round the bottom of the Goudplaat we were on a dead run with very little wind but managed to goose wing at around 2 knots.
Since the weather forecast for Sunday was for quite strong winds, we decided not to stay out overnight but to return . As we headed back the weather brightened, the sun gradually broke through and despite the cold, it turned into a very pleasant evening with a hazy sunset.
On the way back, we picked up a Netherlands Coastguard Sécurité broadcast on channel 16 which warned of high winds up to gale force 6 (!) for Sunday morning, thus vindicating our decision to return to the marina on Saturday night.
Our arrival back at the berth was very calm and controlled, with Kim's system of the midship spring doing its job perfectly. Don't know why more people don't use it!
Quiet evening in with the usual Fray Bentos pie and watching our TV, accompanied by a few beers and a bottle of white wine.
Sunday morning dawned cold and miserable, with a howling wind, but it did at least stay dry, which enabled us to load up the car with all the items which we didn't want to leave on board for the winter - clothes, bedding, cushions, books etc. By the time we had finished loading up the car, it was time to head off for Calais, in spite of having gained an hour with the clocks going back. Another vindication of our decision to return to the marina on Saturday night.
As we left, we called in to the chandlery and picked up a chart pack for the area north of the Grevelingenmeer, so that we can spend the winter planning an even more ambitious cruise for next year.
Our first Sunday evening trip back of the year with Norfolk Line only served to remind us what a c**p company they are, but at £29 return you have to bite your lip and put up with it, even if we did get home nearly 2 hours later than planned.
! Instead we retired to the cockpit to soak up the sun and read our books. As the afternoon wore on, out came the barbecue and we had an excellent evening meal. 
