Holland to Spain 16th of July to 5th of August The previous report left us in the port of Scheveningen. This time, I will take over the pen from Tania. For the day after our arrival in Scheveningen, a wind force 6 or 7 from the southwest was forecast, not much fun really when you are heading southwest, so we stayed in port. We took the opportunity to invite some more friends over to see the boat, who had not been able to visit in IJmuiden. We also installed a bigger alternator on our main engine. This would significantly reduce the time we would have to run the engine at anchor to charge the batteries. We finally left Scheveningen on the 16th of July. Tania’s mom and Wim Sonneveld were waiving us goodbye on the pier as we sailed past. After an overnight stop in Stellendam, we arrived in the Roompot marina in the southern part of Holland. In the lock we had to pass under a fixed bridge with a height of 18.1 meter at high water. Our mast is 18.75 meter without aerials, so we were lucky that the tide was low at the time of our arrival. It is scary to watch the mast pass under the bridge, even when you know it should really fit OK. In Roompot marina we were again held up by the weather, which was unusually bad for the time of year. One morning a force 6 from the northwest was forecast, and Tania and I were debating whether or not to go. I was getting restless, because we had been held up by weather for so long. In the end we decided not to go, but we did see a ketch-rigged yacht from Belgium leave the marina, and for a moment I thought "if they can do it, why can’t we?" Later we heard from the harbour master that the yacht had been towed into port by the coastguard. The skipper’s wife had been scared to death, and would never set foot on board again. The waves had been exceptionally high and steep. I was glad we had decided not to go. Meanwhile, I took the opportunity to do some of the jobs on the "to do" list, and together we visited some nearby tourist attractions like the Delta Expo. We also got the Raytheon dealer to have a look at our autopilot, which had been acting strangely on our way over from Stellendam. The 22nd of July was the start of a spell of good weather, and there were no further weather delays all the way to Spain. The trip went via Oostende, Nieuwpoort, Dover, Brighton, Southampton and Plymouth. In fact, we had found the other extreme of the Beaufort scale. More than half the distance between Roompot and Southampton we had to motor for lack of wind. We will remember Belgium for it’s excellent food in the restaurants. We stayed in Oostende for two days, because the autopilot still wasn’t working right. The Belgian dealer finally solved the problem, and the pilot has been working fine ever since. Agnes and Hil van der Waal happened to be on holiday near Oostende and surprised us with a nice Belgian cake. Hil is making this website for us. We went to Nieuwpoort to fill up our tanks with diesel, which was not so easy in Oostende. Unfortunately, Tania sprained her ankle when we arrived in Nieuwpoort. As we were moving into our berth, Tania rushed across the deck so she would be ready to step off on the port side rather than starboard where she was standing. In doing so, she tripped and fell. At first we thought it might have been broken, so we went to the hospital to have her foot X-rayed. The doctor prescribed rest. If the wind would have been stronger we would have had to stay in port, but given the conditions Tania could rest her foot and sail to Dover at the same time. In Dover we phoned up Tania’s cousin, Marleen, who is living close by. She and her husband Laurens came to see the boat, and they took us over to their home in the country, and showed us their beautiful garden. In Southampton we visited Peter and Valerie Newns, who had been teaching the RYA Yachtmaster Theory classes to Tania back in Oman. Since then they had moved back to the UK, and were living on board their Hallberg Rassy 352 (named "Valhalla") in the Ocean Quay marina. We were welcomed with open arms. Valerie had a job as berthing master in the marina, and she quickly showed us to a berth close to their own boat. We had not been able to contact them by telephone, so it was quite a surprise for them when we arrived. We had some terrific meals together, and chatted about boating in general and Hallberg Rassy’s in particular. They were very kind to drive us to the supermarket and chandlery. Next day was the 30th of July, Tania’s birthday. The last few days we had been covering some 60 miles every day and Tania felt that her birthday should be celebrated with some quiet relaxation. On Peter and Valerie’s recommendation we visited Bucklers Hard in the Beaulieu river. In the 18th century Bucklers Hard was a shipyard where they used to build the big square riggers for the English Navy, including Nelson’s favourite ship. The place felt very peaceful and quiet. We had a lovely lunch on a terrace overlooking the river. The weather was exceptionally beautiful. We visited the museum, and cycled to the historic village of Beaulieu. At the end of the afternoon we sailed over to the Newton River nature reserve where we anchored for the night. Tania cooked a very nice birthday dinner which we enjoyed by the sound of hundreds of birds. Next day we had to get going early to catch the favourable tide past the Needles, the western passage to the Solent. We sailed through the night, arriving in Plymouth in the early morning of the 1st of August. That same evening, my brother Rene arrived in Plymouth. René lives in Perth, Australia with his family, and had been in France for his holidays. This was his first chance to see the boat. We were very happy that he was coming to join us for the trip across the Bay of Biscay, especially since Tania’s foot was still giving her some trouble. The weather for the Bay of Biscay crossing looked favourable. The first day we would have north-easterly winds with some drizzle and thundery showers. Thereafter it would brighten up, with some steady north-westerlies. It turned out a little different. We did have the drizzle and thundery showers on the first day, but the north-easterly wind did not materialise. The low pressure area which should have brought us north-easterly winds on it’s northern edge had moved north more quickly then expected and now we were in the middle of it, giving light winds from variable directions, and poor visibility. The lightning and thunder was actually quite close by. We unplugged the aerials from all the radios. We also attached a copper wire to one of the stays, and dropped the other end in the water as a form of lightning conductor. We used the handheld VHF radio, since the fixed one was now not working. As we sailed closer to Brittany, the wind increased to a force 6, gusting 7 from the west. This happened during the night. Rene felt rather miserable with seasickness. Tania had to limit her movements because the boat was moving about so much and here ankle was still giving her trouble. I was seasick myself for a short while, but was OK thereafter. Our fourth crewmember, the autopilot was doing a great job. The wind strength was changing so much that I had quite a job furling and unfurling the sails. The second and third day were excellent with some sunny weather, and a westerly force 4. Rene had recovered from his seasickness and was enjoying the fast sail. If this weather were to continue all the way to La Coruña, we expected to arrive at around 4 pm on the fourth day. This would have meant a crossing in three days and 6 hours. Unfortunately this did not happen. The wind shifted southwest, and increased to a force 5 gusting 6. We had to beat the last 60 miles to La Coruña, and arrived just before darkness. The last day we saw a whale and dolphins for the first time since our trip started in Sweden! La Coruña was a very pleasant surprise. It has about 250,000 citizens, and is bursting with life. There was a fiësta ongoing at the time we arrived. We saw a live open air ballet performance of the "Swan Lake", and there was a medieval market in the historic city centre. Rene could stay a few days longer, and together we enjoyed some good meals in a lively tapas restaurant. In the marina of La Coruña we met the crews of some other Dutch yachts. Some of them had just started their "dream of a lifetime" trip, just like us. Others were returning to Holland after a trip of several years. This was an excellent opportunity to exchange ideas and charts.
Holland to Spain 16th of July to 5th of August The previous report left us in the port of Scheveningen. This time, I will take over the pen from Tania. For the day after our arrival in Scheveningen, a wind force 6 or 7 from the southwest was forecast, not much fun really when you are heading southwest, so we stayed in port. We took the opportunity to invite some more friends over to see the boat, who had not been able to visit in IJmuiden. We also installed a bigger alternator on our main engine. This would significantly reduce the time we would have to run the engine at anchor to charge the batteries. We finally left Scheveningen on the 16th of July. Tania’s mom and Wim Sonneveld were waiving us goodbye on the pier as we sailed past. After an overnight stop in Stellendam, we arrived in the Roompot marina in the southern part of Holland. In the lock we had to pass under a fixed bridge with a height of 18.1 meter at high water. Our mast is 18.75 meter without aerials, so we were lucky that the tide was low at the time of our arrival. It is scary to watch the mast pass under the bridge, even when you know it should really fit OK. In Roompot marina we were again held up by the weather, which was unusually bad for the time of year. One morning a force 6 from the northwest was forecast, and Tania and I were debating whether or not to go. I was getting restless, because we had been held up by weather for so long. In the end we decided not to go, but we did see a ketch-rigged yacht from Belgium leave the marina, and for a moment I thought "if they can do it, why can’t we?" Later we heard from the harbour master that the yacht had been towed into port by the coastguard. The skipper’s wife had been scared to death, and would never set foot on board again. The waves had been exceptionally high and steep. I was glad we had decided not to go. Meanwhile, I took the opportunity to do some of the jobs on the "to do" list, and together we visited some nearby tourist attractions like the Delta Expo. We also got the Raytheon dealer to have a look at our autopilot, which had been acting strangely on our way over from Stellendam. The 22nd of July was the start of a spell of good weather, and there were no further weather delays all the way to Spain. The trip went via Oostende, Nieuwpoort, Dover, Brighton, Southampton and Plymouth. In fact, we had found the other extreme of the Beaufort scale. More than half the distance between Roompot and Southampton we had to motor for lack of wind. We will remember Belgium for it’s excellent food in the restaurants. We stayed in Oostende for two days, because the autopilot still wasn’t working right. The Belgian dealer finally solved the problem, and the pilot has been working fine ever since. Agnes and Hil van der Waal happened to be on holiday near Oostende and surprised us with a nice Belgian cake. Hil is making this website for us. We went to Nieuwpoort to fill up our tanks with diesel, which was not so easy in Oostende. Unfortunately, Tania sprained her ankle when we arrived in Nieuwpoort. As we were moving into our berth, Tania rushed across the deck so she would be ready to step off on the port side rather than starboard where she was standing. In doing so, she tripped and fell. At first we thought it might have been broken, so we went to the hospital to have her foot X- rayed. The doctor prescribed rest. If the wind would have been stronger we would have had to stay in port, but given the conditions Tania could rest her foot and sail to Dover at the same time. In Dover we phoned up Tania’s cousin, Marleen, who is living close by. She and her husband Laurens came to see the boat, and they took us over to their home in the country, and showed us their beautiful garden. In Southampton we visited Peter and Valerie Newns, who had been teaching the RYA Yachtmaster Theory classes to Tania back in Oman. Since then they had moved back to the UK, and were living on board their Hallberg Rassy 352 (named "Valhalla") in the Ocean Quay marina. We were welcomed with open arms. Valerie had a job as berthing master in the marina, and she quickly showed us to a berth close to their own boat. We had not been able to contact them by telephone, so it was quite a surprise for them when we arrived. We had some terrific meals together, and chatted about boating in general and Hallberg Rassy’s in particular. They were very kind to drive us to the supermarket and chandlery. Next day was the 30th of July, Tania’s birthday. The last few days we had been covering some 60 miles every day and Tania felt that her birthday should be celebrated with some quiet relaxation. On Peter and Valerie’s recommendation we visited Bucklers Hard in the Beaulieu river. In the 18th century Bucklers Hard was a shipyard where they used to build the big square riggers for the English Navy, including Nelson’s favourite ship. The place felt very peaceful and quiet. We had a lovely lunch on a terrace overlooking the river. The weather was exceptionally beautiful. We visited the museum, and cycled to the historic village of Beaulieu. At the end of the afternoon we sailed over to the Newton River nature reserve where we anchored for the night. Tania cooked a very nice birthday dinner which we enjoyed by the sound of hundreds of birds. Next day we had to get going early to catch the favourable tide past the Needles, the western passage to the Solent. We sailed through the night, arriving in Plymouth in the early morning of the 1st of August. That same evening, my brother Rene arrived in Plymouth. René lives in Perth, Australia with his family, and had been in France for his holidays. This was his first chance to see the boat. We were very happy that he was coming to join us for the trip across the Bay of Biscay, especially since Tania’s foot was still giving her some trouble. The weather for the Bay of Biscay crossing looked favourable. The first day we would have north-easterly winds with some drizzle and thundery showers. Thereafter it would brighten up, with some steady north- westerlies. It turned out a little different. We did have the drizzle and thundery showers on the first day, but the north-easterly wind did not materialise. The low pressure area which should have brought us north-easterly winds on it’s northern edge had moved north more quickly then expected and now we were in the middle of it, giving light winds from variable directions, and poor visibility. The lightning and thunder was actually quite close by. We unplugged the aerials from all the radios. We also attached a copper wire to one of the stays, and dropped the other end in the water as a form of lightning conductor. We used the handheld VHF radio, since the fixed one was now not working. As we sailed closer to Brittany, the wind increased to a force 6, gusting 7 from the west. This happened during the night. Rene felt rather miserable with seasickness. Tania had to limit her movements because the boat was moving about so much and here ankle was still giving her trouble. I was seasick myself for a short while, but was OK thereafter. Our fourth crewmember, the autopilot was doing a great job. The wind strength was changing so much that I had quite a job furling and unfurling the sails. The second and third day were excellent with some sunny weather, and a westerly force 4. Rene had recovered from his seasickness and was enjoying the fast sail. If this weather were to continue all the way to La Coruña, we expected to arrive at around 4 pm on the fourth day. This would have meant a crossing in three days and 6 hours. Unfortunately this did not happen. The wind shifted southwest, and increased to a force 5 gusting 6. We had to beat the last 60 miles to La Coruña, and arrived just before darkness. The last day we saw a whale and dolphins for the first time since our trip started in Sweden! La Coruña was a very pleasant surprise. It has about 250,000 citizens, and is bursting with life. There was a fiësta ongoing at the time we arrived. We saw a live open air ballet performance of the "Swan Lake", and there was a medieval market in the historic city centre. Rene could stay a few days longer, and together we enjoyed some good meals in a lively tapas restaurant. In the marina of La Coruña we met the crews of some other Dutch yachts. Some of them had just started their "dream of a lifetime" trip, just like us. Others were returning to Holland after a trip of several years. This was an excellent opportunity to exchange ideas and charts.