Cruising :)

Well, we're underway after almost 6 years of building, last summer's sea trials and the winter of minor upgrades and improvements. 

Hazel and I left Neustadt i. Holstein on the 15th April and made our way in two hops to the Kiel Canal. A gentle 3 days brought us through the canal, taking advantage of the free mooring options at Kms 85 (approx) and 22. We left the lock at the River Elbe end on a cold (hail) and blustery day and had a lively sail down the Elbe to Cuxhaven.

A few days later, we headed out into the North Sea, pushing the boat hard to make the 60 miles to Norderney before sunset. This was Tapatya's first taste of really open water sailing and she handled it well; our new Pelagic tiller pilot taking on the bulk of the steering and performing magnificently :)

Our next hop was into the Ems estuary and up the river to Delfzijl in the Netherlands. Again, we needed to make miles and we pushed hard; the tides were favourable and we were able to ride the flood up the river all the way to our destination.

We entered the Dutch canals in the Staande Mastroute at Delfzijl and motored our way to Groningen, where we spent a delightful couple of days at the Motorboat Club Marina, walking in to explore the city and conduct a reconnaissance mission on the canals, bridges and locks before attempting to pass through there the next day.

Our trip through the city centre of Groningen with Tapatya was a real highlight; the bridges mainly opened as we arrived, and the route takes you right through the city centre, a truly fantastic thing to do on a sail boat. After loving every minute of that, we left the city and motored on in the canals until we felt we'd done enough for the day and tied up at one of the free mooring places that are available on the canal sides.

The next day took us through the Lauwersmeer and on through narrow canals and delightful countryside to our very favourite free tie up dock of the entire trip - just off the main canal and a short way up a little side ditch.

After a super peaceful night there, a short motor took us into the town of Dokkum, where we tied to a municipal dock (small fee) that was only for sailboats (!), took advantage of the supermarket, diesel station and municipal showers and had a wander around the very pretty small town centre.

The next day brought us to Lemmer at the top of the IJsselmeer and a couple of days later we headed out to sail across the artificial lake and through the dam into the Markermeer. After a brilliant short trip through the narrow town centre of Lemmer and transiting the lock, we entered the IJsselmeer right in the middle of a race event for traditional Dutch barges: Sadly, there was only the lightest of breezes, but what a sight, 30 to 40 traditional Dutch sailing barges under full sail on a perfect sunny morning! We motored clear of them then raised sail and joined them in drifting slowly in the very light airs. Around midday, the wind picked up and we had a great sail across the IJsselmeer to our chosen anchorage for the night (incredibly, Tapatya's first anchorage of this trip!)

We had another great sail across the Markermeer and into Amsterdam, through the extremely busy lock and on to our chosen small marina in the city centre. After a couple of days exploring the city, we were underway again, following the canal route to Haarlem, where we tied up again at a municipal dock. From Haarlem on, the canals get steadily bigger as they turn into some quite major waterways. We passed through Gouda and part of the old Rhine river and onwards until we were off of the southmost page of the very excellent Staande Mastroute Atlas that had guided us right through the Netherlands. We made our way to the marina at Saint Annaland for our last night in this lovely country.

I'll write some more soon, we've now made the sail to France and are enjoying fine Normandy galettes and cider :) ​ to edit.