Tuesday 6 October 2015

That's all folks!

Well nearly.....

But first a summary of our trip:

Facts and figures

Total distance travelled (through the water):  2546 Nm (2930 miles)

Total number of places visited:                      68

Total fuel used:                                             311 litres (68.4 imperial gallons)

Total cruising expenditure:                            £8000 approx.

There's not a lot to say about the distance travelled except that we used tides wherever possible to speed us on our way, so the actual distance over the ground would have been greater.

We actually moored up or anchored a total of 74 times, but we stayed in 6 of these places - Chichester, Brighton, Eastbourne, Dunkerque, Scheveningen and Rendsberg - on both the outward and return journeys. Our longest stays were in Eastbourne and Cuxhaven; in each case we were stormbound for about a week.

We used more fuel than I would have anticipated, but then we spent a fair bit of time in canals (the Sodertalje, Gota, Trollhatte, Kiel and Netherlands canals). Add to that the requirement to warm the engine before leaving harbour, motor clear of that harbour and then motor into the next, and you can expect to run the engine for a minimum of an hour on every trip - even when the passage itself is all done under sail. Cyclone sails well but struggles under motor unless it's flat calm, so we sailed whenever possible - including to windward where we might have been tempted to fire up the engine if it had more power!

When I totalled up our expenditure, my first reaction was "ouch!". However, on further analysis it's maybe not so bad. That £8000 figure includes:

  • Marina fees for all but the 7 nights we spent at anchor (bear in mind that, if we hadn't used our boat at all, it would have cost us about £3000 to keep her in her home marina for the same period); 
  • All our food, drink and entrance fees to museums etc. 
  • Nearly £500 for the Gota canal (which included marina fees whilst in the canal) and maybe a total of about £100 for the other canals; 
  • Around £1000 for charts, a new autopilot and a device to make picking up stern buoys easier;
  • All fuel used - propulsion, heating and cooking.
  • The £600 worth of wine (at UK prices) we brought back to keep us warm over the winter!

It doesn't include the costs associated with our unscheduled trip home.


Wear and tear

Clearly wear and tear on a boat used continuously for more than 6 months will be higher than that on one used only for weekend sailing and maybe an annual 2 week holiday.

Our actual breakages were limited to the autopilot and a pulley system on the mainsheet, but there will have been wear on the engine and sails associated with use.

Jo had to make a few running repairs to our stackpack; both that and the sprayhood could really do with replacement (although this is mainly due to UV damage to the stitching that would have occurred in any case). I also want to get the standing rigging checked - something I may have been less inclined to do if our usage was less.

Finally in this section, Cyclone's teak rubbing strake earned its keep during this trip by brushing aside posts in box moorings (you can't use fenders to protect the boat here as they won't fit between the posts) and taking a gentle knock in the Vlissingen lock without damage. A boat with unprotected topsides may not come out so well!

  
The Baltic as a cruising ground

We spent our time in Denmark and Sweden primarily. It would have been nice to spend more time in Germany and to visit Poland and the Baltic States, but there's only so much you can do in a single season. Many people leave their boats in the Baltic over the winter and continue their cruise the following year. We can see the appeal of that, but we're also keen to sail to other parts of the world. Unfortunately life's too short to do it all.

The Baltic's obvious plus points are lots of daylight in the summer months - no night sailing! - and no tides to speak of so you can sail at times that suit you. English is widely spoken so there are no communication problems and marinas are cheaper than in the UK - certainly a lot cheaper than in the Solent!

Our overall impression of the places we visited was how smart and clean they were - people really seem to take a pride in their boats, homes and towns. The marina facilities weren't always up to the standard of the better ones in the Solent, but they were always left clean by those who'd used them. The same isn't always true in the UK.

We saw many beautiful places - both natural beauty and pretty towns and villages. There were also plenty of places of interest to visit on our tour.

The best boat for the Baltic is undoubtedly one with a narrow beam. Cyclone's 3.52m meant she was too big for many of the box moorings and all the boom moorings in the Gota canal. Mooring options for bigger boats are often limited to alongside linear pontoons where rafting is common and, annoyingly for those with no other options, these spaces often seem to be occupied by boats that could fit in the boxes and booms! If you have a big boat, best plan to arrive early at your chosen destination.

So, would we recommend the Baltic as a cruising area? Definitely, and without hesitation!


Cruising in general

2015 was the first time Jo and I had been on a boat together for more than 3 weeks so, if you'll pardon the pun, it was uncharted water for us.

The plus points?

  • Time. We could have continued working for a living and enjoyed the luxuries that come with a steady income. I'm not knocking people who choose to do this, but we'd rather be time rich and cash poor than vice versa. Of course it would be better to be both time and cash rich!!
  • Every day is different. Different places to see, different people to meet, different experiences to enjoy (or maybe not!).
  • Freedom from stress. Well, most of the time.
  • A sense of adventure and achievement. OK, so we've not done anything particularly adventurous - mainly day sailing and coastal hopping - but somehow it seems like we have and I definitely feel a sense of accomplishment. It's nice to do something a bit different from the norm! 
  • A healthier way of life. We got far more exercise than we would have back home. Regular walking, lifting and carrying (you can't take the car to the shops!) as well as cycling and the physical nature of the sailing itself - together with all that fresh air - must surely be good for you?  
  • No TV. No newspapers. No idea what's going on in the world (well, I could look on the internet if I was interested).
  • No ironing for 6 months!

The minus points?

  • Money. I'd like to drive a Ferrari (OK, we'd never have been able to afford one, but you get the idea). We make do with a 13 year old Honda Jazz. We need to be careful about what we spend if we want our savings to last, so luxuries like eating out are now, at best, infrequent.
  • Every day is different? Well in some ways yes, but in others not really. When you drill down, what we do is sail somewhere, explore the place, plan the next trip and then repeat! Sure, the places we see are different, but arguably there's a lot of repetition in our daily lives. Better than going to the office every day though! 
  • People. We've met some great people whilst sailing whose company we've really enjoyed. However, in most cases we've seen them just once or twice, so it's not the same as meeting up with old friends and putting the world to rights over a few beers. We're also away from our families for long periods. Some may envy us that(!) but it's nice to be able to call in and see the relatives from time to time. You can't do that if you're miles away in another country.
  • Stress. I don't know why, but I still get stressed before a passage. Jo says it's a good thing because it means I'm not complacent and perhaps she's right. It doesn't feel like a good thing though, when I'm lying awake for hours listening to the wind howling in the rigging! Once we're under way I'm fine in any conditions that I've yet encountered. Weird!  
  • Intellectual stimulation. This isn't a minus for me because I get plenty from passage planning and boat maintenance. Jo, however, misses the challenges she used to get from problem solving at work. One thing on her "to do" list is to find ways to redress this before next year- maybe by learning a language as we go, or something similar.
  • Accommodation. There's no getting away from it, a 33' boat can't rival a 4 bedroomed house when it comes to space. And a square bed (at home) is always going to be preferable to the triangular one in our forepeak!
  • No "Bargain Hunt" (that was a joke!!). We didn't miss TV but, having said that, one of the things that Jo was looking forward to on our return home was sitting on the sofa and watching cr@p TV after scoffing a Chinese takeaway! 

Looking at the pluses and minuses, it might seem like the latter outweigh the former. They don't! We've no desire to go back to work. We simply need to reflect on what's been good and what's been less good so we can address the latter if possible before setting off again next year.


We hope you've found this blog useful and/or entertaining. 

All the best,

Rob and Jo


Monday 5 October 2015

We're home!

With strong easterly winds in the forecast for the next few days, we set off from Dover at 0600 to make the most of them. We expected favourable tide for the first 4 hours or so of our trip to Eastbourne, after which we'd get adverse tides of about a knot. We could have made better time if we'd got up earlier to get the full 6(ish) hours of favourable tide, but we needed the rest!

The forecast had been for winds of up to gale F8 during the night, although that had thankfully been revised down to F5-F7 for our trip. The strong winds and tides had certainly churned up the sea in the exit from Dover and we had to hang on tight as poor old Cyclone was thrown around as if in a washing machine. Jo remembered to put her hood up after water was thrown down her neck and I wished I'd reached for my sailing boots after the same wave deposited sea over my deck shoes!

Thankfully we soon left the the confused sea of the exit behind and made rapid progress in the fairly substantial, but not uncomfortable, swell that followed.

The wind stayed astern of us the whole way and, with apparent winds gusting from 14 to 24 knots (equating to true wind speeds in the 20 to 30 knot range), we only needed the headsail to get close to our hull speed. Pevensey Bay provided some quite large rollers from astern which lifted us like a surf board and hurled us forward. This is the only time that I've ever seen more than 10 knots through the water. Yes, you read that right! 10+ knots through the water on a 33' yacht!! (OK, it only lasted for 4 or 5 seconds, but even so!!).

Surfing across Pevensey Bay

Approach to Sovereign Harbour, Eastbourne

I was nervous about the conditions we might face in the entrance to Sovereign Harbour and at the lock, given the wind strength and  the 2m waves we were surfing in the Bay. I needn't have worried though as the entrance wasn't too bad and all was calm in the lock. Phew!

Our intention was to stay in Eastbourne for a couple of nights before moving around the corner to Brighton. In the event, the forecast suggested that our run of easterly winds might come to an end before we got home if we did that, so we set off for Brighton the following afternoon.

The forecast was for easterly or north easterly winds of F5 to F6 - a little less than had been forecast previously. We were therefore a bit surprised to leave the shelter of the lock and head into apparent wind gusts in excess of 30 knots and some really quite steep waves at the exit from the harbour itself. The 40' yacht that had locked out with us quickly radioed the harbour requesting a lock in as it was "too rough to continue". Frankly we didn't blame them as they were only going out for a couple of hours sailing around the bay and the conditions really didn't favour that. They also had a labrador on board and the crew sported blow dried hair and immaculate make up!

Cyclone battled the waves to clear the harbour entrance under motor, managing just 2 knots over the ground with quite a few more revs than I usually use. Thankfully, as soon as we were clear and able to turn south under sail, everything calmed down and we were once more making great progress.

Eastbourne

Photographs never make waves look big and, whilst they certainly weren't exceptionally so, they were large enough for me to expect a rough passage around Beachy Head - a headland that is notorious for its overfalls. We'd timed our departure to arrive there at around slack water to avoid the worst of the overfalls and, as it happened, rounding the Head turned out to be a bit of a non event. I'm not complaining though!

Beachy Head from the east

Beachy Head from the south

Once around the Head, the sea smoothed out as the land sheltered us from the breeze that had now backed to the north. It was really quite pleasant!

We called Brighton marina as we approached and were allocated a berth on no. 12 pontoon after we'd been asked for information about out draft (1.7m). We were advised that one of the starboard hand channel markers was out of position and I learned later that a port hand marker was missing altogether.

Brighton marina seems to be the poor relation in the Premier Marinas family. It all looks a bit tired, but the worst part is that it's silting up. I'd already planned for a minimum of 2m height of tide to ensure I had sufficient depth to enter and exit but, having been asked my draft before being allocated a berth, I hadn't expected to sit on the bottom for an hour and a half either side of low water (a 0.8m tide on this occasion).

Brighton Marina. Note mud.

Brighton Marina development

After a slap up meal at Wetherspoons (well it was our wedding anniversary - more about that later) we set off the following day for Chichester marina as soon as the mud would let us.

Leaving Brighton

With forecast easterly winds of F4 to F5, decreasing to F3 later, it was like sailing in the summer. Lovely! Unfortunately this didn't last and we had to resort to motor sailing and then plain motoring as the wind deserted us.

We soon started to see the familiar sights of home.....

Bar beacon in Chichester Harbour entrance channel

Itchenor, Chichester Harbour

Itchenor reach

Chichester Marina's entrance channel

We'd forgotten just how beautiful Chichester Harbour is; truly the match of anywhere we'd been in its own way, with the possible exception of the Stockholm Archipelago. What we'd also forgotten was just how many boats there are here. We were amazed by the forest of masts that greeted us!

Our entry to the marina was aided by catching the last of the freeflow through the lock, which ceased the instant we were inside. Having refuelled, we motored happily to the same berth we'd vacated just over 6 months ago.

And relax!!

Just before I finish, I should perhaps mention a couple of landmarks that had occurred in the previous few days.

First of all, Jo had celebrated a birthday (by being dragged out of bed at 0500 (French summer time) in Dunkerque and sailing in strong(ish) winds to Dover - I spoil that girl...). Obviously I can't say which birthday it was, as it wouldn't be proper to give away a lady's age...

Happy Birthday Jo!

And secondly, we celebrated our 27th wedding anniversary in Brighton. Now we don't live in a blame culture, so let's just say that one of us was rather perplexed when the other presented him them with an envelope on the morning of the 1st October. It was only on opening it that that person realised they'd completely forgotten about their anniversary. In fairness, this was the first time since the very first one, when both parties had forgotten! This oversight was swiftly corrected by a minor alteration to the card and all was well again. Looking on the bright side, we've now decided to make do with just the one card in the future, reducing our expenditure by 50%!

Happy Anniversary too!!

And finally, I can't finish a blog entry about our homecoming without saying a huge thank you to our neighbours Janet and Geoff.

Geoff has been checking our house regularly, as required by our insurers, and forwarding post as necessary to my sister for attention. Before we left, he had also offered to cut our grass.

On our return, we found our gardens - front and back - looking far neater than they ever do when we're here. We've got stripes on our lawn, the flower border has been weeded, the hedges cut back, the paths swept and weeded and I think our car may even have been washed!

What fabulous neighbours.

Janet and Geoff, thank you very much. We owe you.

Sunday 4 October 2015

There'll be bluebirds over......

Yes, we've made it to Dover in good old Blighty!

More of that later, but first a summary of our route from Roompot.

We'd intended to sail directly from Roompot to Oostende via the North Sea, but once again the forecast was looking ominous with strong south westerly winds forecast - the worst kind for our intended route.

Fortuitously I met a local in Roompot marina who wanted to borrow a pair of pliers. He suggested a route to Breskens (south of Vlissingen - also known as Flushing) via the Oosterschelde, Veerse Meer and Kanaal door Walcheren - meaning that we'd be able to travel in sheltered water throughout. From Breskens it would be a relatively short hop along the coast to Oostende when the conditions suited.

We took his advice and we're glad we did because the weather turned out to be horrible! Torrential showers which dramatically reduced visibility were accompanied by wind gusting to 30 knots. We wouldn't have ventured out into the North Sea in that, but we flew along in the sheltered waters of the Oosterschelde.

The Veerse Meer is a pretty waterway that is more river than canal, but you do need to lock into it. The Kanaal door Walcheren is more like the "proper" canals we'd become used to.  

Entry to the Kanaal door Walcheren at Veere

You think we'd have seen every possible lock variation by now....

... but Veere's schutsluis was the first we'd encountered without full width gates

Leaving the schutsluis

What are these then? Spare lock gates?

Middelburg, capital of Zeeland, is about half way down the Kanaal door Walcheren and, whilst badly bombed in the second world war, it's reputed to have been beautifully restored. Unfortunately it's also just off the main canal and we only got a quick glimpse of it as we passed.

We'd made good progress as far as Middelburg, but it went rapidly downhill from there. There are about 7 bridges in the short distance between Middelburg and Vlissingen and we had to wait at every one. Tedious or what?
 
The first bridge at Middelburg. There's another behind it. And another, etc.

Kanaal door Walcheren

By the time we reached Vlissingen we were well fed up with bridges. We were therefore pleased (at first!) to be able to join the large fishing boat inside the lock at the end of the canal without having to wait.

Why "at first"? Well, once committed to the lock we found there was only one place that we could tie up, and that was right up close behind the large, heavy, metal fishing boat/ship. And I mean really close! To make matters worse, the walls of the lock were the worst we'd seen anywhere, being heavily encrusted with hard, sharp shellfish. Naturally, if we were going to touch any lock wall with the boat it would be this one, but fortunately Cyclone's teak rubbing strake shrugged off our (gentle) contact without damage.

Thankfully the fishing boat's skipper was very observant and, seeing our predicament, applied gentle ahead as required to avoid contact with us as the water entered the lock. This was the only occasion on our trip that I feared I may have to reach for our insurance policy!

A very lumpy but brief sea crossing from Vlissingen saw us happily moored up in Breskens.
  
Peculiar feature at Breskens marina

Looking out over the working part of Breskens harbour

"It's got to be done" according to Jo...

Breskens beach

Breskens marina is large, as is its beach. There are plenty of places to eat out (for those that do that sort of thing!) but we found little to interest us. We therefore set off for Oostende after just a couple of nights.

Leaving Breskens

En route to Oostende. Note sunshine!

The approach to Oostende

Oostende

We chose to berth at the Royal Yachtclub Oostende, the oldest yacht club in Belgium. As we approached looking for a free berth, I noticed 2 red lights blazing on the bridge just beyond the marina. Having spent quite a bit of time in canals, I interpreted this to mean that the lifting bridge wasn't currently operating - something of no concern to me as I didn't want to pass under it anyway.

A friendly local called out something about the tide and 2 others directed us towards (different) available berths and stood by to help. I chose one and began my approach, discovering soon after that the tide was indeed significant. Only then did I remember reading that 2 red lights displayed on this particular (and non-lifting!) bridge meant that sluice gates were open to allow rain water to flow from the river, via the marina, out to sea!

It soon became clear that the approach to my chosen berth wasn't going well, so I abandoned it with copious revs of astern - the sort of sound that makes people appear from nowhere, ready to be entertained! With the tide now doing its best to sweep us towards it, I took the unwise decision to take the second berth offered and slipped into the tight space between the pontoon and the neighbouring boat.

Regrettably, our fenders chose to spend some time ashore rather than in their designated space between boat and pontoon (OK, so I got it wrong.....), enabling the end of the pontoon to trace a lovely wavy black line, about 6 feet long and 2 inches wide, down Cyclone's white topside - despite the best efforts of the locals that had gathered to help. Feeling something of a prat, I pushed the fenders into place, secured the boat, thanked the locals and set to with the boat cleaner and polish. To my relief, this removed the evidence of my failings and Cyclone was restored to her former self - except that the area where the wavy line had been was now cleaner than any other part of the boat!

I was pretty miserable after that little episode, cursing myself for not backing out altogether and taking the time to plan properly. It was in that state of mind that I met the harbourmaster, an unassuming chap who'd just come back from walking his dog. "You did well to get in there." he said. "I'd never have managed that in my boat. The locals don't even attempt it when the sluice gates are open." I insisted that I'd made a right pig's ear of it, but he wasn't having any of that! "Come up to my office" he said. "I have some presents for you." In the office he presented me with a "Welcome to Oostende" carrier bag, a map of the town, a booklet about the club, a postcard of the club and additional tourist office information. He spent a long time suggesting places we could visit and telling me about the trains to Bruges and Ghent (only about 15 and 30 minutes away, apparently). He really could not have been more charming and I left his office grinning - a rare thing in any event, but truly remarkable given my earlier demeanour!

If you're ever visiting Oostende by boat you will not find a friendlier place to stay. Highly recommended - just look out for those 2 red lights!

Royal Yacht Club Oostende - taken from the bridge

Inspiration for the Hogwarts Express? 

Mercator - a floating museum in Oostende

View over Oostende from Fort Napoleon

Oostende isn't a pretty place. It's an industrial port and no doubt suffered plenty of damage in the war. We took the free ferry across the harbour to Fort Napoleon, where we were guided by an audio tour, and then returned to the boat via the museum ship Amandine.

The Amandine was really interesting - well worth a visit. It's an Icelandic trawler which used to operate out of Oostende. Having been restored, it's now ashore with a museum built around it telling the story of those who traveled to Iceland's rich fishing grounds. Rather them than me!

You need a prop that size to get through those seas

Fish hold

The Amandine could carry 70 tonnes of fish in her hold....

.... all of which had to be gutted first!

The engine's bigger than ours then...

I thought he looked like a younger Nigel. Anyone agree?

3 cooked meals a day for all from here - whatever the weather

The Amandine's decks

That's all the same building - not one behind the other. Weird.

We'd like to have visited Bruges and Ghent but, with favourable easterly winds forecast for a few days, we didn't dare hang around for fear of getting trapped later by south westerlies. We therefore set off before dawn (not in the tideless Baltic now!) for Dunkerque, a port we'd visited on our way north.

Sunrise over Oostende

Our view from Cyclone in Dunkerque

Our most important task in Dunkerque was to find a supermarket and stock up with wine for the winter at French prices. The nearest supermarket turned out to be over a mile from the marina, so we demonstrated true dedication to the cause by making the 3 trips necessary to carry 120 litres of wine back to the boat!

Another pre-dawn start saw us heading for Dover - a route that you can't straight-line because you're required to cross the shipping lanes in the narrow strait on a heading of 90 degrees to their direction of travel. The Met Office forecast winds of F5 to F7 from the east - rather more than we'd choose, but from an agreeable direction. Faced with that forecast we did what I suspect many others do and looked around on the internet for a forecast we preferred! The French one for the same area suggested F4 to F5, increasing to F6 later - so we chose that one instead. It proved to be about right too.
 
Guided by the light of the moon...

It brings a lump to your throat!

Dover harbour entrance - a bit lumpy in the approach

Cruise ship at Dover

View from Cyclone, with Dover Castle just visible in the distance

Hurrah!!

Dover front and castle

Now Baltic enthusiasts will extol the virtue of sailing in tideless waters, but take a look at the display in the photo below which is an electronic log of our progress.

Log of our progress from Dunkerque to Dover

The right hand column gives our speed over the ground in knots at the times indicated in the left hand column. Not too shabby for a 33 foot boat sailing under headsail alone, eh? (NB at 0845 we'd turned to stem the tide so as not to impede a ship travelling in a lane). 6 hours from Dunkerque berth to Dover pontoon - a distance over the ground of 44 miles.

There is a downside though. Those times are Greenwich Mean Time (none of that Universal Time nonsense - we're British you know!) but even when you've added a couple of hours to give French summer time, that still means we had to be up by 5am. Maybe the aforementioned Baltic enthusiasts have a point.....

Thanks for reading.