Jan Haring regatta 2023

 As the story goes, 450 years ago a brave young Dutch sailor, Jan Haring, started the end of Spanish rule in the Netherlands. 

In the midst of a sea battle in the Zuiderzee, between a small Dutch rebel fleet that was quite at home in the shallow seas and the much superior Spanish fleet, Jan boarded the Spanish flagship, climbed the mast and struck her colours. In the confusion that followed, the rest of the Spanish fleet thought that the battle was lost. Within weeks Amsterdam fell into the hands of the rebels, the Spanish fled and within a few years, the Dutch republic was born.

GT 13, the 125 year old Botter on which I crewed for the regatta.

Our Spanish competition !!

That momentous event is celebrated each year with a Botter sailing regatta, a sea shanty festival and an eel smoking competition in the little town of Monnikendam. The locals go to great lengths to dress in traditional costume. The eel smoking competition took all day Sunday with over 100 competitors, with Harry, one of our Saturday race crew, being one of them. Post race on Sunday we enjoyed some of his prized smoked eel. 

Heading out to race, your author at the mast.

Racing tactics take a bit of long term planning

Our hardy crew, beer in hand on the run home, leeboards up

Skipper Roy, me,\and veteran eel smoker Harry, with some of his day's work.  

Harry checking out the next door competitor.

Period costume, the order of the day.

Having somehow earned a crew position aboard botter CT13 in the Urk regatta, I had been invited to sail again. The two day regatta was held in light winds which did not favour us, but we managed to be placed 3rd in the traditional ( boats over 100 years old) Botter division for which we earned a ceramic bottle of local rum. 

Among the fleet was 'Bona' a vintage Leigh bawley from England. 

She had sailed across the North Sea just for the regatta

To recover, we escaped to a quiet island mooring spot for a few days. These mooring sites throughout the waterways are marked as 1 to 3 days stay, are often free and are marked on the charts. We have found them very well looked after and respected.

We found this quiet mooring spot to share with locals, 

 just a few miles from Amsterdam.

Next, we spend some cultural time in Amsterdam, 

Dead Centre

 Quite by chance we find ourselves in the 'Cadastral' centre of the Netherlands.

A red laser spot marks the geographic centre of the Netherlands. 

A change in the weather, and a wet and windy night moored up on an isolated island in the Eemmeer had us scuttling up the Eem river for shelter to Amersfoort. What a delightful town we found and just coincidentally, they were hosting a Latin American music festival.

It is 346 steps to the top of "Our Lady's tower" 

from where the view was spectacular

The performance stage was in the shadow of Our Lady's tower which at 98m high is visible for many kilometres. A laser mark on the floor directly below the tower spire marks the geographic centre of the Netherlands. 

Latin American festival in full swing

Any visit to Amersfoort must include a visit to the 3 Ring brewery,

which traces its heritage back to 1626

Koppelpoort, the watergate into the old town Amersfoort, 

with a carpet of duckweed.

The small boat waterway through Amersfoort

Before the weather change we visited the hansiatic town of Hardewijk where I found more enthusiastic Botter sailors. These very sturdy, traditional sailing craft were originally used for fishing or local freight. Now they race them! Despite the average age of these craft being over a century. That said, the traditional boat workshop in Hardewijk used their Covid lockdown time to build a brand new, all wood Botter.

A new build Botter, a Covid lockdown project !

These Harderwijk botters are all 100+ years old

As I write, a storm labelled 'Poly' is passing over the Netherlands, reportedly their most severe summer storm on record. We are securely moored just out of town in a backwater of the river Eem.

As I write a storm rages outside, 

the arrow marks our mooring spot

 

The calm before the storm

Weather permitting, we cross the Ijsselmeer to Monnickendam in the next few days to take up an  invitation to sail in another botter regatta !!