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 !! 

  

Boating beneath the sea

 Well, not exactly under water! As I write we are afloat, but 5 meters below sea level.

We have at last started exploring and we are traveling in glorious summer weather. Following a month in England visiting folk, we were able to get back aboard Antiope and get on top of a few jobs. The new washing mashine arrived and was duly hoisted aboard, hooked up and put into service.

      Steady does it !                                  A tight fit through the hatch

We have a new working washing machine! No more smelly shirts. 

It is a pleasure to be able to have family and friends aboard again. It is now 11 years since we were in these Netherland waters. We are getting used to the change from France, from the morning baguette to the Dutch coffee and applecake routine.   

Away from the boatyard.

So far we have stayed north of Amsterdam, cruising Friesland and the IJsselmeer. 

Following a casual dockside chat while exploring the old Hansiatic port of Kampen, I had an invitation to go Botter racing and I found myself crewing in the annual 'Urk' traditional boat regatta. 

 

,

GT 13, 120 years old and we finished in 3rd place

Your author in a casual pose, mid race

Not much wind on the day

The Botter fleet, post race in Urk. 

The Urk lighthouse still shines out over the IJsselmeer. Urk was once an island in the Zuider Zee before 1943. This old fishing settlement is now on the edge of a vast polder of reclaimed land. It is midway across this polder on the man made waterway 5 m below sea level, where we have moored for the night. Sobering thought. 

The Urk lighthouse

                                             

The watergate at Sneek, the waterway hub of Frieseland

We found this remote island mooring in the middle of the IJsselmeer

The Dromedary tower, which dates back to 1540, in the old seaport of Enkhuizen 

Once a defended seaport, Blokzijl is now far inland

Sailing on the Meers

Summer evening on the Meers

Exiting the lock where we have descended 5meters to the level of the old sea bed 

Ciao Zanussi

 Our month-long social visit to the UK ended up in Felixstowe, once a grand Victorian Suffolk seaside town, which now has England's largest container terminal in its backyard. Just across the harbour is the historic town of Harwich from where my way-back ancestors sailed, and it was from the Stour/Orwell estuary that Antiope began her voyage to Europe 12 years ago.  

                        

                            Some folk in Felixstowe have too much time on their hands.

                             A more comfortable mode of sea travel. (The ferry, not the lightship!)

Our trip across the North Sea was again overnight, but this time in a lovely cabin aboard the 240 m ferry, Stena Hollandica. Definitely a more comfortable ride than last time, according to Annie. 

Before leaving London, Annie and I made the Thameside walk from the old Docklands to Greenwich including the must do 'Cloud' cable car ride over the Thames. We finished up with a reviving pint in the bankside Trafalgar taven, then a swift 'Uber' ferry up into central London and a further walkabout. There is so much more to see of London by foot than getting around on the 'Tube'

The 'Cloud' cable cars cross the Thames, well worth the ride

                                 The Greenwich meridian crosses the Thames at this point

                               It then heads on South through docklands all the way to NZ 

A grand sight, the Trafalgar tavern on the bankside at Greenwich,

Coronation bunting still flying.

                                       

Meanwhile, back in Scheerwolde

Monday 6th June, re-launch day, and the first of the warmer weather

Once back aboard Antiope, she was smartly launched and we began the long delayed task of removing 'Zanussi'. The task made more difficult as Zanussi (the washing machine) was a big beast, wider than any of the boat access ways and we suspect built in before the original interior fit out was completed back in 1996. Zanussi had been misbehaving for several seasons and was on its final warning.            Pre Covid I had cut out a big enough hole and made a larger forehatch. This week the test, having dismantled it as far as possible a mobile jib hoisted the 80 kg up through the hatch. We knew that if we could get one out, a new one would fit in.

Going

Going

Going

Gone

Watch this space soon for some actual cruising stories and pictures.

Cheers Charles and Annie